If you haven't read the pervious blog of Day Zero and how did 1 enrolled for this course do read it Click here to read
I was up all night, unable to sleep in the new place. The Dhamma Ambika centre was in the middle of a small jungle in Navsari so I was even scared of ghosts at night. The whole night I was chanting “Swaminarayan, Swaminarayan” and also sang Hanuman Chalisa (This may sound funny to you now but it was scary for me then) . The morning Bell Rang at 4:00 AM. It took me five days to finally get used to the early morning routine. I freshened up and made my way to the meditation hall; it was very dark inside. I sat down in my assigned position and tried to focus on my breath, but my mind kept wandering. In my imagination I went to Mars and met aliens, had my grand wedding (with a person I don't even know, hahahahah), did bollywood hooksteps, gave a job interview—the list goes on. This went on for two hours until the bell rang, signalling the end of the session. I was relieved and went straight to the dining hall for breakfast. (This is how our meditation hall looked like).
I thought they would give us some Bhakri and tea, but what I saw was an array of delicious food: dhokla, patra, upma, poha, fruits, tea, coffee, milk, chivda etc etc etc—I was in heaven! I initially hated the course but loved the food. After breakfast, I went back to my room and slept for another hour. The bell rang again at 8 am for group meditation. Once again, I tried to focus on my breath but failed miserably. My mind just wouldn’t be quiet! The session ended at 11 am and we were given another chance to enjoy the amazing lunch spread which included Dal, Rice, Chapati, 2 types of Sabji, Papad, Chass it was yummmyyyyyy.
At 1:30 pm, we started our meditation again and ended at 5:30 pm for snacks. There was no dinner. Only Snacks in the evening at 5:50PM on that they only gave us Chivda and Banana, that's it, How will i control my hunger the whole night? Anyway, I took a banana and went back to my room. Now, I desperately wanted to speak to someone, but everyone ignored my smile as we were not allowed to talk.
We started again at 6:30PM after the snacks - the same thing watching the breath passing through my nostrils in and out. I can't believe I'm doing this. Sitting here for hours on end, watching my breath. It's so boring, and my ass is killing me. I don't know how I'm going to make it through ten days of this. Minute by minute, hour by hour, I struggle and somehow survive. When I realise my mind has started the imagination, I smile and bring it back to the sensations in my nose. The sitting was excruciating, which made the smiling part even hard. At least there's some relief in the evening when we get to watch a recorded lecture by DR. Goenka. He's actually pretty funny, which makes the time go by a little bit faster. But then it's back to meditation for 15 more minutes before bed ( I just assumed to meditate for that 15 minutes). Bell rang at 9:00PM. I was back in the room, and in bed by 9:15 pm. The whole day was boring except the break time.
Well, the routine was going to be the same for the next 10 days!
There's more to come on the experience of day 2.
Read the experience of day 2 here
https://worthywellbeing.blogspot.com/2022/11/my-personal-experience-of-10-day_16.html
