I Became a Monk for 10 Days so You Don't Have To

The Vipassana meditation retreat was one of the most impactful perspective shifting experiences of my life.

You're in a forest, you see men around but they’re acting strange. They walk silently. No one has a phone, none of them are taking pictures, and all of them are avoiding each other. They randomly stop and stare at a tree, or a leaf, or bask in the sunlight for 10 minutes without moving.

This might seem unusual for the world we live in — we are used to people rushing about, walking fast, using phones all of the time, listening to music, reading books, etc. But this is the whole point of being at a meditation retreat, to focus on your mind.

I spent 10 days at a meditation centre, disconnected from the world with nothing but my own thoughts. No phone, no books, no writing, no music, not even a single decoration in my room. Full disconnection.

The experience was one of a kind and something that I didn't expect to have such an influence on how my brain works.

In this article, I’ll go over the different aspects that made up my experience.

Aspect 1 — No Social Interactions

After filling out entry forms and checking in we made an oath in the meditation hall to comply with the rules and keep the Noble Silence for 10 days. There are around 50 men and 50 women, but pretend that you are here all alone.

It's not allowed to:

• talk to each other

• touch each other

• maintain eye contact or any kind of communication (even snowmen were destroyed by the manager)

With just a few exceptions: we could talk to our manager (any kind of logistics, like my broken alarm clock) and our teacher (during smaller group and individual sessions).

We are social creatures, and our survival depends on the people around us. But here, the mind is free from endless calculations about whether you should like these people, or predict their behaviours.

The whole brain module responsible for social interactions is shut down.

In the whole facility, you can’t greet anyone, you don’t thank people for holding doors, and you ignore everyone around you. I enjoyed the silence in the dining area — only the sounds of cutlery and people eating apples far too loudly

I was there with my friend, we came together by car, we knew each other for 10 years but we ignored each other completely for 10 days. We will never have an awkward silence between us again — it's cured.

Aspect 2 — No signals & No planning

No signals are coming to your brain from the outside world. You have no phone, no books, no music, and no sound except lectures and guided meditations.

There is no need for planning for the future.

Everything happens according to the plan. You wake up at 4:00 to the sound of a gong, then morning meditation starts at 4:30 and lasts for two hours. After that, there is breakfast, followed by more meditations with breaks for food and short rest periods in between. I went to sleep after 9:00 pm. You follow the same schedule every day, meditating for around 10–11 hours daily.

Even when walking outside, the paths are marked, so you won’t get lost. Signs show where you can go and where the boundaries are.

Thanks to a lack of signals and planning, your brain is getting sharper every day.

The side effect is that the world outside becomes gradually more interesting. You start to notice that every tree is different, how sun rays pass through the leaves, and so much more. Once, I was so amazed at how green one specific moss was, for me it was the greenest thing I’d seen for a while, so I lowered myself down to touch it.

Aspect 3 — The Hard Work, Meditation

Thanks to the designed environment your brain is getting better at perceiving sensations coming from your body.

I expected to relax, reflect on my life plans, and get some rest. I was completely wrong. It was hard work for more than 10 hours every day.

We meditated for most of the day. During the first 3 days, we were focusing on observing our breath. No visualisations, no counting, no words, just observation — that's it. It was amazing to see how gradually it was much easier and more detailed.

The lectures introduced the concept of impermanence, that everything that you experience does not last, it’s all changing. Our goal was to experience it first-hand by observing our breath.

Every day was so demanding when it came to brain work, so I fell asleep right after my head was touching the pillow.

I missed talking so I was a frequent visitor to our teacher in the 1:1 session. Once, I asked him about the definition of happiness. He paused, smiled and said immediately: Happiness is the state when you feel no cravings or aversions — that’s it.

Aspect 4 — Overcoming Challenges

We continued focusing on the breath for three days, and on the 4th day, they introduced us to Vipassana meditation. The most important practice of the retreat, and we did that until the end.

It's a body scan, but you do not visualise anything. Go through your body and observe any kind of sensations you are experiencing. Just observe, do not judge, and do not try to change them. Do not fight them. Understand that it’s all temporary, it’ll be all gone, and change.

Thanks to an environment that was shaped and the practice of breathing, I was amazed to feel many more sensations in my body than before. I was able to feel my heartbeat, pulsing veins, any kind of subtle ticks or touches everywhere.

Doing a body scan is not that hard, but the tricky part was that it was "The sitting of strong determination" — we needed to keep the same position, not change our leg position and arms for 60 minutes with eyes closed. The first run was one of the longest 60 minutes in my life. It’s not torture, so if the pain is unbearable don’t worry and change the position, that’s fine.

During Vipassana meditation, you learn to observe pain without reacting to it. It is difficult at first, but it gets easier. In my first session, I was sure the teacher had forgotten to start the timer — it felt like much more than 60 minutes!

The only similar experiences I had before were tough races — a half marathon and a fast 10k. In those, I felt a similar level of pain but also a rush of dopamine at the finish line.

One of the best moments was when I no longer felt the pain, even though I knew it was still there. I had no desire to stop it. After an hour I kept sitting in the same position for a few more minutes enjoying the state when the pain did not have any effect on me, even if I knew it was there.

Vipassana is described as the meditation of eradicating suffering or the art of living. For me, there is something to it. I felt much lighter, and calmer after these sessions. Being able to just observe my body sensations, including intense pain, and then not react to them was an amazing experience.

Lessons

The environment of the retreat allowed us to experience in practice how the brain operates:

Do not react immediately to anything — the practice helps create a buffer between events and your reactions. It helps with Pausing (decision-making superpower).

Observe desires and cravings — I started to clearly notice my cravings and simply observe them. I also realised that pain becomes easier to handle when you understand that the real struggle is not the pain itself, but your desire for it to stop. Over time, I became more aware of how desires form in my mind and how I can manage them. By focusing on the idea of impermanence and understanding that everything changes, I saw that both pain and cravings eventually disappear

Sensations exist everywhere in the body — a lot happens in the body. In the last few days, I was able to notice many sensations whenever I focused my attention. I could feel temperature changes, pulsing veins, slight tickling, and even the exact rhythm of my heartbeat and blood flow.

Preparation makes things easier — as a runner, I knew sitting for long periods would be a challenge. The retreat opens for applications three months in advance. When I signed up, I could barely sit cross-legged for more than 10 minutes. So, I consulted a yoga teacher and followed a set of exercises. I also practiced sitting daily while writing or working on my computer. It helped — by the time the retreat started, I could sit for about an hour.

People can talk to trees — at least, I did. I met a birch tree named Rosie. My bored mind needed entertainment, so every morning at 4:30, on my way to meditation, I greeted Rosie and wished her a good day. I even reminded her of my name and how many days had passed.

Days After

Getting back to the outside world wasn’t a smooth experience. Our brains were overwhelmed by so many simulations, first when we stopped for a coffee, then in the restaurants, and gas stations — on our way back home.

My observations after leaving the centre, after a few days:

• The real world is much more interesting than any kind of social media app feed, but it needs to be seen.

• For the first few days, I was deeply focused on everything I did. But gradually, my mind returned to its pre-retreat state.

• Food tastes much better when you solely focus on eating.

• I can’t watch movies or TV shows anymore. I lose interest after a few minutes. Books feel more engaging because they allow my mind to create the world rather than just consume it.

• I was cured from following the news — when I got back I just checked the USD price to Polish Zloty, it was fine so the world is fine. My friends tried to convince me that aliens had arrived, but then the USD price would have changed. I still haven't read the news.

• I became more aware of my body’s sensations. Sometimes, I focus on my breath without even realising it.

Summary

I became a monk for 10 days so you don't have to. But honestly, I think you should.

This kind of experience changed my perception like no other experience I had an opportunity to live through. I’m going to do that again.

Thanks for reading,

— Michał

P.S. I focused on describing my experience, but if you want to learn more, visit the foundation website: https://www.dhamma.org. You can listen to an interview with our teacher Udo Marquardt. Also, If you have any kind of specific questions — Leave a comment or reach out to me.

P.P.S. I wrote this article after having over 10 meetings with my amazing friends, who were curious and reached out to ask about my experience. All of these conversations over the past two weeks helped shape this article. Thanks for that!