Notes from a meditation retreat
On December 31, I went to Wat Suan Mokkh in Thailand and registered for a ten-day silent retreat. I scribbled these notes on eight scraps of paper given to us for questions on days six and ten. Neither electronics nor diaries were allowed for “creative writing”. And because my writing isn't that creative anyway, here we go:
Day -1
A cobra in my room.
Day 0
A romp of otters fished a foot-long tilapia out of a pond and raced around celebrating.
I haven't seen them since.
Day 1
Breathe in — breathe out.
Easy.
Day 2
Fuck.
Day 3
A cat pooped in front of ten people at 6:15 pm.
Day 4
The sunrise over the three forest ponds is beautiful.
Day 5
The boys chased a gecko through the dorm.
They caught it between two bamboo brooms and it made a funny sound.
Day 6
A three-foot-long lizard gracefully crossed three ponds—one round, one rectangular, and one oddly shaped—in fifteen minutes.
At 6:10 pm the cat reappeared in the same spot and pooped again, this time with the zoomies.
Day 7
No sun. No energy. Sleepy.
Want to quit.
I saw one guy check out early.
Chickpea for lunch!
Day 8
Started raining.
Fought the misery by “doing” the 5 am yoga in my bed.
Food was diverse and I took little rice.
Day 9
One meal at 8:30 am.
Things got easier.
Had a couple of smiles back from people. Everyone seems excited for the retreat to be over soon.
Day 10
Someone put a frangipani on my meditation pillow. I think I know who.
The sun is back!
Everyone raked leaves for two hours and then drank cocount water wildly.
Day 11
No breakfast ;(
Everyone's leaving ;(
Flower suspicion confirmed!
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P.S. A ten-day retreat somehow turned into a two-week-long adventure and will likely take a year to process. But what an experience it was!