Psychic surgery

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Ten days of silence and meditation in the foothills of the Himalayas, surrounded by pine forests, with the silence punctuated only by the cry of an eagle, the chatterings of passing monkeys or the far off shouts of the village children. Fantastic, I thought...some peace and quiet and an opportunity to explore the infinity within.

Once again, my preconceptions were proven to be more than a little wrong. Waking up at 4 am every day to do ten hours of deep meditation, with only 2 meals a day (dinner was only a snack at 5pm), was anything but the easy, chilled time I thought the experience would be. But the hardest part by far was dealing with all the limiting and negative thoughts and patterns I had unwittingly stored up over the past 27 years.

The goal is to free ourselves from living in a reactionary state, where we simply respond to external stimuli, or thoughts, through our feelings or actions. Many of us are unaware of how much we are slaves to our subconcious minds and all the conditioning we have accumulated therein. It has been estimated that up to 90% of our waking thoughts and actions are dictated by this portion of our minds, without conscious direction or choice. One can however, through clearing these patterns, eventually live in a state of calm awareness of the present, unhindered by uncontrollable thoughts of the past or some external future object or experience that will determine our happiness. Life then becomes a beautiful flow where contentment is felt from moment to moment.

I had no idea how much of my actions and so called habits are controlled by the unconcious mind, which is actually concious all the time, just below the surface of our waking awareness.

The technique is a simple, yet powerful method of crossing the bridge between the concious and unconcious mind, and goes to the depths of the unconcious, eradicating the limiting thought patterns that we have created. It allows one to develop in wisdom through understanding the nature of reality at the subtlest level, and the impermanence of everything occurring in the world around us. Eventually, one reaches a realization of the one true source of happiness, that part of you that is eternal and unchanging.

The method changes the way that you interact with experiences, such that you can enjoy things, but don't crave them in their absence, or you can dislike something, but not live in fear of it.

Of course, enlightenment is not gained over ten days, but I gained so much insight and released so much negativity over that time, I came out like a new man, so much lighter and clearer. Fear, anger, craving, depression, anxiety, uncertainty, joy, peace, contentment; you name it, I felt it during that time. Memories from childhood and long-suppressed incidences of hurt or anger surfaced and were released. I almost left, twice, but thankfully I made it through, and it was so worth it, because I have never felt such stillness and sublime peace and clarity before.

I feel grateful to have learn't such a valuable way to transcend the limts of the mind. Even if it doesn't take me all the way, the benefits are, for me, worth the effort. From the people who ran the course, as volunteers, to the wizend old teacher (stereotypical grey beard, white robes..hilarious), to the fact that the whole course is free, I was truly touched at the way this teaching is intended just to help.

Although I still feel the trials and tribulations of life, it is with greater calmness, more wisdom and a knowing that I have ultimate control of my destiny. Of course this is just one path out of many to the same destination. However, if anyone's keen on some self-surgery of the mind, you can check out www.dhamma.org, but be warned, like all really powerful growth experiences, it doesn't come with aneasthetic!

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Photos

Open mike at community cafe
This dude is a street performer who's been travelling the world performing for nine years. Sat next to me thru the whole course...I didn't have a clue what a clown he was.