Hi Yadid,
Well done, you certainly seem to have the right attitude for a retreat. That kind of motivation will really help you out. I did a Goenka 10-day in January and went through the Dark Night into equanimity. (I wrote up a report of that retreat
here)
Anyway, I then started to do body scanning, and during this retreat I resolved to really put *all* the effort I had into it, not really letting mood swings / emotions / changing motivation to change the amount of effort im putting into my practice - this really helped me.
Go careful though. Because eventually the moods will come, and then if your approach is too solid or rigid you will think "failure". But moods are moods; they come and go regardless of your intentions. And each has a unique set of sensations for you to investigate ;-)
During the 6th day I found that very strong equanimity and peace has developed towards everything which was being experienced - this came after I really started accepting suffering and really investigating what it really is and what it feels like on the body and mind.
Funny, that all happened to me on the 6th day as well. It was the turning point in my retreat.
I am not sure whether this was a period in which I was able to reach the equanimity nyana for a period before falling back to the dark night or not, this is what I am actually asking for advice about - though it doens't matter that much - just a matter of curiosity.
I'm not entirely sure exactly what you're asking here. Could you re-phrase it? It sounds like you did reach equanimity. Try not to think of it as something you grasp and then let go of straight away: equanimity can be kept up off retreat, although you may need a retreat to push it towards stream entry. I kept up equanimity at home until I got annoyed with more frequent fall backs into the dark night. That's when I decided I wanted to go on retreat again to finish up.
At times of strong equanimity towards what was being experienced, mental processes became more apparent such as intentions, cravings, aversions, and others, popping out of nothing and then disappearing.
I had similar experiences in equanimity after I got back off retreat. It felt like I'd discovered this horizontal sheet of space, which I'd never noticed before, from which all things arise and pass from. (hint: it too consisted of subtle sensations which I then went on to penetrate)