ibarakishi wrote:UC, Goenka is really popular here in Northern Thailand. They have free 10 day retreats all over here, and do it on a sort of 'if it works for you, all we ask is that you donate your time to volunteer to support others to have similar experiences at minimum' system, which i really respect. There are different levels, but all of them are silent studies. This aspect (silence over a long period of time) is very important. Maybe it would help you too? It really helped my partner deal with a lot of things in life, and has helped many of my friends too. The video below is meant for people that obviously can't attend an actual course, but if you ever have the chance to do either isolated retreats somewhere by yourself or actually take a course under the supervision of an instructor, i really recommend it. I don't know how to explain it unless you have experienced it yourself, but it is something best served as a whole over a long period of time, though obviously their are benefits that you can take from it too if you don't have the time and just want to do it piece by piece. But these are just my thoughts, everyone is different.
Thank you for your insight! I would really like to do a ten day retreat, obviously, but my work and personal life and the commitment that comes with them make it more difficult than doing a weekend. Maybe I can manage to set something up for my summer vacation. I'd absolutely love to. I've watched about 10 minutes of the video you posted and I'm already brought back to when I first started meditating maybe 5 years ago or so, which was a nice reminder of where I started and where I am now. So, thank you again.