We arrived with the bus from Bangkok early in the morning, tired after around 24 hours of traveling in total. We managed to get some sleep on the bus, but it was difficult on the bumpy mountain roads. We were supposed to check in at the meditation center at 13 but decided to check if it was possible before, and it was no problem! So before 10, we had moved in to our rooms, had our first meeting with our teacher and already got the introduction to the first steps of the meditation. And this is where it started.. from this on I meditated 5-8 hours per day.
I could have never imagined that it could be so tough to meditate! It was NO holiday. The days started 4 (although I overslept until 5-6 a couple of days) then breakfast at 6. Every morning we also met individually with our teacher to report on how it was going and to get further steps to practise. I really liked the teacher, she was very kind, motivating and knew how to support in the best way. I always felt better after theese meetings.
It’s funny, all the stuff I was nervous about, not being allowed to eat solid food after 12, not reading, no internet, going up early, was actually not that hard. Not compared to the hours of meditating. It was exhausting. But also rewarding in the end. I'm very happy I did this, it was a detox for mind and body. The last day after we had left our donation to the center and had the last meeting with our teacher etc, we were introduced to a german monk who is in charge of a meditation center that just opened in Germany. Its outside of Cottbus so not far from Berlin. She (yes, it's a female monk, I just learned that this exists haha :)) said we are welcome to come there and practice when we get back home, or we can also just contact her if we have questions. We intend to keep meditating every day so its super nice to know we have the possibility to get support. We also got a nice little Buddha statue as a gift from the center :)
Kitler and his brothers kept us company in the breaks
I tried not to look too happy, because it wouldn’t be representative
-Louise
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