Question: have you sat for a retreat? The reason I’m asking is I’m curious if it’s a “dosage” issue.
I sat for a 10 day goenka retreat and was shocked at how psychedelic the experience was for how little warning I was given.
I sat for a 10 day goenka retreat and was shocked at how psychedelic the experience was for how little warning I was given.
Goenka is infamous in the serious meditation community, as they do not use qualified teachers in their retreats. The teaching is in the videos, the guides may not be able to help you if you start to freak out.
I would recommend people sit their first retreat at a more supportive and forgiving retreat center. The 10-day Goenka retreats seem to vary in quality and sometimes unnecessarily harsh from what I've read, I've not sat one personally. I don't like the idea of getting all instructions from video also, instead of all the great living teachers out there today.
I'd recommend IMS on the East Coast, and Spirit Rock on the West Coast. They have really great teachers and very supportive schedule and environment for beginners. Downside is it's more costly than a free retreat, but I found it to be very much worth it.