My meditation retreat tips :)

Firstly, just a reminder that I am a newbie and not an expert in meditation! I even struggle to do one hour of meditation T-T

These information here are what I’ve learnt from other people during the retreat as well as my own limited experience. So please take the content as just my own personal note diary and not a guide.

I also feel bad for writing this blog because I find it difficult to practice it myself, so I feel like a hypocrite. So just take this as my notes.

What to do before retreats:

Positive attitude and lifestyle matters:

What I’ve realised is how significant our lifestyle impacts on our meditation experience. How we live our lives and what we experience goes into our psyche or unconscious mind, and will impact our meditation experience.

If we have a harmful and toxic lifestyle, it will give rise to negative emotions that disturbs our meditation. For instance, we’d remorse for the bad things we’ve done or have disturbing flash back from the bad things we’d done. What we expose ourselves to also impact on our meditation, such as if we play games or watch movies that violent can give rise to distracting flash back or imagination during our.

On the other hand, if our lifestyle is positive and peaceful, our psyche or unconscious mind will be positive and peaceful, thereby giving us a better meditation experience. That is why spiritual practitioner live a lifestyle that is harmless (ahimsa), compassionate (karuna) and accord with sila (morality). These principles or lifestyle influence our mind in a positive way and avoid negative distraction during meditation. There our characteristic we can work on to build a good foundation for our spiritual practice.

What to prepare:

Here are list I came up with that is useful:

• Bring comfortable clothing (i.e. joggers) to feel comfortable when sitting in longer meditation
• Bring a note pad and pen (or use a notepad app). This is useful to help jot down notes and journal your thoughts. Keeping an experience of your thoughts can help with your introspection.
• Let people know you will be gone, such as your manager, family or close friends. This allows them to be aware not to disturb you.

Code of conduct during retreat:

Know the code of conduct of your setting:

It is important know the code of conduct in the setting you are doing your retreat. For instance, if it is in the monastery or temple, be aware that there are rules where men and women do not interact, to speak quietly in certain areas or being respectful towards monks and nun. It is important to be humble, considerate and not cause problems for other people.

Keep the moral conduct (precepts):

It is recommended to take a monastic precepts during your retreat as it will help you a lot. In particularly, the 8 precepts which involves:

• 5 precepts (not killing, not stealing, not committing sexual misconduct, not lying and not taking intoxicant including alcohol)
• Not eating at the wrong time,
• Abstinence from dancing, music, visiting shows, flowers, make-up, the wearing of ornaments and decorations
• Abstinence from a tall, high sleeping place

Taking upholding precepts will significantly help our meditation and spiritual development. There is a clear link between our action-speech and our mind. Negative action and speech will have negative impact in our mind. Without a solid grounding in morality and precept it is impossible to progress in meditation.

Precepts helps us avoid harming ourselves and others, so our meditation be inhibited by guilt trips or other negative afflictions followed by harming self and others.

The idea behind eating in right time and to avoid sleeping in tall bed is to avoid indulging in comfort. Being too comfortable will weaken our guard down, making us lazy, more greedy and seek more worldly desires. This will disturb the stillness and distract our from our meditation.

The reason for no entertainment such as music, dancing and live shows is to avoid stimulating the sense organs which may move our hearts from quiet stillness and provoke attachment and desire. We want to avoid as much sensual stimulation and attachment from the heart as possible.

The rationale for not wearing make up, jewellery or perfume is to avoid distracting other people’s meditation and thereby avoid stimulating of senses, creating desire and moving the mind. By not putting our energy on the external physical forms, also allows us to put all our attention and energy inwardly in our meditation.

Be humble and do not cause problem to others:

Being humble and having our ego tamed is important. Our ego is very dangerous if it is untamed, as we will cause problems to others, competitively compare with others, create jealousy, may cause us to obstruct others and create a lot of bad karma for ourselves. It also distract focus on looking inwardly and meditating.

Avoid don’t try to stand out or looking special. When it is time to eat then eat with others and if it is time to meditate then meditate with others.

Avoid distracting outlets:

The point of a retreat is to retreat from our worldly life and spend time with ourselves & work our spiritual development. The point of meditation is to close off our attachment to our senses and go inwardly. That is why we should to cut connection from the world by turn off any devices that may connect us to the outside world such as social media and avoid anything that may cause our attention to our mind such as entertainment. Spend time meditating and reflecting inwardly during the retreat without distraction.

Mindset to have during the retreat:

1. Gratitude and not to waste our precious time:

I tend to remind myself that if it very rare and special to have opportunity to go to retreats. I’d be grateful for the facilities available, food prepared and how clean the place is keep. Be grateful for the meditation hall where people can work together and build a massive positive energy where we can really open up and practice wholehearted without distraction and to really work on our spiritual training.

I’d also remind myself how our life is short and fleeting and how important it is to make the best of this rare opportunity to practice. It’s rare to encounter such opportunity so make the best of it!

2. Leave our worldly life outside the door:

It is important to make intentional effort to leave our worldly life outside the retreat place. In theory, be aware that there is nothing more important than our spiritual practice. It is best to enter with an empty cup, so that we can obtain the fresh water of spiritual practice. It is best to enter with an empty clear heart so that we can be receptive to the insight that may come.

3. Quiet the senses and draw attention inwardly:

It is important that we reserve our mental energy and focus on being mindful of our meditation topic and avoid focus on the outside too much. We want to not put attention in our senses but focus more on the meditation topic. Being attached to our sense can disturb the mind from inner peace. So avoid unnecessary talking, avoid being attached to things our us and avoid indulging in taste of food. I believe some people may call this practice reducing outflows and returning the light within (correct if I am wrong).

4. Be mindful:

Through out the day, be mindful for the meditation topic. For instance, if it is a silent meditation retreat be mindful of walking, sitting and breathing. If it is Buddha recitation retreat, be mindful of the Buddha, even outside the meditation hall such as when walking around. I have heard if we are mindful of the Buddha, the Buddha is mindful of us.

5. Go with faith and confidence (without doubting):

We need to have faith and confidence to give our 100% and to achieve the best result. If our mind is in constant doubt and question, it will create a lot of distracting thoughts and it will hinder our meditation. The irony is those with faith and confidence have better results in their practice. It may be difficult to do for some but leave the sceptical, critical and logical mind a side for a while until the retreat it over. There’s nothing to lose and a lot to gain from the experience.

6. Keep our ego in check and tamed:

Most of us have egos (unless we are a sage!) but it’s important to be aware of it and keep it in check and tamed. Unchecked ego is very detrimental to ourselves and others around us.

Competitively comparing ourselves with others may give rise to negative emotions such as jealousy, resentment, counter productive inferior complex and disruptive behaviour.  Ego takes us further away from the right spiritual path, close our mind to learn, it create more afflictions such as false identity of self and so unable to see our true nature and find peace.

7. Be patient – focus on the process (meditation) & not the outcome (awakening):

Be patient and focus on the process (work) and not the outcome (awakening). If we focus on the outcome, it would distract us from the work we need to put int and also make us more frustrated and further from peace. If you focus on the process (work), we will eventually get there. Also don’t be too impatient, our inner enlightened nature aren’t going away. Enjoy the journey and practice.

8. Be OK with a little discomfort:

A little discomfort is good for your spiritual practices. It prevents you from being too comfortable, thereby helps avoid being indulgent, greedy, attached and lazy. If you are slightly uncomfortable such as sitting in meditation for long hours, having one meal a day or sleeping on non-luxury beds, it will make you be more on guard and encourage to be less attachment to the sensual senses and focus on looking within.

Another great thing about being OK with some discomfort is freedom. You’ll have less limitation in general such as wear you sleep and what you eat.

NB: It is not wise to be ‘extremely’ comfortable as it can actually distract you from meditation and spiritual practice.

9. Don’t over push ourselves – keep the middle way:

Needless to say slacking is not good, but not much people know that over pushing ourselves (especially with a competitive and ego approach) is counter productive.

Generally speaking, is best to practice within our capacity that we can manage. If we over push ourselves with a crazy schedule, we are compromising the quality of our practice as we would be too tired, fatigue, potentially irritated and not at peace. Be disciplined, diligent and persistent but also realistic and manageable. Cultivation should be a marathon and not a sprint.

Preliminary practice before meditation:

Before meditation, here are a few practice that would help.

1. The Practice of Repentance:

One of the biggest distraction in meditation is our negative emotions, especially guilt embedded in our unconscious mind. Repentance practice is a way to remove these disruptive negative emotions.

Although repentance may be seen as a negative thing, as though we had done something really bad, it is really useful in clearing our conscience in an unconscious level. There may be trauma from guilt lingering in our unconscious mind we are unaware of. Repentance practice allows us to face it, repent, reform, put a closure and move on. It is also said repentance helps reduce our karmic obstruction so our meditation retreat will go more smoothly.

There are many method people use to repent, from different traditions. I personal practice the bowing in repentance method as it really humbles me and connects me to earth. Some people practice repentance for a week or more before a retreat. Others adopt repentance practice in the morning before the meditation or recitation sessions. A lot of people had said repentance practice really helps their retreat so I highly recommend it.

2. Be inspired and motivated:

It is easy to lose focus and momentum, especially in a new setting away from our home. It is important to remind ourselves of our purpose. It is also important to remind us to make the best of the precious opportunity and time we have in the meditation retreat.

Also, it is important to be understand, be inspired and be connected to our meditation topic. For instance, if we are doing a Buddha recitation retreat, before the session, remind yourself of the attributes of the Buddha,such as his compassion, wisdom, tranquillity and all those qualities you inspire to have. This will increase your inspiration, sincerity and connection to the actual practice. If you understand the characteristics and function of your meditation topic, you will build a stronger connection and it won’t feel like just words.

One way of helping with inspiration is reading the verse of praise which are usually found in liturgy. It’s an effective way inspiration and deepen our understanding & connection with the meditation topic.

Also, consider using verses inspire us by reminding how rare it is to encounter spiritual teaching and the opportunity to cultivate. So it inspires us to make the best of our time and situation. Verses for opening the sutras also serves that purpose.

Understand the mechanism behind meditation:

Meditation method:

There are various meditation techniques such as mindful breathing, audio meditation and visualisation. I personally like audio meditation (recitation) which mainly involves just reciting and listening to the sound.

I will not explain the actual meditation method in this post, mainly because I am not an expert, but I’d like to explain the theory or mechanism behind it. Please seek a meditation instructor to guide you or start from reading the ‘Meditation Handbook‘ which is free and downloadable.

If you are interested in the comparison between different meditation method, please see ‘Different types of meditation‘ post.

Mechanism behind meditation:

Just a reminder that I am a newbie in meditation and not at expert, so please take my limited understanding as just my own personal understanding from what I’ve heard.

The point of meditation (samatha meditation) is to focus on a single point as well as quieting our wild mind and reducing our attachment to our senses, emotions & false thoughts. Once our false thoughts, emotions and attachment to our senses are tamed and in control, then become the master of our own mind.

So in a sense, we aim not to be controlled, manipulated or being enslaved by our organ sense consciousness such as eyes (visual), ears (sounds), skin (feeling of touch on our skin) and tongue (taste). This also applies to own false thoughts from our brain organ. This means quieting down the scattered, over thinking, conceptualised and intellectualised part of our brain so that we can awaken the intuitive insight wisdom of our mind, which is our truer nature.

But please note that you do not lose your intellectual or analytical ability. It is only the matter of learning to switch different aspect of your mind. So when you are working you can use the analytical conceptualised part of your brain but when you are meditating you can use the intuitive part of your mind.

We also won’t be controlled by our emotional afflictions such as craving, addiction, anger, fear, anxiety and arrogance. By being focused a meditation topic, it weakens the wild negative emotional energy.

By understanding that emotion is not our friend or emotion is not our true inner nature but just a temporary storm cloud passing by, we no longer personally associate ourselves with it, thereby not being subjected to our own emotions enslavement. When the sky is cleared from stormy clouds can we see the bright sun (our true nature) which has always been there.

To take things further, we won’t be controlled by our own false ego that build a false constructed of reality and identity from our manipulated & ignorant perception. We aim to go pass that and see our true awakened nature which is true, bright and selfless. Easier said than done but that is the direction we aim for. I am pretty much clueless about this point.

With the yogacara consciousness model, meditation quiet down or in affect closes our sense organ consciousness (1st-6th consciousness) and at the same time allowing our inner unconscious mind (8th consciousness – a store house) leaks out, submerge or become more accessible. So things such as affliction from our unconscious mind may submerge, which give us the opportunity deal with it, heal it and transform our mind.

For instance, old trauma from our unconscious mind may arise, and it is a perfect opportunity for healing and transformation by just being mindful, bringing it into light and letting it go (using vispassana method). There may be tendencies we are unaware that submerge from our unconscious mind such as violence and lust. It essentially is a process of being mindful of own dust of affliction and sweeping it clean. It’s a cleansing or purification process that keeps our mind healthy and functional in a right way.

Another advantage of having a quiet mind from the meditation practice is that it helps us to pick up our false thoughts or emotion at an early stage before it builds up momentum and transformed into a wild, intense and uncontrollable emotional affliction. For instance we can sense slight irritation arises and stop it before it builds into wild rage of anger. It is easier to control at an early stage. And by just being mindful itself will weaken afflictions naturally.

Meditation is like a skill that keeps on getting better with more practice. The beginning stage might be difficult as there are a lot of surprising bad habits, afflictions and false thoughts popping up from no where. But over time if you keep practising and keep cleaning our mind, the mind becomes more peaceful, more happier in bliss and more connected to our truer nature. We be a master of your own mind.

Tips for meditation:

I don’t know all the points in meditation but here are a few important ones I’ve come across.

1. Be relaxed and upright: 

You want to enter into meditation being relaxed, calm and upright. Our mind and body influence each other. We don’t want our body to be tense as it may influence us t feels tensed, agitated and enclosed, which doesn’t help with our meditation.

We want to be relaxed and upright. Being relax keep us calm and being upright keeps up calmly alert and mindful. Keep our back straight. Be mindful if there are any tension in our body and then learn to relax it. Especially keep the face, neck and shoulders relaxed. When the body is relaxed, the mind becomes more open, receptive and tranquil.

What also helps with relaxation is taking three deep breath before meditating. It helps to refresh and calm us down.

2. Don’t be attached or have aversions:

When meditating, we want aim for calmness, stillness, tranquillity, and equanimity (calm composure). We don’t want be emotionally or mentally moved by attachment or aversion. This means don’t have likes or dislikes, attached love or hatred, and craving or feeling disgusted.

3. Tame your ego:

An untamed ego is very detrimental to our spiritual path. Make sure our ego is tamed. This means if we experience a sense of bliss or experience some auspicious vision (whether project from our unconscious mind or real), do not be attached to it and do not think you have reached enlightenment or that we are special. As soon as you think you are special and enlightened, we transgress. In a way, it is rather like a spiritual sin to assume you are enlightened when you are not. Just don’t be attached to any states no matter how good it feels or looks, just keep calm and continue with the meditation practice.

4. Don’t be attached to any states you encounter:

As we advance in mediation, we are likely to experience different states. We should be pleased in the sense that something is working but we should not seek for it as states are illusion arising from our unconscious mind, karma or external influences which distracts us from returning to real awakening and finding our true inner nature.

When we encounter any kind of states, keep a still and not moving heart. So do not react or cling to it otherwise we’d get stuck in karmic illusion and unable to spiritually progress. Do not react in fear, excitement and being overjoyed by whatever you see. Even if Buddha appears in your states do not feel overjoyed. Also to not analyse and try to understand your state as that is also attachment.

It is important not to be arrogant and egoistical (full of yourself or think you are special) when you see states. For example, if you see yourself surrounded by angels or deities and they show their respect to you, if you think you are great or think you are enlightened, you will transgress and lose your way from the true path.

Keep a humble heart and be normal about any states you may experience. Recognise that these states that our projection from unconscious mind, karmic illusion or external influences, and just continue with your meditation practice until you reach true awakening. Seek a real master if you are serious about it as it is very important to be under a guidance of real meditation practitioner who are grounded in precept and morality.

5. Dealing with our affliction is more productive than experiencing states during meditation:

As I have mentioned above, we should not be attached to states. It is not a bad thing, in fact it shows something seems to be working but it’s important not to get attached to it.

But it’s important to know that true progression is when we are working on our afflictions and it isn’t always a pleasant and easy process. Just how a great workout session isn’t always easy as we need to put in the work in. So a sign of a good meditation session is when we are battling your own inner demons/afflictions and transforming it.

Cultivation is bitter sweet. There is a lot of bitterness in the work, especially when dealing with our afflictions but the reward is very sweet and worth it.

6. Our emotion, thoughts and false identity is not us – do not cling to it but let it go:

During meditation we may feel a certain emotion or have certain thoughts whether it is pleasant or not. One of a mistake is thinking we are identified that emotional state or thoughts and end up being overwhelmed with guilt or shame. Don’t feel bad or too a shame about your inner shadows. Remind yourself that these emotions and false thoughts are not you. Do not identify yourself with these afflicted experiences. Be mindful, be unattached, let it go and continue with your practice.

7. Meditate or recite until everything else fades away:

You want to meditate or recite in a way that you are only focused in the meditation topic that everything else no longer distracts you or exist in your mind. Perhaps I could say recite until the four marks of existence no longer exist in our mind? It is said once there is no self and no others, can we recite in ease.

8. Be patient, focus on the work process (meditation) and not the results (enlightenment):

Again, as I have said above, you need to have focus on the work (meditation) and not concern yourself with the outcome. If we focus on the outcome, it would distract us from the work we need to put int and also make us more frustrated and further from peace. If you focus on the process (work), we will eventually get there. Also don’t be too impatient, our inner enlightened nature.

9. Keep an ordinary and levelled mind:

Don’t seek for things that are extravagant, special, unique, amazing or grand. Don’t be greedy and seek for spiritual powers or majestic things. This kind of greed and seeking mind will get us in a lot of trouble and take us away from the right spiritual path.

Keep an ordinary and levelled mind. True awakening is within us, and so we don’t want to seek outside. As spiritual master usually say, ‘the spiritual path is found in the ordinary mind‘.

What to do if we encounter problems:

Experiencing afflictions is perfectly normal – don’t be afraid, be patient & keep going:

We may experience afflictions arising from no where or our old unresolved afflictions coming back during meditation is perfectly normal, especially at the beginning. It is important to know that meditation does not create these afflictions, but rather it has always been there but we had not noticed it until now. Why is this the case? When our mind becomes more quiet, we become more aware and receptive to our unconscious mind hidden in the back.

As explained above in the meditation mechanism section above, as we meditate, we quiet down or close our sense organ consciousness and this allows our unconscious mind (8th consciousness – store house) to leak out or be more noticeable. We can see things from our deeper state we had not noticed before. It is like getting a torch light and shining it into our dark dusty minds.

This is a good thing because it allows us to recognise our inner afflictions and so we can begin to deal with it. In other words, if we know our problem then we can start to solve them; or if we know our illness then we can start to treat them. In this case, once we know our affliction we remove it. It is a purification process of our minds.

Like anything, the beginning may be difficult over over time it will get better. As we remain patient and continue to meditate without attachment or aversion, our wild mind quiet down, our afflictions gradually cease and we find inner peace and bliss.

How we deal with our affliction is up to whatever method we want to use:

The method in which we deal with our afflictions that arises is really up to what meditation method we decide to use. For instance if we use recitation or shamatha meditation we simply just refocus our attention back to the meditation topic. If we are practising vispassana meditation we use our non-judgemental observation, see it as it is and let it go. This helps give us better insight in the true nature of reality knowing the three mark of existence (impermanence, unsatisfactory/suffering and non-self).

By being aware of our negative states, letting go and focusing on the meditation topic, it is a cleansing and transforming process. It just means progress so keep going, keep meditating.

When we start out meditating, it is natural and normal for affliction to start to arise from no where. For example, we may experience thoughts of violence or lust. It does not mean meditation is causing us think of violent or lusty things, it is actually us who are more aware of the

Remind yourselves that afflictions are not you and it is impermanent:

Understanding the nature of afflictions helps us manage them better. I remind myself of the three mark of existence: impermanence, unsatisfactory/suffering and non-self. So afflictions (false thoughts and wild negative emotions) is not our true self (non-self) and it is impermanent.

By knowing afflictions (of false thoughts and emotions) is not our true selves, we no longer feel personally associated with it or attached to it and we can easily let it go. By knowing afflictions are impermanent (it comes and goes) we aren’t flustered or overwhelmed by it. We just patiently wait under the storm subside.

Learn to be your own good coach with positive attitude – be disciplined, diligent, patient, kind & gentle, non-judgemental & take responsibility:

We need to learn to be a good coach to ourselves if we want to be successful in meditation. How we handle problem we encounter can make us success or a failure. As I have mention earlier, positive attitude and lifestyle outside meditation matter because it will influence how we handle ourselves in meditation.

If we harbour negative attitude and mindset then it will have a negative impact in our meditation. That is why it is important to work on our positive attitude and lifestyle if we want to be successful.

Here are a few attitude or mindset that is useful in our meditation, especially when encounter afflictions and difficulties:

• Discipline: Discipline means making sure we stick to our  meditation schedule no matter how we feel and we keep focus on practice. This could also means being discipline to maintain composure and equanimity in the face of afflictions.
• Diligence: Diligence mean we don’t slack or be lazy but willingly keep the energy and momentum of our practice going. We diligently meditate and deal on our afflictions without retreating.
• Patient: When we encounter afflictions in meditation, we do not lose our patient and give up, but we patiently endure it and see it through using our meditation tools.
• Be kind & gentle: If we encounter afflictions, we shouldn’t beat ourselves up over it. This approach is counter productive and waste of energy. Being kind & gentle by not brutally punishing ourselves but give us time to make mistake, learn and grow.
• Don’t be judgemental: When we are too judgemental, when we experience afflictions we will hate ourselves, perhaps not forgive ourselves, identify ourselves as a bad person or reactive negatively in whatever form. It is important to not be too judgemental and just see it as not good or bad but see it as wise or foolish. It is also important understand we are all still learning, making mistake and growing in the practice so don’t be too quick to judge and label ourselves. See the way it is at that time but know there’s room for growth.
• Take responsibility and stop blaming others: If we blame others for our afflictions and harbour resentment, it means we take no responsibility and no ownership over it, therefore we won’t be in control and we can’t deal with it. If we understand the law of karma and we learn to take responsibility for our own afflictions, we can be in a better position to transform it.

These positive attitude makes our meditation practice a lot more better. Remember that our attitude and lifestyle not only seeps into our meditation practice but all aspect of our lives. So work on these attitude and principles in our normal lives.

Using mantras or prayers:

If we encounter a negative afflictions or states that are too overwhelming, using special mantra or prayer can be useful. It could be as simple as reciting the sacred name of Buddha. The idea is to brings positive energy and light to remove the negative energy. We can also consider it as a positive distraction that create blessing.

Practice of Repentance:

As I have mentioned above in the preliminary practice, repentance is an amazing and an effective tool to reduce our negative karma and thereby reducing our afflictions. If we find yourself overwhelmed by an on going affliction, it could be related to negative karma. Practice of repentance helps to reduce the negative karma. So spend some time practising repentance and before meditation practice.

How do we transition back to the normal life after a retreat?

Transition gradually:

We should ‘gradually’ transition back to our normal life. After the retreat, our mind and sense consciousness are more quiet, still and at peace, so we don’t want to transition too quickly.

You may also noticed you are attracting certain people in your life because they are subconsciously attracted to your inner light and vibes. Because you meditate and withdraw your attention from your the outside and quiet your sense consciousness, you are able to store light energy within yourself.

Try to not expose yourself to too much people at the beginning and try not to move your attention outside of yourself such as your eyes consciousness being attentive to things or people around you. Learn to keep your mind not too open.

Keep the momentum going:

The retreat allows you to experience the deeper state of meditation that you won’t be able to experience in a normal setting. Hopefully you can get to this deeper state of meditation quicker and make more advancement in your next retreat.

I suggest keeping the momentum going by incorporating meditation in your lifestyle. Consider scheduling meditation in your morning or weekend meditating. Perhaps incorporate practice in your commute to work if it is public transport, do mindful walking to work or do chores whilst practising chanting.

A great way to encourage us to keep practising is to join a meditation or recitation. There are even meditation that is organised online.

We should remind ourselves that cultivation is a marathon and not a sprint. Being disciplined, diligent and doing the fixed amount of time (no matter how little) is better than being sporadic, irregular and intense in practice. Discipline, diligence and persistance are key attributes for any successful.

Tweak your lifestyle:

After tasting how peaceful and blissful life is like in the monastery, why not incorporate some of it’s elements in our normal life?

We could do this by incorporating precepts in our lives. We can incorporate a more compassionate lifestyle by practising harmless living (ahimsa) and moral precepts (especially the 5 precepts). Don’t forget that morality and precepts are the foundation, and without a strong foundation we can’t progress in meditation.

We can also practice some of the elements from the 8 precepts that encourages us to not overly indulge in comfort or entertainment and allow us to be OK with a little discomfort. For example, we can avoid sleeping in luxury bed, reduce our entertainment time or put less effort in our fashion & beauty.

We can also make our lifestyle more simpler by practising some minimalism. By keeping our home simplistic and uncluttered, it helps our mind to feel less cluttered, scattered or distracted. We also don’t have to deal with the emotional attachment with owning too much possession so we feel free and less bound to a place. Knowing the difference between want and need is also important in our spiritual development.

Add the next retreat in your Calendar!:

If we feel that the retreat has improved our lives and well being, then they why not go again? Making a retreat a regular thing is a great idea. We’d have something to look forward to. It’s also a good motivator for you too keep practising so we can be better in our next retreat. Being a regular also helps you get to know other regulars, be more involved with the community of like minded people and help you find good friends along the way.