Silence is Golden: Part 1

I participated in a 10 day silent meditation retreat last week and thought I'd post some anecdotes...

Now to clarify, yes, a 10 day silent retreat means no talking for 10 days. But it also means no eye contact, gestures, physical contact, reading, writing, or exercising. Waking up at 4:00am and going to bed at 9:00pm with just under 11 hours a day of meditation.

Because its necessary to be comfortable sitting for 11 hours a day, most of us wore sweats around while a few wore skirts or pajama pants. Having to take our shoes on and off every time we entered a building, we would, on average...take our shoes on and off 200 times a day. So slip-on shoes were essential. I had to laugh at one point though because at any given time of the day, you could look around and see people walking around wearing crazy pajama pants tucked into their cowboy boots or old-lady slippers, wandering around the grounds by themselves and possibly even mouthing thoughts. At many times I realized it could have easily been mistaken for a mental institute!