Vipassana Retreat | December

This eight-day Vipassana retreat is a silent meditation intensive in the Sacred Valley of Peru, held at Tantraya near Písac in the Cuzco region. It is a demanding practice for committed meditators, though beginners are accepted after an interview. Participants learn the Path of Insight alongside loving-kindness practice, with Paul Diamond as the tagged host and instructor.

It is not a retreat in the style of S.N. Goenka. There are no Goenka tapes, videos or chanting. The teaching is described as a universal style, drawing on several Vipassana lineages.

What to Expect

The days are long and structured. Participants sit from 6am to 6pm, in sessions of one hour, for roughly eight hours of meditation a day. After the first two days, some sessions ask you not to move. Discomfort and pain are expected, and the organizers say they ease as practice continues. A morning bell calls everyone to the hall, and students are asked to be seated ten minutes before each session begins.

Teachings are woven through the practice sessions, and each evening the instructor gives a dharma talk of about 45 minutes to an hour. Talks and group sessions are mandatory. Time to meditate in your room is also given, but attendance at every collective session is expected unless illness prevents it.

The curriculum includes:

- Metta Bhavana, the practice of loving-kindness
- Tonglen, the practice of transforming suffering
- Vipassana as taught by S.N. Goenka
- Vipassana as taught by Ajahn Cha, of the Thai Forest meditative tradition
- Vipassana as taught by the Insight Meditation Society

The organizers describe the aim as a direct, experiential understanding of impermanence, emptiness and dependent origination, and they say practitioners often feel their own energy and that of their surroundings awaken, including release of energies associated with Kundalini. They also speak of the possibility of full Enlightenment, which they present as the end of suffering and its causes.

The Setting

The retreat takes place in person at Tantraya Center, in the Písac area of Peru's Sacred Valley. Rooms may be shared, and the silence applies to roommates too.

Before You Go

This is not a beginner's retreat. The body will ache and the mind will resist, and participants are asked to commit to staying through to the end. Leaving early is discouraged because the energy bodies need to be closed properly after the practice. In a true emergency, the teacher will close you down before you leave.

Participants agree to the following conduct:

- Noble Silence: no talking, gestures or communication with other participants, though you can put questions to the instructor
- No writing, reading, phones or other electronics, which are switched off the first morning and stay off until the retreat ends on the morning of the eighth day
- No drugs, plants, alcohol or any inebriant, and no foods that feed sensual craving, so leave snacks and chocolate at home
- No sexual or romantic advances
- No perfume, strongly scented deodorant, hairspray or scented soap, and a daily wash, since senses become very sensitive
- Coughs, sneezes and other noises kept to a minimum, with meditation in your room if that proves difficult
- Respect for all staff and teachers

Anyone who breaks the rule on inebriants will be asked to leave. To ask about joining, contact the organizers directly.