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.