The Sound of Silence

During my travels, I met several travellers who mentioned an interesting type of meditation. Some of them had already experienced it - for others it was an urban myth. They told me what they knew - that the course was held completely in silence, and lasted a minimum of 10 days. The idea of spending 10 days in absolute silence really intrigued me. I didn't know much about meditation, so I decided to explore the idea of joining a course. Eventually I got the spelling of "vipassana" correct, and did some research.

Vipassana is the true and original form of meditation - as taught by the Buddha some 2,500 years ago. It became so popular that at one point in time, the majority of people in India were practicing Vipassana. Over time, this true teaching became diluted by other teachers, promoting different faiths, and other techniques to meditate. The form that the Buddha taught was kept alive by a group of Buddhist monks in Burma. The Buddha knew that one day, someone would learn Vipassana from these monks, and bring it back to show the world again.

In 1955, S. N. Goenka attended a 10 day course, where he studied and eventually became proficient at meditation. He travelled to India, to teach his parents, and gave them the greatest gift any child can give to their parents - the path to liberation, peace and happiness.

 On 29th September 2013, S.N. Goenka passed away, aged 90, at his home in India. He left a legacy behind - throughout his lifetime, Goenka-ji has helped hundreds of thousands of people study and benefit through Vipassana, either directly, or through the use of videos at his courses - and pioneered the idea of a centre where anyone was welcome to attend, whether they had money to pay for it or not. As long as they lived by the rules of the centre for the duration of the stay, they were welcome, in exchange for nothing. His idea was to create a system where you could donate to the running of the centre to pay in advance for the next student. This was only possible once you'd finished a ten day retreat. From a single orignial centre in India, this 'pay it forward' method eventually opened 227 centres worldwide. To promote the same experience for students worldwide, Goenka has produced a series of discourses, shown on video every evening. Here he tells stories, explains the practice, and is generally very interesting and amusing for an hour.

I was fortunate enough to attend a course in Bali, in April of this year.

Although I won't describe the technique or practice in the hope that you'll go yourself to find out about it, I will explain how following this method has made me feel - immediately after the course, and now, 6 months after finishing it.

Do you remember how you felt as a child? So free, full of energy and without worry. If you've ever spent any time with young kids, you know how much energy they have - they can run harder, jump higher and laugh louder than you - easily for twice the amount of time you can, before they get tired. After some of the meditation sessions I finished at the centre I felt a degree closer to re-achieving this feeling. Lighter, with less weight on my shoulders pushing me into the ground. Having said that, some of the sessions were physically painful and intensely difficult: when your limbs go numb - at the end of one such session I literally could not get up to go to lunch because I had such bad pins and needles.

I don't know if everyone has the same feeling, but without a doubt practicing Vipassana has made me calmer and more peaceful. I'm more aware of my emotions, and I'm working at having better control over them. Although Vipassana was not an enjoyable experience, I hope I have an opportunity to attend a second course sometime in the future.

A great aspect of the evening discourse (easily the best part of the day) was that Goenka does not expect nor want blind devotion. In fact, he asks you to challenge every belief he puts before you. He wants you to test the theory, check the idea is sound and consistent with your life and experiences before you accept it. If you do not find any evidence to support the idea you should not accept it. This is something I agree with so acutely - in my mind, blind following without questioning is one of the most dangerous things we actively encourage in our society.

There is a strict timetable:

One of the individual rooms at the centre

4am: wake up bell
4.30-6.30am: Meditate
6.30-8.00am: Breakfast break                         
8.00-9.00am: Group meditation
9.00-11.00am: Meditate
11.00-12.00am: Lunch break
12.00-1.00pm: Rest and interview with teacher
1.00-2.30pm: Meditate 
2.30-3.30pm: Group mediation
2.30-5.00pm: Meditate
5.00-6.00pm: Tea break
6.00-7.00pm: Group meditation
7.00-8.15pm: Teachers discourse
8.15-9.00pm: Group mediation
9.00-9.30pm: Question time in hall
9.30pm: bed

It was fairly exhausting, until you got into the swing of it. When I finished the course I found that the practice had stuck fairly quickly - although I wasn't waking up at 4am without a bell, I was conscious and alert by 7am, which is very unusual behaviour for me. I must admit I'm glad my sleeping practices have gone back to normal since then...

Students also have to observe noble silence - which means not attempting any sort of communication with other students. Although I didn't expect it to be, this was really challenging - how can you ignore a fellow student that is crying or obviously has a problem? I never thought I would struggle with this aspect: I didn't have any desire to talk or gossip, but not being able to comfort someone was difficult.

When you arrive at the centre you're asked to hand over a long list of personal items you might have: any books, other reading material, writing material, cameras, laptops, phones, cigarettes, non-prescription drugs...pretty much the contents of your average traveller's entire backpack. In fact, some of them did just that, after taking out the clothes they would need for their stay.

I paid too much attention to the list of "what not to bring" and not enough to the list of 'suggested items' - it was easy enough to hand over a pack of paracetamol I'd forgotten I had in my bag, but not so easy to acquire a torch, once stranded on the side of a mountain, miles of winding roads from the nearest town (a shop could have been next door, but it wouldn't have mattered as we weren't allowed to leave the premises anyway).



View over the valley from the centre.

The other thing they ask is that you don't kill any living beings during your stay (and also abstain from sexual conduct and taking intoxicating substances to help the mind become clear).This might seem easy enough, but unfortunately, mosquitos count as living beings. And while we're at it, the use of bug deterrents (and any deodorant with a smell) is also banned. So if you're unfortunate enough to get a blood sucker inside your mosquito net, you're doomed. Unless you're very good at meditating!

And when you're finished? 10 days of silence and introspection will affect a person, whether or not they learnt anything from the meditation. On day 9, the students are allowed to speak again. It was interesting to see the reactions of the group - although no physical contact was allowed, the students generally responded by laughing and joking with each other and chatting away happily about their experiences. Strangely, I didn't feel like this. I'm not really sure how to describe my emotions, but I wasn't ready to be released into the wild. If there had been an option to stay longer, I would have. Maybe it was just my quick adjustment to the strict disciplinarian life - like a convict finishing their sentence and struggling to adapt to life on the outside when they are finally released.

I went to give my thanks to the teacher on the last day. As soon as I met with her, I burst into tears. This is very unlike me. I still don't know why it happened. I was grateful for the experience, happy that I'd done it, and yet I was sobbing my eyes out in front of this woman who had given me so much. Perhaps it was a build up of emotions needing to escape. I think it's hard to look into the eyes of any experienced vipassana meditator without feeling the pure love they are sending you.

I can't stress this enough: for me, the meditation was really, really, really hard. There are so many reasons to not do it; lack of food/sleep/freedom, too many bugs, boredom and distractions. Even with all these reasons, nothing would make me happier than to hear someone else has given it a chance. If you want to do something really good for yourself - take 10 days from work and book yourself onto the next vipassana course. It might not be immediately obvious when you're tired and hungry after sleeping through lunch on the first day (like I did), but the benefits will become clear. You probably don't even realize how much mental chatter you have going on, how disturbed your mind is, all the time.

And what's 10 days to stop your future suffering, for all eternity?

You might not become a meditation guru in that time (ok, you probably won't) but you'll notice a change in yourself for the the better.

Have a look for a vipassana course.

With my unconditional love.

Beautiful Bali

 
Recently, I took a break from the boat to do some land exploration with my best friend, Kate, who came to join me in Bali for a two week holiday. It was great to see her after such a long time - she's been busy teaching primary school students in South East London (while I've been busy doing not so much...).




I went to the airport to meet Kate (complete with sign, in case she didn't recognise me!) and quickly packed her into a taxi to take us to Ubud, our first stop on the whirlwind tour. We stayed 5 nights at Shana Bunglows, on Jalan Guatama - set back from the road with a beautiful garden. 
 

 

Shana Bungalows

 We wanted to make sure we used all the time we had - we quickly booked up white water rafting, a Legong style dance show (actually we intended to see Kecak dance, but went to the wrong theatre!) plus an early morning hike - to the top of Mount Agung in time for sunrise and a boiled egg, freshly cooked by the volcanic heat. 

There were plenty more tasty treats to be had in Ubud - one lunchtime Kate and I just gorged ourselves on delicious cakes. I also introduced Kate to my favourite Ubud eatery - 'Masakan Padang' which is world renown Indonesian food, best enjoyed without the use of cutlery. Kate had a great first attempt at this new eating style. 

The beautiful Legong style dance

In between these activities, we explored Ubud on foot - wandering into Monkey forest, for a full on dose of 'monkey 
babies!' (it was pretty hard getting Kate out of there), finding the local expat population hanging out in 'Betelnut'. We joined the scene for a few nights - The Gong Show was a regular production, with this 'episode' raising awareness to campaign against an intended McDonalds in the area. We did the Capuhan ridge walk - or at least half of it, twice (we turned back as a local told us if we continued on the mapped circuit we'd go back to town on a road, rather than the open fields with beautiful views). 

On Indonesia's Independence day we hit Betelnut again (thanks for the tip, Nicolette and Frank!) for a fascinating documentary, The Act of Killing on the troubled past of Indonesia. I'd recommend watching this film if you have a chance; it's interesting for a variety of reasons - a horrible episode that's successfully kept hidden by the current government (the same government that was responsible for the atrocious 'communist killings' of 1965), and it uses a very clever and twisted idea of asking the elderly criminals to 'play' themselves whilst they make a film of their past crimes (even with all of this evidence, and the thousands of murders they themselves admit to committing, nothing has been done to hold them to account for their actions) despite this it is somehow bleakly humorous - although we know the main characters are the villains, you can't help but identify with some or all of their struggles and characteristics, as the cameramen follow them around in their daily activities. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this film is in the credits - many of the Indonesians involved anywhere in the process have opted to remain 'Anonymous' rather than reveal their names and risk persecution. They don't have the credit they deserve for their seven years of hard work on this project, and perhaps they never will. 

Kate and I, freezing our butts off at the top of the volcano

Although it's true Indonesia has this sad history, we tried not to let this from spoiling our opinion of the Indonesian people: a warm, generous and hospitable nation. Everyone was keen to meet us and have photos with Kate (white skin AND blue eyes?!?). I'm sure many of the men are suffering with broken hearts right now. I made a special friend in Sukadi - a 50-something bemo (minibus) driver who had the misfortune to spend a day driving us to Tampaksiring and Gunung Kawi (a spectacular spot to visit, plus the best shopping bargains to be had in the whole of Ubud!) who called every day after that to find out if we needed him again. Even after repeatedly being told that we were leaving Bali, he kept on calling!

Somehow we found time to have a short lesson in the art of batik, go to a Kecak dance (we made it to the right temple this time!) and visit the gorgeous rice terraces that are the backbone of Asia. We also squeezed in an obligatory spa stop, a cycle around Ubud and a great birthday party. Many happy returns, Nicolette! Also a quick visit to catch up with Hannah, who I'd left on the boat at Gili Air. Phew! I'm exhausted just remembering all of that action!

Dancing on hot coals at the Kecak dance

On to the beach then: Seminyak, chosen mainly because we wanted to meet up with Ronnie and Del, and they'd found an excellent place to do it: a good value hotel with a beautiful pool, fairly close to the beach. All our adventures had caught up on us, as we stayed firmly out in the sun for most of the next three days. Apart from one day trip - a taxi to Denpasar, for Del's visa and some batik-related shopping for me followed by the beautiful temple of Uluwatu for sunset monkey mischief then Nusa Dua for a nighttime crab catching session. Uh, beach crabs, that is.

Catching crabs...or not in Nusa Dua.

We all flew to Flores together (massive panicking about the weight of our bags on the night before. 15 kilos? That's clearly not enough for a backpacking girl). The group joined the growing list of fantastic Furthur crew members, went on a hike to see the most exciting Komodo dragon trek ever on Rinca island and the lovely people of Komodo village, had a discovery dive on the boat each as well as enjoying the town of Labuan Bajo and the scenery of Komodo National Park, whether from the sea, the boat or the kayaks. We also went to one of the best snorkeling sport - pink beach: we were rewarded with a turtle. Kate also managed to spot two baby sharks from the shore! This was an excellent reward for working so hard at cleaning up another beach!

It was great to be with Kate again, even for such a short time. Her amazement at all things Asian was refreshing - I've long since stopped being surprised by four people and a chicken on a single motorbike, but for Kate it's still a novelty. It was also nice to be able to share with someone from home the wonderful lifestyle that's easy to have here. And it gave me an opportunity to show off my limited bahasa skills - although that stopped soon enough as we met up with Del and left all the important interaction to her! 

It was so great to see everyone, same again next year? 

My Favourite Things

Other than mittens, kittens and brown paper parcels tied up with string, these are a few of my favourite things (in no particular order):

1) Sending a message in a bottle which I still hope we'll hear back from, one day twenty years from now. We wrote the note in 4 languages (to increase our chances of it being found and understood. Italian, Greek, English and a poorly translated Indonesian, that probably means something like: "You bottle look. Email deliver. Before thanks you." I did try though.)

2) Something the inner child (which is not kept so inner) had wanted to do for ages: Build a den on the deck from all our scarves, blankets, flags etc and spend the night camped out there. Or as much as I could manage before I got too cold! The rest of Team GB managed admirably though.

Rise and shine! Delina and Ronnie

3) The Indian festival of Holi - a little late and a lot more naked than the original. Partying on the beach with Laura, Rosie and Brian.










4) Another example of being in the right place at the right time: Pulau Derawan, where we wandered around the sandy roads and found ourselves in a hotel which had discovered turtle hatchlings in their grounds. Emily, Siem, Lo and I managed to convince them to let us help with the release.

In the same night we also rescued a beautiful moth that had been attracted by the light in a shop and was damaging itself flying into the walls. This was also our first meal on shore, in what felt like weeks! Actually, maybe it was just the one.

It was unfortunate we didn't get to stay longer at Derawan - it is a beautiful island with well maintained moorings and plenty of dive sites on the surrounding islands. I will hopefully come back some day.  

5) Koh Hong - which must be one of the most perfect destinations in the world for early morning beach yoga - after kayaking with Rosie through an 800m cave entrance to the hidden lagoon in the centre. Completely sheltered by the surrounding karst mountains it was a blissful experience to be there before the hordes.


6) Watching Rachel's incredible fire stick dance on the beach at Gili Air.

Miss Rachel

7) The Great British Beach clean-up! Unfortunately no pictures of this back-breaking, feet-scorching work, in which we cleared half of the long stretch of beach of discarded flipflops, lighters, plastic cups, bottles, lightbulbs, toothbrushes and many other assorted types of junk. Well done Delina, Kateface and Ronnie!

8) Becoming proficient at various arts and crafts - carving coconut jewellery, henna and making batik (and all the tidying up afterwards!) Thanks to all the people that let me practise henna on them :-)

One of my first attempts at Batik, turned into a cushion!



9)Sail Komodo. Getting involved in this rally was great fun and an opportunity to dress up for once! We went to a dinner with the President of Indonesia, plus all the other local bigwigs.



Being part of a sail pass during Sail Komodo.



10) Owning part of an aeroplane thanks to a big adventure in Bali with a nutty Italian, Laura!


On the navy boat with our new friends.




The Lion Air jet wreckage at Bali

These are just a few examples of all the boat-related activites we've done in the last six months. Obviously I haven't included any diving otherwise I'd still be writing now.