DIY meditation retreat ideas?

End in Sight, modified 12 Years ago at 3/21/12 4:50 PM
Created 12 Years ago at 3/21/12 4:49 PM

DIY meditation retreat ideas?

Posts: 1251 Join Date: 7/6/11 Recent Posts
I was thinking about doing a long-ish meditation retreat (date and duration up in the air). Does anyone have any ideas or concrete suggestions regarding ways to make this happen inexpensively (for example, renting a cabin somewhere)? Anyone ever done it or thought of doing it? Positive / negative experiences, caveats, etc?

I understand that there are some good long-term retreat centers outside of the US, but I suspect this option only becomes cost-effective in the case of a fairly long retreat, due to the cost of airfare. (Hence the DIY idea.)
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Jeff Grove, modified 12 Years ago at 3/21/12 9:56 PM
Created 12 Years ago at 3/21/12 9:53 PM

RE: DIY meditation retreat ideas?

Posts: 310 Join Date: 8/24/09 Recent Posts
End in Sight:
I was thinking about doing a long-ish meditation retreat (date and duration up in the air). Does anyone have any ideas or concrete suggestions regarding ways to make this happen inexpensively (for example, renting a cabin somewhere)? Anyone ever done it or thought of doing it? Positive / negative experiences, caveats, etc?

I understand that there are some good long-term retreat centers outside of the US, but I suspect this option only becomes cost-effective in the case of a fairly long retreat, due to the cost of airfare. (Hence the DIY idea.)



Grab a cheap 2 man tent and tarp some bake beans and noodles and head to a national park or a beach. Find a nice river to camp by, fire a night and walks thru the day.

I DIY every year, some as small as a weekend, usually a week, sometimes at home.

I have done a couple of month long retreats both here in Aus and abroad with teachers but in the end this was because of a belief of that is what I had to do to progress.

There is an oportunity in every moment the only thing that really prevents this is you.

Camping out might put you out of your comfort zone, at night at first it can be pretty freaky but this is fodder for investigation.

Intent: Have a goal whether its achieving a path or investigating a meditation method
Preparation: Slowly increase your time spent meditating in the weeks leading up to the retreat so your mind is concentrated and piable and you've started to develop a consistent routine
Conditions: create the conditions favourable for the desired outcome
Books: take some sutras to investigate, the vidsuhmahgga,
Practice: Mix it up: Meditating - sitting, standing, walking



What is your idea of DIY?
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Daniel M Ingram, modified 12 Years ago at 3/22/12 1:24 AM
Created 12 Years ago at 3/22/12 1:24 AM

RE: DIY meditation retreat ideas?

Posts: 3268 Join Date: 4/20/09 Recent Posts
Last I heard Bhavana Society was still on donation and they have small kutis there (cabins), and it may be possible to do that there, and as you are way into deep jhana, and they are way into that also, they may let you do it, so you could try asking.

What are you trying to do?

Daniel
End in Sight, modified 12 Years ago at 3/22/12 6:02 AM
Created 12 Years ago at 3/22/12 5:56 AM

RE: DIY meditation retreat ideas?

Posts: 1251 Join Date: 7/6/11 Recent Posts
Daniel M. Ingram:
What are you trying to do?


Do a retreat that's beyond the typical length that structured retreats are set up to be (i.e. with Goenka, IMS, etc.), on the cheap, without too much non-meditation stuff involved each day. (Secondary issues: setting my own meditation schedule.)

As practice in a retreat environment seems much more powerful than practice in daily life due to the depth of concentration etc. that may be attained there, retreat seems to me like the thing to do at the moment.

"On the cheap": no exact figure in mind, but $30 / day or less would be a starting point.

No particular goal besides the end of suffering.

Jeff Grove:
What is your idea of DIY?


I don't have any specific conception; I just assumed that, in order to inexpensively do a longer retreat than is typical, I would have to implement it myself. But, Dan's idea to see if it could be done at Bhavana Society (or elsewhere, for that matter) is interesting. DIY isn't fundamental; I merely thought it was likely to be necessary.

Thanks for the tips, guys.

Jeff Grove:
I DIY every year, some as small as a weekend, usually a week, sometimes at home.


Have you (or anyone else) ever done a month or longer? As planning for the the practical stuff (food etc.) would be different in that case, how did it go?
John White, modified 12 Years ago at 3/22/12 7:32 AM
Created 12 Years ago at 3/22/12 7:32 AM

RE: DIY meditation retreat ideas?

Posts: 61 Join Date: 8/16/10 Recent Posts
Hi EIS - have you checked out Karme Choling? It's a Shambala (Trogyam Chungpa) center in Vermont that has cabins for extended retreats, in your price range. There are some basic requirements, you'd have to check it out with them. Best of luck!

http://www.karmecholing.org/cabin_retreats.php

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