Vipassana: Ten Days of Silence

My mind is constantly sprinting from thought to thought. Partly from my anxiety and partly from being a full-time worker, part-time student and avidly attending various Melbourne theatre and live art performances, so when a friend told me about a ten day silent Vipassana meditation retreat, I was all ears. Vipassana means to see things as they really are, and the practice is based around deep connections between the mind and body. This involves meditating eleven hours a day between 4:30am and 9pm, and for these ten days speaking, eye contact, reading, writing, the use of technology or sexual activity is prohibited. Perfect.

It was easy to sign up for, as the form itself only took two minutes and no payment was required as once you have completed the course you choose to donate how much you feel like, so I could easily have cancelled or backed out as the date got closer. As the date began to approach and started to become more and more of a reality, anxiety and fear crept in. Would I last one day let alone ten? How would I cope with a 9:30pm bedtime? And would eating only two meals a day sustain me? I jokingly contemplated cancelling and spending ten days at home, getting Uber Eats and watching all the films I need to watch and getting through the two dozen unread books I own.