What a 7-day silent meditation retreat is really like
And why I've done them twice a year for 8 years – a guest column
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Welcome to guest writer season here on A Day Well Spent — For a few weeks while I’m on the road, I am publishing some brilliant columns from guest writers and I’m so excited to share their voices with you.
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What a 7-day silent meditation retreat is really like
And why I've done them twice a year for 8 years
by Tuğba Avci
Would you spend your precious vacation waking up at 5am to meditate for 10 hours a day, with no talking and no reading?
Let me guess: it’s a hard no.
This has been my life for the past eight years. At least twice a year, I use my annual holiday to go on a silent meditation retreat, which some may know as Vipassana1.
My friends have called me crazy. Horrified, they have questioned my sanity: “Are you really using your paid annual holiday to be in prison?”
Let me explain.