I admit it, I escaped... like a ninja

So, I went to Vipassana. Which, in case you haven't heard of what this is, it is a 10-day meditative retreat in silence. Sounds pretty good huh?

But, technically, it's not silence exactly. Because twice a day as a group, you go to a great big room to, in the morning, listen to an audio tape and in the evening, watch a video. But other than that, you don't talk to anyone. You don't look at anyone, you don't leave notes, or communicate or even touch anyone.
I was fine with it. Well, the no touching, talking or looking bit I was fine with. It was a good two days of getting all snuggly with my own thoughts.

But, what I wasn't fine with was the listening to the tapes and watching the video bit. By the second day I was looking around for where they were hiding the kool-aid and white tennis shoes.

I wanted to leave. So, I told the instructor, "I'm leaving, this isn't working out for me."
She said, "You can't leave"
WHA?!
Yes, apparently a 10 day meditative retreat that I went to on my own free will was actually a ten day incarceration in which I couldn't leave.
Yeah, right, I couldn't leave? Watch this.

So, I patiently waited through the rest of the day's activities, and once everyone had gone to sleep (including my snoring roommate), I secretly packed my bag.
At the 4am wake-up bell (yes, you have a 4am wake-up bell), after just a couple hours of sleep, when everyone headed to the showers, I, instead, snuck out into the pitch-blackness with my 40lb pack.

Where I hiked - yes, hiked, through the woods (over the locked fence of the center) onto the road, down the road until I found a crossroad with two signs. From there, with my very last bar of battery on my cell-phone I called a cab to take me to town and the safety of the front step of the Amtrak station.

There is so much more to this story, but basically.... all I can say is, ....
Thank God for my ninja training.




**Disclaimer: I know many people who have received a great deal from doing Vipassana. But, it just didn't work out for me, personally. This post is my opinion only and does not mean to sway anyone from choosing to do or not to do Vipassana.