Episode 10 – Retreats

Meditation retreats are generally a good thing for most people, but aren’t without their dangers. They can be really hard to get through – but can give you great results!

We talk about the risks, the potential benefits, the general format of most courses, the physical and mental challenges, and specifically what we’ve learnt from attending the Goenka Vipassana Foundation 10 day courses.

Daniel Ingram’s “Health warnings for meditation” gets a mention!

Audio Version

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Subscribe Links

• Our interview with Daniel Ingram – for more on the risks and benefits of meditation.
• Global Vipassana foundation site
• UK Vipassana foundation

Transcript

(First 40 minutes only – that’s what we get for free from Otter app )

Bill Tribble 0:08
Well, welcome. Welcome everyone to another episode of The Awake In podcast.

My name is Bill Tribble. And this is Jasmine.

Jasmine Che 0:19
Jasmine che. Jasmine che,

Bill Tribble 0:24
che, che, I’m pronouncing your name right. I’ve known you for over a year. Che. Che Yeah. And we’re going to talk today about things you should consider

Jasmine Che 0:36
before going on a meditation retreat. Yes. So this will be meditation retreats of any kind, long and short. The longest you’ll likely be able to go on is a 10 day course.

Bill Tribble 0:53
And it’s quite likely that you’re considering going on one that’s run by the Goenka-ji Vipassana Foundation,

Jasmine Che 1:00
or one which is quite cheap, from any of the kinds of Buddhist centres available in and around the UK, or around

Bill Tribble 1:12
the world, maybe around the world, maybe even do some spiritual tourism in Thailand for a month. Who knows, maybe you’re gonna go on a extended yoga retreat.

Jasmine Che 1:24
But specifically, we’re likely just talking about meditation retreats, yoga may fall into a little bit of this, because some will have meditation. But we’ll be covering yoga, and other spiritual practices on another episode. Here, we’d like to really just give you a comprehensive introduction, and kind of detailed caveats and concerns and shared experiences of what to consider before going on one, whether it’s the right thing for you what some of the risks are, and if you might be ready for it. So Bill, would you like to start off with what some first considerations you would be thinking about?

Bill Tribble 2:26
So the impetus for this conversation is partly Daniel Ingram, who, who I’ve heard say many times that, you know, as a doctor himself, he was a, an emergency doctor in America, that meditation should come with a health warning. Like any any medicine he gives to someone, you do this kind of, I forget the exact name for it, but like the risks and opportunities thing that you talk through potential problems that might happen, and the potential benefits of this medicine. And that that’s the main thing that I like to kind of promote in the conversation is that no type of meditation is without some risk. And the risks are very small. And generally, the benefits are worth it. But it’s something that everybody should be aware of before they undertake any sort of meditation, even a half hour session. Because it does happen that, that these traditional spiritual practices do sometimes yield traditional spiritual results, even in small doses. And those experiences can be very disruptive and even deadly for people who weren’t really expecting them or prepared for them.

Jasmine Che 3:56
Yeah, so I think it’s just as a word of caution, because this is generally otherwise, not so spoken about. Likely, and we’ve spoken and Bill has, and in other episodes, we have spoken about this. So we won’t go too much into again, why we can refer back to other episodes. Like the last episode, we went into this even on the one with Daniel Ingram, specifically on going his retreats. So we won’t really say everything, but we’ll try to be as comprehensive as possible.

Bill Tribble 4:40
Yeah, we’ll do our best. I mean, I think it’s safe to say that neither of us are massive experts on this stuff, but um, I’ve done several retreats in the going good tradition. And Jasmine, you’ve done a few as well. Yeah. And it’s

Jasmine Che 4:58
and some other retreats. Yeah. and some others.

Bill Tribble 5:01
And I think that that’s kind of the main thing that I wanted to flag here is that it is something that’s safe and beneficial for most people. The, to their credit, the Vipassana Foundation, and perhaps it was purely out of necessity, say that the courses are not suitable for anyone with mental health issues.

Jasmine Che 5:25