Hello all,

I’m scheduled to travel in Southeast Asia from Dec 2012 for an undetermined amount of time and I’d really like to do some intensive meditation retreats to make some solid progress in my practice. I was thinking of doing the Basic 21-day course at Chom Tong around the middle of Jan 2013 then doing 3-6 months at MBMC starting in March.

What I’d like to get your advice on was what would be the best way to prepare myself (physically and mentally) for these long and intensive retreats before I leave for Southeast Asia? Do I need to prepare at all?

Just so you have some background information on my current practice, I haven’t been sitting on a daily basis for very long (maybe 2-3 months), I’ve just started to sit for 2 45-min sessions daily and will try to build up to 4 1hr sessions before I leave for overseas. It’s definitely early days, I have yet to see any real progress and I haven’t been on ANY long/intensive meditations retreat yet. Oh and I have a copy of MCTB and have read parts of it, although not a lot of it is relevant for me just yet.

Any advice or concerns would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Andy.

My experience at the international center associated with Chom Tong wasn't too great. The teacher's assistants would provide confusing and contradictory instructions and I didn't connect very well with the teacher. PM me if you want details.

I got a much better experience at Wat Lampang which teach the same technique (developed by Chom Tong, derived from Mahasi). There you got monks teachings instead of laypeople. The are very methodical in the way they teach (take notes of your progress, number of hours you meditate). The technique is very detailled and designed to get you stream entry in 28 days (It seems that it worked for a guy that was there with me, sadly, I left before the end). Still, I made progress fast with the technique which is very demanding.

Don't forget that for Goenka retreats you need to reserve a few weeks in advance even in Thailand.

Couldn’t figure out how to PM on this site so I wanted to respond to this old thread. Hopefully you’re subscribed. Heading to Thailand in a couple of days. I have the 60 day visa and can extend with 30 more. Planning on Wat hoping and Lampang sounds solid. Did you try any others around Chang mai? 

Thanks! 

Those posts about Wat Lampang are a few years old-did you get any further advice or even been there? Theire approach sounds cute, but times are changing...
Cheers, 
Arc