Comment by joshwclement on Don’t waste your time meditating on meditation retreats! · 2023-07-19T00:58:10.650Z · LW · GW

There's a Zen saying: When walking, walk. When eating, eat.

When meditating silently for a week, meditate silently for a week.

Like you, I don't have serious mental health issues, but when I sat my (only) 10 day retreat, longstanding 'trauma' and negative stories couldn't stop bubbling up from my subconscious. I understood my one task was to not cling to them. That's q bloody hard enough a task in itself, I wouldn't want to tease them apart or spend any more time with them with a therapist.

I think the beauty of a silent retreat is the ridiculous contrast with busy, loud modern life. It's detonating a depth charge in your psyche and I was then able to spend the rest of the year occasionally talking to a therapist, or noticing and teasing apart my schemas. 

We need to keep a regular mediation practice for one reason .. Any time spent 'on autopilot' (even if you are enlightened), is going to reinforce bad habits. A small amount of regular meditation helps keep that in check.