Vipassana

[chad steele]

Ten days of silent meditation... tingly.

I'd love to hear your stories, outcomes, etc.

for more info... http://www.dhamma.org/

[Silja Saareoks-Kaldre]

Thank you so much for starting the discussion and joining the group! One thing that I did lately, was I moved the energy centers to the feet, that did help me a lot. Before I felt some problems with having a body. In the summer it was really easy as I could lay on the ground and send the energy through it.
Where do you feel your center of the soul is? I feel the mine is in the heart center, but I can also move it, if I want.
Reply by Chad Steele:
I don't think The Soul has a center... I think it is dangerous when we humans think we're at the center of it or anything... I think the best thing we can be is aware of it and our small part in it... we are a conduit... not IT. I don't believe in multiple souls, just the ONE that we're swimming in... our ego wants to believe we have one, like we have a personality, but that doesn't fit for me.

For me, the experience you describe is the sensation of your connection to The Soul. If you focus on your heart, you'll feel it there... your feet... ahh it's there too... your mother... yep, its in her... a dog... a child... that chicken you had for dinner... etc. etc.

If you think this discussion belongs in public (I do) please feel free to copy it there.

in love,
-chad

Reply to it:
I did not want to say with it as if it is the only center. There are the centers everywhere and in everything. But when for example sending out the energy to somewhere it feels better for me to get the all the energies centered before doing it. Of course it feels also everywhere, but that's the another way of it. These centers of the souls give the experience of having the feelings. Without the center it is just everywhere. As is grows, there becomes no difference between feeling someone, feeling everything or feeling me. This staying in love is just so powerful, the better would say about it maybe being the love, as it is just love.

[chad steele]

Thanks Silja... You're cool... ahem, your soul is cool... Ummmm, correction... The Soul is cool in you?!
;)

[Silja Saareoks-Kaldre]

I believe your ideas are great too. But I love chickens too :-), I don't have them on my plate :-) Really, we need to get all the ecological system to balance again. How long it takes, it depends on all of the people. But more about this center point. I see it as a connection with everything. The more centered is just like more connected with the all. But of course, our lives are not so pure to take the absolute maximum from it, but we can trust it when leading ourselves in through unconditional love. It is quite impossible to feel the love unconditionally and the ego at the same time. I know that's the clear for you, too. Love for you.

chad steele said:

Thanks Silja... You're cool... ahem, your soul is cool... Ummmm, correction... The Soul is cool in you?!
;)

[chad steele]

Silja Saareoks said:

But I love chickens too :-),

I don't believe in reincarnation or kharma beyond this body, but if I did... I'd have to believe that chickens are the most evil souls in the universe... they're sooo abused by every culture... everything eats chickens and after they've lead a horrible life... so, for me... they must deserve it...

kidding! :)

[Silja Saareoks-Kaldre]

Just love the friend, who can make fun. Some sense of humor helps after too much thinking about how to get everything better... but not having so many answers to that question. Feeling responsibility for everything can be the same as hard as it is the blessing for the soul. For example, I feel responsibility for everything that I consume and what are all the side effects to it. Wish I had the work, where I could live with all this, you know... Where I could create no harm and most benefit. I just keep thinking of it & meditate and... But I still choose the feeling happy, as it helps the most for the collective consciousness.
I've played the absolute fool for a few days, too. I was conscious about what I did. But... It was like a breakthrough for me. I did keep the meditative state all the time, then I thought about doing one thing but acted in another way and also did the things without letting any thoughts in. Just moved around by the feel in the heart. It was a real breakthrough for me, as I found the way to cut away the connection with all the negative feelings. Then I got the message from the deepness of the heart, that I should show it to others, too. At first I thought, like "No Way!", I'm not gonna make a fool out of me. But the heart just did not let go of it and so I played the complete fool, you know, or a child. Wish I had explained it to my family. :D! They did buy it completely. Uhmm. But what I did get out of it was getting even more deeper. It made me remember what it was being a baby and... the different ways of living.
So when the people don't get me..? I just start joking. At least make a fun out of it. Good thing is that now I feel that everyone gets me, just in the own way. I just love it and not waiting, you know for some "special someone" who would get everything. Wonder, who it could be, :D!
I just love one story about the poor man and the a great joker man. The poor man walked on the road and all he had was a bag with him. He thought of how unhappy and poor he was just having one bag, when walking on the road. Then the other one did steal his bag and run further. The poor man was getting hopeless, now he had nothing at all. Sadly he walked further on the road. But the other man had left his bag on the road and was hiding in the bush. The poor man merely jumped into the sky out of joy, that's how happy he was. Then this joker man wondered how the one bag can make someone so unhappy and afterwards make unbelievably happy.
Well, I did not think this story out, I just love it. And as I see you carry a happy face with you, not a bag! Just love having you as a friend, you're awesome!
Smile wide!

[Jeanne]

I have started to send a comment three times already and each time have quit. I guess I don't know what to say about vipassana, other than it has been the greatest gift in my life - and I gave it to myself. ...I give it to myself. Leaving next week for another 10 days of silence.

The possibilities are infinite...

Metta,
Jeanne

[chad steele]

It is 12 to 14 hours a day of silent meditation for 14 days without any significant contact or communication with another person. There is also very little activity. It is the Xtreme Sport of meditation in my view... it can be extraordinary. The theory is you'll get to sense and heal past karma... translation... it can hurt... a lot... and the amount of suffering you experience is entirely up to you. You'll also, likely, taste a little bliss.

Good Luck.

[Ron Alexander]

Dear Chad, thanks for starting this forum. I have applied to the July 1 group here in the Southeast like Violette above. Even though the website said it was open (for men), they sent me back a reply that I could go on a waiting list or apply for next available time. I sent back email to see if I could do both? Be on waiting list for July 1 and apply for next available course if the waiting list does not work? I have called them and left a message also.
I became eager to do this ten day retreat after seeing the film "The Dhamma Brothers". Also, it is twilight time in my life and I just want to spend the rest of it in a meditative state as much as possible. I do silent and weekly fasts already and get alot out of them. Have you seen that documentary? lotsagratitude, Ron

[chad steele]

...it is twilight time in my life and I just want to spend the rest of it in a meditative state as much as possible.

Ron, I am certain that you did not mean that you plan to just meditate away the rest of your life, but some people do and your post was a good excuse for me to share my view...

Meditation is not an escape, it is a means to recharge your batteries and to empower your life. Starting right now.

Consider this... Ben Franklin mentored and trained a bunch of boys in his 70s... those boys were in their 20s and 30s when they signed the Declaration of Independence. He was almost 80 when he went to Paris and convinced the King of France to rescue us from the conflict we started with England without any hope of winning...

Ben was not in the twilight of life at that age... he was giving birth to a new world.

[drmike]

Hey folks.
I'm confirmed for my June trip. Starting to get excited. There will be a bus to haul us all out, which will make it easier than me driving individually. Perhaps get to do some talking and bonding on the 6 hours drive up before the real stuff hits the fan (i.e., SILENCE). More than a bit weary for the amount of time commitment it is going to require, but I hope to gain a new clarity, perspective, and freedom.

Best,
Mike

[Ron Alexander]

chad steele said:

...it is twilight time in my life and I just want to spend the rest of it in a meditative state as much as possible.

Ron, I am certain that you did not mean that you plan to just meditate away the rest of your life, but some people do and your post was a good excuse for me to share my view...

Meditation is not an escape, it is a means to recharge your batteries and to empower your life. Starting right now.

Consider this... Ben Franklin mentored and trained a bunch of boys in his 70s... those boys were in their 20s and 30s when they signed the Declaration of Independence. He was almost 80 when he went to Paris and convinced the King of France to rescue us from the conflict we started with England without any hope of winning...

Ben was not in the twilight of life at that age... he was giving birth to a new world.

[drmike]

Yogi Bera said: "It ain't over 'til it's over." Why not live it up fully, until it's over?