I did this 10 day retreat and it turned my life around for the better. I wasn't having any life shattering problems, but was just uncomfortable with my life, e.g. confused about career and whether I should stay with my girlfriend.<p>I did not feel that it was cultish or strong-arm-y at all. Yes, they have rules, but most of them really do help with meditation or they are just cultural rules, which is fine. If I go to church, even though I don't believe it, I'm ok with dressing decently, sitting where I'm supposed to and not yelling in the middle of it. They even tell you that you don't have to chant if you don't want to (I never did.)<p>Keep in mind that this is all volunteer run, so your experience will vary based on who is managing the course as well as the location of the course. So your experience with a strict course manager/teacher will be different with someone more chill.<p>I pointed my feet at the TV all the time and no one ever gave me crap about it.<p>At the end of the day you get 10 days of meditation teaching, lodging and food for free. If you get nothing out of Vipassana, at least you got to learn how to be away from everything for 10 days.<p>I got that and much more from the experience.
As always, the HN crowd gravitates towards the negative (strong-arm-y, cultish etc.) instead of looking at the entire package and focusing on putative benefits. Just because you don't like the wrapper don't mean the candy ain't tasty (or nutritious or enjoyable)! Pffft! HN, get a grip. Hack your mind, don't give in before you even try! I know, skeptic is the new smart, but that shouldn't be an excuse to summarily discount an idea/concept/practice.
I have always been suspicious of those new age/meditation/etc. resorts.<p>This really shows off the ability to use the Rap Genius platform to annotate writing; I wish there were something like Goedel Escher Bach Genius.
The last section on cultish teachings seems like a deal breaker for me. I've read this a couple times and I just want to go to this place, and meditate in a safe place.<p>I don't really want to be preached to.
Is there a way to get similar introduction to meditation without spending 10 days on it in a wild and listening to all that chanting? Some kind of good old western rational approach to it.
I did the 10 days too and even though it was a great exercise it didn't really change anything in my life. I assume it is because I have always been a calm person.