I'll take the goat please...

It's interesting what length Indians will go to make a rupee. I've been offered a gold earring right off the ear of a bead seller on the beaches of Goa. I've been offered to buy a boat, to paddle around on the Ganges, and a baby goat off the ghats of Varanasi. Recently I was asked if I wanted to buy a tractor. I look at the crazed Indians and think to myself, what shall I do with a crusty fake gold earring, a boat, a baby goat, or a fucking tractor? I guess I could see India, while wearing a crusty fake gold earring, with a baby goat in hand behind the wheel of a tractor, which could pull my boat... Getting back to the entrance of my nose...

After our two hour breakfast and sleep break, the gong rang again at 7:50am. Once again the annoying hand held bell was heard and I pulled myself out of bed and made my back to the Meditation Hall, for our morning group sitting. We have three group sittings a day, which means students are not allowed to leave the meditation hall under any circumstances, unless maybe, you're about to shit your pants. There is one at 8am, the next at 2:30pm, and the last at 6pm. As an old student you are aware that in a few days, you will not be allowed to change your position during these three hour group sits. So, with this in mind, my ego would not allow me to change my position, even though I was allowed too. With a large wool blanket wrapped around my head, I sat on my cushion with closed eyes, sitting still for the next hour, trying to focus my attention on the entrance of my nose. At 9:00am our group sitting ended and we were allowed a 5 minute break. Because I had no feeling in my lower legs, due to the long undisturbed sit, I nearly fell over, while limping out of the hall. Shortly after 9am we were summoned, by bell, back to the hall. Shortly after taking our places on our cushions, the old students were called out of the hall, and brought to the pagoda. A pagoda is a structure that houses numerous separate meditation cells. As I opened the door to my assigned cell and made my way into the 4 by 5 foot cell, I thought to myself how insane this was. I was going to spend the next 9 days sitting in a cell? I closed the creaky door and sat on my cushion with closed eyes for the next two hours, facing the center of the Pagoda, wishing I were anywhere but here.

In short, this madness of breaks and meditation sits continued all day, totaling up to 10 hours of meditation, for nine days in silence, with different instructions given daily.

Let's say by day five, my thoughts of leaning forward and doing hand stands, changed to thoughts of leaning forward and smashing my skull against the ground...I love Vipassana...To be continued...xoxo