vipassana means to see things as they are. i have done two 10-day courses (2025, 2026).
the rules
hand over your phone and books
no talking for 10 days
no reading, no writing
no dinner, only evening snacks
about 11 hours of meditation a day
how it went, the first time
day 1-3 : constant office thoughts. thought these folks did not know what they were doing.
day 4 : okay, they might be onto something. gazillion ideas in my head.
day 6 : okay, they are really onto something.
day 7 : what a feeling. my entire body felt like part of a bigger ecosystem.
day 9 : one more day and i will be a free man.
day 10 : why is it so bright? why is there so much noise?
what stayed with me
we think we want peace of mind. what we actually need is peace from mind.
the second time
10 days of no talking and no writing is brutal for me. so before i went, i built chotu, my ai stand-in, on 8 years of journals and 1,000+ notes. it handled all my conversations while i was gone.