The picture on the top is not just a picture of the sky. It’s a picture of the sky I was staring for hours after I got out from a Vipassana retreat.
OK, what is Vipassana, you may ask. It’s a retreat than can last from days to months, where you are totally disconnected from the world: you don’t have access to internet, books, radio, tv, you are not allowed to speak to each other and you meditate about 12 hours/day.
It’s a huge challenge. First, you ask yourself why are you there. Why you decided to wipe out some days from your life and do absolutely nothing. After a few days, you start thinking at your past. A few days later, you start to plan your future. Your mind goes crazy.
Second week, when your mind had enough of thinking, planning, wondering, you finally start relaxing. And that’s when the magic starts happening. It’s very hard to slow down your mind, not to think at something specific, to keep the same pose for hours, to relax and enjoy the silence. Once you do that, you can finally feel alive, take some time with you and feel your breathing, your body, enjoy a simple a walk in the forest and feel the world in a different way.
That sky on the top looked different after 10 days of meditation, the road back home felt like a week road trip, even if it lasts just a few dozens minutes. Trees looked different, the flowers were brighter and my connection with people around me got a lot more deeper.
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