Meditate at a monastery in Nepal

“Light of Path retreat was an intensive retreat that started at 5:30 a.m. and ended at 8:30 p.m. I personally found sleep deprivation the hardest part of the retreat since I slept just 4–5 hours each day. As I was staying at a place outside of the monastery, there were a lot of city noises and dogs barking. It made it very difficult for me to have some quality rest. I also felt that it impacted the quality of my meditation and my health in general. Apart from that, I enjoyed my stay a lot. The course content was focused on Lam-Rim — a gradual path of enlightenment. We chanted a lot of prayers and meditated a lot as well. I felt that meditation came very naturally to me since the place had such a powerful energetic presence — it had a complete serenity and calmness. While the city centre of Kathmandu is full of buzz, the monastery in the mountains is an island of tranquillity and contemplation. Even animals entered the gompa to meditate together with us, which was truly beautiful.”

“During the whole course I felt non-stop tired, like I wanted to close my eyes and lie down. Partly because my nights were full of intense dreams about the past and my childhood. I also felt very restless, not at peace as I had felt in India before. The meditations and silence were bringing a lot of things to the surface, memories from the past, good and bad, unhealthy patterns, outdated subconscious beliefs. It felt like I was turned inside out.”