Meditation Retreat: Day 1: Thursday, 6:45pm
6.30pm: Check-in & Registration
8.30pm: Briefing
9.00pm: Puja and Guided Meditation
10.00pm: Lights off
Amazing things happen when you have very low expectations or no expectations. They gave us mattresses and pillows! And nice woolly blankets! I’ve just registered and have been assigned my room – Room 1 with 14 others. A lady just smiled at me. Another 2 are quietly talking as they packed their things out. I thought we would be sleeping on the floor so I brought a yoga mat along – ah well, at least now I can still practice yoga if there are breaks. The room is about the size of my yoga studio and the mattresses have been laid down side by side in two rows along the walls with one more at the end of the room opposite the door. I was also assigned a biodegradable cup “to be used for all 3 days” and a name tag with my number B11 “to be worn at all times”. Feels like a nice imprisonment! The girl next to me brought her own Hello Kitty pillow. The air con is just nice and the air smells clean and fresh. This being the new hall of the monastery it is not surprising. I wonder where the toilets are. Maybe I should brush my teeth now that there’s time. . .
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Brushed my teeth in the pantry and then I found the bathrooms. There are 6 – all with shower stalls. Room 1 is one of the smaller rooms. The largest room has about 60 people! The smallest room has about 6 people. These are the women’s dorms and there are just over 150 women in this retreat (I learnt form the namelist on the wall in the hall outside -- I later learnt that there are about 200 people in this retreat and the male dorms are in another building, the library). Wow. It’s 7:20pm and we are still waiting for the briefing at 8:15pm. Many people are not here yet. I am ready to sleep! Did some seated asanas and felt better. It’s weird not greeting nor smiling at the other participants. I am trying hard not to stare at them as well. Still so far, the retreat is great!
8.30pm: Briefing
9.00pm: Puja and Guided Meditation
10.00pm: Lights off
Amazing things happen when you have very low expectations or no expectations. They gave us mattresses and pillows! And nice woolly blankets! I’ve just registered and have been assigned my room – Room 1 with 14 others. A lady just smiled at me. Another 2 are quietly talking as they packed their things out. I thought we would be sleeping on the floor so I brought a yoga mat along – ah well, at least now I can still practice yoga if there are breaks. The room is about the size of my yoga studio and the mattresses have been laid down side by side in two rows along the walls with one more at the end of the room opposite the door. I was also assigned a biodegradable cup “to be used for all 3 days” and a name tag with my number B11 “to be worn at all times”. Feels like a nice imprisonment! The girl next to me brought her own Hello Kitty pillow. The air con is just nice and the air smells clean and fresh. This being the new hall of the monastery it is not surprising. I wonder where the toilets are. Maybe I should brush my teeth now that there’s time. . .
---
Brushed my teeth in the pantry and then I found the bathrooms. There are 6 – all with shower stalls. Room 1 is one of the smaller rooms. The largest room has about 60 people! The smallest room has about 6 people. These are the women’s dorms and there are just over 150 women in this retreat (I learnt form the namelist on the wall in the hall outside -- I later learnt that there are about 200 people in this retreat and the male dorms are in another building, the library). Wow. It’s 7:20pm and we are still waiting for the briefing at 8:15pm. Many people are not here yet. I am ready to sleep! Did some seated asanas and felt better. It’s weird not greeting nor smiling at the other participants. I am trying hard not to stare at them as well. Still so far, the retreat is great!
