So I survived the meditation retreat. In fact even better than that, I loved the meditation retreat so I was a little sad when it ended and surprisingly not too happy about ending my period of silence either.
I was so worried about not talking for five days in a row because I’d never done anything like that before. I guess I was having more the fear of the unknown. But not talking was a wonderful experience. It calms the mind down a lot which is fantastic for a restless mind like mine, and fantastic for meditation practice. The calming of my mind also made me happier and happier so each day I felt even more refreshed, excited about life and a general feeling of ..happiness.
We weren’t allowed to talk to each other or look each other in the eyes for five days. Reading was discouraged and no mobile phones, computers, iPods etc were allowed. So all I did for the five days was eat, sleep, meditate and do yoga. And I was in heaven!
I also mentioned in this video that my skin has been unkind to me over the past three weeks. I’m certain this is due to consuming high quantities of cows milk which is something I hadn’t done for years. But in an attempt to calm down my vata and possibly put on a bit of weight, I started consuming cows milk again. Unfortunately this gave me a bad breakout and even worse hay fever so I’ve gone back to cutting all cows milk out of my diet. My skin is still not recovered but it is slowly getting better.
Please note that diary is not going to give everyone acne. But if you’re acne prone, have a weak digestive system (like mine currently is!), or allergic to milk then it will likely affect your skin by giving you a breakout.
And as usual, if you have any questions or comments about this post, please write in the box below.
Love and peace everyone!
16 responses ↓
wow! that sounds awesomeeeee! So curious as to where you slept and how those type of living conditions were. I’m going to look it up and see when there will be a retreat near by for me.
good for you.
<3
[...] I Survided The Silent Meditation Retreat! — High on health [...]
Hi Amy, we stayed at a retreat in the rainforest, and were lucky enough to have our own room with shared bathroom, which was all very basic. There were just over 20 of us. I definitely highly recommend it!
Glad you had a great time at the retreat, what kind of meditation were you doing? I’d love to know more!
I have the same problem with dairy, it aggravates my acne more than anything else. I seem to be ok with butter and cheese, but runny dairy, like yoghurt, makes me break out and makes my skin generally congested.
I am not sure if milk is particularly good for humans, and I’ve been reading a bit about the myth of milk being a major source of calcium. Apparently the calcium it contains is very difficult for human bodies to assimilate because relative amounts of magnesium and other minerals are also needed. So, in order to digest it, these other minerals are leeched from the bones. Sounds scary! I think I’ll stick with tahini and leafy greens
libelle- we did 3 types of meditations, music, mantra and tantric vipassina
I heard that quinoa contains more calcium than milk so I’m just going to make sure I keep eating plenty of that.
This sounds amazing. Firstly welcome back. And secondly I am 15 years old and life at this age can get pretty stressful, and I wondered do the younger generation take part in yoga or is it mainly more for adults. Well done!!
Welcome back fran! Glad you had a great time!
About cow’s milk….I’m having a dairy nightmare right now too! Last week, I was staying at my boyfriend’s house for spring break, and there was only cow’s milk…so I drunk it. A big mistake! Now I have a lot more acne than usual.
But I’m wondering why dairy suddenly started to aggravate my acne. I’ve never had any problem with dairy….
I’m surprised that Ayurvedic Medicine recommends cow’s milk.I think that maybe it’s ok when you’re young when you’re older it should be a good idea to kick the habit.
How did the retreat place look? Was a quaint zen like decorated rooms or bare essentials to view more of the forest?
Wow! I’m not sure if I could be totally silent for 5 days… I’m sure you get into the swing of it, but… I live a life where I often don’t get to talk to many people and have a lot of silence during the day, but I think I would go a bit mad… lol
I know the concept of it is to quiet the mind – this is something pretty important to me, I try to make sure I do some of this every day… I know that as a child I was pretty quiet and I liked to ‘get lost in my own mind’ quite a lot and meditate, and the funny thing was that I was naturally very spiritual and could ’sense’ a lot of stuff and astral travelling came very naturally to me, so did telepathy and I felt very enlightened and connected to the universe/source…
Hi Fran
Well done to you …. not sure that I could have gone that long being quiet lol my family would give me tonnes of money if it meant that I am to be quiet !!!
I know what you mean about the cows milk I have the same problem. Although there is nothing more comforting than having a mug of Horlicks right before bed…. mmmm
Glad you enjoyed you Easter break xxx
Fran, Good luck with the apple cider vinegar in spring water thing – it tastes dreadful, I tried it years ago! The best thing for that early morning alkalization is a good squeeze of lemon or lime juice, and some stevia to take the edge off in water! Lemon, lime & stevia are about the most alkaline foods on the planet!
Fran! that’s awesome – I’m so glad you had such a great experience at the retreat!!! That’s definitely a big motivation for me to keep up my meditation practice
I was curious what your thoughts are on Kefir. I LOVE to make smoothies on a daily basis with lots of fruit, cacao, kefir, and a bit of honey…..but now I’m concerned about dairy aggravating my acne. As a probiotic, kefir seems so beneficial and I don’t have a known dairy allergy.
Thx again!!! All the best.
Hi Melissa, kefir is wonderful, I’m a huge fan and very sad that it’s not sold in Australia. Personally I feel that the beneficial bacteria in kefir outweigh the fact that it’s dairy so keep up with it. The ONLY reason why you may want to avoid milk kefir is if you’re on an intensive anti-candida diet. But even then you can have young coconut kefir instead.
Nice to meet you Fran,
I’m from Canada and I heard from different people (chefs, homéopathe) that the cells in the cows milk is to large for the humain and that is one of the reasons why some people are intolerante to the cows milk. I’m in my forty something and for the past year, I stop drinking cows milk, I prefer fortified Rice beverage. No fat, 130 kl per cup. It also has 30% calcium, 45% vitamin D and 50% vitamin B12 and other nutrients. It was also said that the cows milk should be only for cafs. I also heard that for people who have intolerence to milk, eat yogourt. I take the organic one, no fat with 6 grains. Realy good! I also have a blog at: healthsant.blogspot.com, it’s bilingual
I wish you great success!
P.S.: I realy like Yaro Starak, this is how I found your blog thru him.
Hi Fran My name is Rachel
I have been alergic to milk my whole life. So I don’t drink cows milk. I drink Beatrice Loctose Free 2% milk. I’m wondering if I would still breakout from drinking this milk?? I eat yogurt and cheese would I break out from these as well???
Hi Fran,
Glad to hear you had a great time in meditation.
I don’t do so well with dairy either, rice milk works a lot better with my system. I have to ask if you’re drinking organic milk? The rice milk could help balance your vata depending on the amount of sugar. Great videos.
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