This is a query to all meditators, in regards to their type of practice. I've been practicing vipassana meditation for almost two years, and practiced candle-gazing and mantra meditation for about two years before attending my first course.
Thanks!
Andreas
Replies
I'm with you Galina! I have shared this too at centers and been told that too many would protest the dairy being taken out. I don't know who makes these decisions but it seems that each trust of each center and then the person that does the ordering of the food has a lot of say in what they carry and how much organic etc. And saving money is a big concern of course.
They are very careful about there not being any alcohol whatsoever at the center. Once we found alcohol in a vanilla flavoring and the teacher said that should not be here, but it was kept and used. So I think the vibration of dairy, especially factory farmed stuff, would carry an even more negative vibration and not be conducive to meditation.
I doubt they would get many complaints if they switched from dairy creamer to soy creamer and a few varieties of non-dairy milks, and the one cheese dish can be skipped, and there are plenty of other toppings for the salad than cheese. Soy yogurt is excellent too.
So then it gets down to cost. I think if you go to a trust meeting and present the why and the hows with cost break downs, there is a good chance of a change happening. It may need to happen at one center first to see how it goes. And then doing this in the U.S. is one thing but doing this in other countries may be quite another.
Bit of a late answer but...
3 years ago I went to a VIpassana retreat while on HCRV it wasn't much of an issue to eat a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables, you just have to talk with the manager.
I'm now heading to my second course and, as an old student, I will only eat twice a day (and have some lemon with water for supper).
My point here is, don't be afraid to be undernourished and therefore fall into believing you need cooked foods.
Hey Andreas,
Ive sat 2 Vipassana courses, and only been able to keep up the meditation for 2 months each time as the demands of family and early morning wakers disrupted me all of the time....one of the reasons for going hcrv is to gain clarity for my mind and improve the meditation as well as hopefully detoxing enough because I always need less sleep when I am "clean" What do you think?
If your in NY then you are close to the Shelburne Mass center which is the oldest and most established center outside of India, it is very nice there! I just took a course there this past December. I have been to a few centers and this one is very well established. http://courses.dhamma.org/en-US/schedules/schdhara
i do vipassana! i am signed up to sit another course on jan 5th in onalaska washington... i might serve though if they need the servers. sitting is so wonderful, but serving is just as wonderful in its own unique way.. i have sat 2 goenkaji courses and have served one. i have also done one course by the IMC (insight meditation society) another type of vipassana in the style of sayadaw u tejanya. it is more like an open receptive awareness rather than directed attention.
this dhamma talk sort of explains it
andrea fella - receptive awareness
has anyone else ever explored other types of vipassanas and how they all sort of tie together in equanimity and awareness?
i do did 6 goenka 10 day courses last 2 years,,,it was always a great tranformation,,and healing in this...now if yo are raw food ,,you will have to keep it in secret!! and be aware of the coordinator spys.
be aware that you maybe will get about 300-500 calories a day in fruit,,,most people binge on heavy cooked foot,,with lot of fat.
good luck,,and maybe ii lsee you in some course ..who knows???
"you will have to keep it in secret!! and be aware of the coordinator spys."
I disagree. Managers are told to observe if students are fasting because Goenkaji specifically prohibits fasting while undertaking a 10-day course (they are not spys, they are their to facilitate a beneficial experience for all the students). Nothing wrong with fasting or eating HCLF Raw Vegan if it suits you but on a course you need a lot of energy (despite what you may think) and fuel and fasting at same time as intensive sitting could really mess somebody's course up fast and potentially be dangerous too. A Vipassana course is not a trivial undertaking, it's a deep operation on the mind and like surgery the conditions must be made safe.
I suggest you take a Doctors letter outlining your dietary requirements and talk to the conduction teacher to negotiate the best outcome you can. Be prepare to compromise for 10-days: one of the virtues of undertaking a 10-day course is renunciation: living of the generosity of other and not eating after noon for old students, just like a monk eating whatever is put in his bowl. 10-days wont kill you. Most centres serve brown rice at both meals and fruit in evening for new students. Eat 80/10/10, as much of it raw and fruit/veg as they will permit. Learning how to surrender (control) is a big part of Vipassana.
Good Luck
i agree with most of whwat you are saying,,,,now ...for breakfast there is fruit(in spain,portugal)but you maybe will get a half of banana or some sour apples,,while most of the people go crazy on yoghurt,bread,butter. i was veegetarian on mylast course,,still i did not eat any fried foods,,just sallad ,,brown rice,,fruits..some time yogurt.
noww..the amount of fruit are not enough!!for 80 10 10 to get the minimum of calories.you probably only need about 1500 caories,,as you are sitting for about 15 h a day.but still you wont get it from the fruit1!in europe at least!!
i agree that we are living like monks,,and just accepts the donation from the universe,,yet i disagree with the recipipes and ingredients thats are being used(i was long time kitchen managaer in a vipassana center in suisse)white sugar is being used,,,table salt with fluor,,so many rubbish products,refined oils..
sometimes afrter the food you just want tio dissapear from the world,,you feel so heaaaavy ..and tiiiired.
My wish for vipassana ,,and also for krishna people,,that they get more concious about food!!
i am forever grateful for my experiences ,,in all my courses,,for all the challenges..and so...
as old student i can see aliitle bit more ,,for every new course i do.
yet we are living in a world of duality,,,and with the healing medecine also comes the poison.
anicca anicca anicca its just lila gods game ha ha ha ha ha om namaha
Very strange about the fruit availability there. In all the U.S. centers, we put out a huge bowl of fruit at breakfast and you can ask for it at lunch as well. You take as much as you want and we come out and refill it throughout the meal. Several people on 30BAD following the 811 diet prior to their courses stayed on their diet during the course with what was served, without request for any special accommodation.
I know what you are saying about the cooked food being high fat and such. I think it's to keep in line with what most people eat as to not stress people on their course. However people who are on cooked who want to eat healthier low-fat certainly have the opportunity at every meal since there is plain rice and steamed veggies at lunch and fruit, oatmeal and toast for breakfast. At least in the U.S. vegan options for the main dish at lunch are always made.
My friend served a course that had another server who was a chef, and she changed every recipe to something totally different, created her own menu with what was available, lol. My friend said it was a lot more work but the meals were incredible.
Yes; I've served in the kitchen on many courses too and the recipes are not to my taste for what is healthy/nutritional. There's often this underlying sentiment that while complying with vibrational requirements that the food not have been itself killed (ie meat), the attempt has been made to make the food as acceptable to SAD eaters as possible. So much of it is stodgy and heavy. Also people who haven't restricted their eating to < noon before seem to like heavier food.
I know a monk friend of mine got told be his teacher (nothing to do with Vip Med Centre) to put on weight since they thought he needed 'grounding' or something like that. Now he's taken the weight off again and is happy because he used to train at kick-boxing and was reasonably fit prior to him going forth.
Also so many people have tried to change the recipes at my nearest centre over the years to make them more 'healthy' or more 'pleasant' etc etc and the issue is always dodged by the Trust unless it involves saving dana (donated money) or removing a dish that was unpopular with the area teacher for many years ;-)
The Trust (Area Teacher mainly) think anybody trying to make a change is on a personal (ego) mission. I for one can't believe that gluten-free students need to come with Dr certificates b/c there's at least one on ever course and many of the recipes could be more accommodating. The trust is all about not creating extra work for the Kitchen, which as you know can get very stretched, and melt-downs are not unheard of by any means! So why not just remove the two table spoons of flour from a recipe and replace with rice flour or whatever?!
Don't know how I'll manage to arrange more fruit next time I sit, I'm happy to donate extra to cover cost but that's against the spirit of sitting a course :/
Gado gado is a great example of a nutritionally toxic food which many people on courses say they liked best (go figure). Vege/olive oils are heated, dairy is in so many meals, and veg are over-cooked unless there's a switched on kitchen manager. What to do?
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