Vipassana Meditation Retreat

SeMich

I was wondering if anyone had attended one of these ten day sessions, and if so could give me some idea of what to expect or anything else that they think I should be aware of before attending? http://www.dhamma.org/

I am planning on signing up when registration opens next month, for one set in September. Any useful advice from someone who attended one would be most appreciated.

being

Have been to one. Was hard. Was awesome. Would suggest it to anyone. ^^
Now all of these opinions of different people might give rise to different kind of expectations, but imho the best advice I could give, is that please just go with no expectations - just go see for yourself. To make this no-expectation part a bit harder for you, I promise you will not regret going.

If you have any more specific questions I would be happy to answer. And I'm sure there are others who have attended and would help out also.

I have actually written a more detailed write-up in a different forum of my stay, but I feel that maybe sharing this with you would only add more useless expectations, so I'm not sure, if it would be wise to share it with you. But if you're still interested, let me know and I'll give you the url.

SeMich

Thanks Being. I am not looking to develop expectations one way or the other, but I wondered if there was anything that I should have in mind beforehand, apart from what they indicated. One area that I am thinking of in particular is what the customary donation is; I understand that there is nothing set in stone but given that each outgoing class pays for the expenses of the next incoming class, is there a level that would cover a student's stay? Or should I just not worry about that?

hermitwin

Done it.
You will definitely learn how to meditate.
Only 1 aspect I was uncomfortable with but it was minor.
Dont give donation yet, you can do it later. When you are more comfortable.
They have enough money to keep it going.
IMO, they are strict, but its good.
Dont think of it as your freedom being restricted.
Think of it as you are doing things in a diffrent way for 10 days.

SeMich

Thank you hermitwin. That was the only thing that really concerned me in advance. It is still months off in any event.