Meditation Retreat DIY Experiment

Strict cancellation policy on airBnb.
No turning back now.

We are going to try a week long silent meditation retreat but without the structure and guidance provided by a meditation center.

This is going to be different from my first and only retreat in at least three ways. No teachers, no enforced schedule, and the fact that we will know the other participants.

Of these three, the one that I think could change the experience for the worse is the latter. The fact that we know each other might limit our ability to quiet the mind. I think a lot of the power of being on retreat is the calming effect of anonymity. I know for myself, many of the 'monkey mind' though patterns involve those people I know and who are around me. I have far fewer strong social thoughts and my mind is quieter working in a crowed cafe surrounded by strangers than I am at home with a friend or loved one. We shall see.

Other than that the structure and environment should be fairly easy to recreate. With the internet we have access to the best guided meditations and meditation teachers in the world. And with oatmeal and pasta we have the staples of the yogi diet.


This is an experiment in two things: seeing how structure influences my behavior and seeing just how curious I really am about my mind. I hope that if all goes well - with only one hour of airBnb planning and one or two trips to the market - we will have the chance to re-create (both in the sense of recreating a real meditation retreat and in the sense of being able to create it when ever where ever) a truly unique experience. An experience that helped me slow down enough to see things just a bit more clearly.