Read This Before Your First Vipassana Retreat

I went to my first Vipassana retreat in December 2019. It changed my life. I can’t say enough good things about it. But before I went, I didn’t have a clue what I was getting myself into. And that turned out to be a really good thing.

When I returned home, I started Googling to see if other people had experiences similar to my own. I discovered that they had. I also found tons of people on places like Reddit and Quora who hadn’t experienced it yet, asking tons of questions in advance.

My strong advice is to stop asking questions and just go.

Just to further discourage you from counterproductive research, I’ll paraphrase and answer a few of the most common but harmless questions here:

“I’ve barely ever meditated before, am I ready for this?”

Yes, you are.

“I’m nervous about surviving 10 whole days, should I go?”

Yes, you should.

“I’ve had depression, anxiety or other emotional issues, can I handle this?”

Yes, you can.

“I have a bad hip or I was raised in a weird religion or I fart a lot, will I be OK?"

Yes, yes and yes!

“What should I bring?”

Bring enough comfortable clothing for 10 days. Maybe an alarm clock to make sure you don'y oversleep and a flashlight in case you have to pee at night or want to take a walk before sunrise.

I think that covers everything you should know before your first Vipassana retreat. In fact, almost any other foreknowledge I can impart will actually diminish your experience.

The retreat is meant to remove mental noise so you can come as close as possible to seeing yourself and the world as they actually are, instead of through the web of cravings and aversions that normally drive your thoughts.

If I tell you things you should be worried about, fear will get in the way of your experience. If I tell you things to look forward to, you’ll grow nervous or impatient if your expectations aren’t being met.

You’ll just be setting yourself up for disappointment.

Stop worrying, stop asking questions and just go.

Two further thoughts to put your mind at ease:

First is the application process. They ask you about things like your history with mental health and addiction. Answer honestly, and the experienced people running the organization will speak to you if they feel there is any real risk to your wellbeing.

Second is that I went to a course with about 30 men and 40 women, and not one of them ran home. Everyone survived and looked well at the end. I heard rumours of a 10% dropout rate, but I saw no such thing.

Lovable teacher, S. N. Goenka

I learned about Vipassana from two different friends. The first one told me about it years ago. I signed up but chickened out. The second one reminded me of it more recently. I signed up and went. Neither friend told me much about what to expect, and I am grateful to both of them.

They each told me that the experience is highly individual, and that the only way to understand it is to go and see for yourself. They were right. Nothing they could have said would have begun to describe it, but they could have easily polluted my mind with irrelevant and unhelpful ideas.

Paññā (pronounced pan-ya) is a buddist term that means wisdom. The modern teacher of Vipassana, the late S.N. Goenka, speaks of this wisdom as not coming from reading books or listening to discourses, but knowledge that is gained through your own experience. Knowledge that is available only by practicing Vipassana itself.

Therefore, Reddit and Medium are of no use to you at this time. They can do more harm than good. You just need to register for the course, pack your bags and go.

Trust me on this, and you can thank me later.