Dear Community,

I am looking for a retreat in Central Europe that would accomodate my interests, wishes and limitations.
My goal is to go for a week of serious practice and see some significant progress with my meditation.
I am in the middle of exploring/finding something and wish to tune and improve my current training.
At this stage, I have no interest or need to learn someone else's preferred method.
What I need is the structure of a solid day schedule and a nice place to sit with others.
I would very much appreciate feedback from an open-minded teacher who is past stream entry (a wish, not a must).
My budget is about 1000€ for the whole week, including flights and hotel if needed.

The methods I currently work on are:
- watching my breath; specifically, the breath-in and breath-out unconscious triggers (not the sensations at the nose!)
- during walking meditation: the same for the spinal walk reflexes
- watching how sensations and other triggers evolve into thoughts that come and pass by

My inspiration sources are Mahasi Sayadaw (Manual of Insight) and Daniel Ingram (Mastering...).
I read the classics (Long/Middle Discourses, Dhammapada, Mind Illuminated, Dogen etc.); but that's only the theory.
I attend a weekly Zen meditation where they mostly let me do how I will (though somewhat reluctantly).
There is no Mahasi Vipassana group or similar that I am aware of in my area.
Unfortunately, I do not have enough time for consistent practice at home.
I got introduced to meditation long ago through it being taught together with Japanese martial arts.
During the Big CORONA Boredom, I possibly achieved A&P (don't laugh!) noting while rowing on an ergometer.

I would like to avoid retreats where people mistake meditation for substance abuse and Vipassana for Tantra.
This includes places that attract such a public: easy to recognize by the rules that try to fix the problem mentioned.

Since I'll be back at work after the retreat, I need proper accomodation, not a dorm or hostel.
A decent hotel nearby would do, if the center has no good rooms.

As I have seen this asked by some centers: I will not buy anyone's preferred uniform to wear for a week.
A plain and terse training suit or similar should please be acceptable.

Contact restrictions with the outside are unfortunately another no-go.
I have older parents that I need to stay in contact with; an emergency may happen anytime.
My wife would also beat me if I completely disappear.

Last but not least, I am at the "almost done" end of recovering from successful knee surgery and rebooting sports.
I need a place that will allow me to sit as I can (they do not enforce their preferred position).
Normally my own Zafu will do; a bad day requiring a chair might happen after some long sessions.

What do you think? Can I find my place? I would really like to avoid my first retreat to be a solo one.

My first retreat was a solo one I only wish I've done it with this community under my belt! So to get ready and prepped up! I passed A&P and entered DN and got utterly desperate trying to get back to my "perfect meditation" but it got only worse. Years of falling down the dark night realm and so on and so forth ... Today all is ok. It likely always was but I didn't know that back then

Start a log here on DhO, daily log. Once we get to know you a bit, you will get far better advice. 

May you awaken, may you be free from suffering, may you be truly happy. 

Not to hijack the thread but how long was tour solo retreat?  I can't figure out how to dm

Thank you for you answer, Papa Che (I appreciate your humour while transcending those diapers).

Were I to go for a solo retreat, do you or the Community know a place that would accept me? I would prefer to attend a retreat center for several reasons:

- stay away from the distractions at home (family, packet deliveries, neighbours, cooking, laundry etc. etc.)
- stay away from distractions in a non-dedicated spot (breakfest rush hour, no place to sit etc.)
- while meditating, have someone in the room doing something similar: perfect against procrastination. This is the same idea as reading at the library.

Cheers

I value your humor in overcoming those diapers, and I thank you for responding, Papa Che.

@iarbaverde retreats can be really great that is for sure. Don't know where you're located, but my sort of go to place for retreats in France has been Centre Kalachakra. They are an FPMT center, so they are traditional mahayanists in theory, but the people you will meet there are mostly oecumenical and open-minded (and parisian, oftentimes) and the overall ethos is one of joyful tolerance, there is no sense of constraint or anything like that, although there is for instance a monk living there most of the time. Some of their stuff is more along the lines of straight religious, and some of their other retreats are really not (the vipassana/mahamudra combo for instance, you could do the vipassana retreat this summer). Granted, like all retreat centers, they don't screen participants enough and are too laid back in the ethics of offering these powerful and potentially destabalizing practices, but it is still the best I've found in France, having looked around quite a bit; it is also pretty cheap, well within your budget, the food, the people, and the place overall are all quite nice, easily accessible from Paris. You can also do solo retreats, at least when you come with some retreat experience showing you can handle a solo retreat: that's mostly what I've been doing in the past years.

ps: Also, I think all your requirements would be met, i.e., you can sit however you want, chair, zafu, special meditation chairs, standing up, yoga mat... If you need to use itnernet in your room, obviously no one will check and you can just do whatever you want... If you don't feel like you can attend some sessions, no one will insist that you practice more, Philippe the retreat leader is a kind person who will listen to you and your situation. He will offer specific practices at specific moments of the retreat, because this is what many people going there will expect, but if you've got your own thing going, you can feel free to just do what you need to do, with the benefit of having the usual mahasi style schedule alternating sitting and walking meditations, although it is slightly lighter in terms of hours than real mahasi derived retreat centers, but without the whole gloominess/seriousness/strictness/pressure to practice intensely or "follow instructions" I've experienced in other retreat centers, nor the sense of hierarchy you sometimes encounter. The instructions feel more like a crutch for those who need it, rather than a program one has to follow like a good boy.

Thank you, Olivier. Kalachakra sounds interesting, is in reach and indeed I did not have Mahayana on the radar (with the exception of Zen, which is special).

Just rent a cheap summer house in nature with an internet connection and ONLY stay in contact with the teacher/spiritual friend/this community and your family if needed. 6 hours a day is plenty! 3 days is plenty. I would do something like; Get up early and immediately sit for an hour Then eat, go out for a walk in nature (country side) Then sit another hour then walk meditation for 15 minutes  then again one hour sit then walk and do some household chores Then sit for an hour then eat lunch and go walk in nature then sit for an hour then do some reading of Dhamma related stuff then sit for an hour make dinner, eat and do an additional sit or just sleep depending on the time and tiredness (sleep early get up early)

What got me very motivated was watching the 5-6 short Kenneth Folk demos on how to do Noting. If you can prepare yourself with some inspirational videos you can use those as a charge before the sit! 

Zen is particular and you don't just go to a Zen retreat in my experience! I was part of the Zen Center in Sweden and you first go and get instructions in your local zen center and keep practicing for some time before you get to come to the retreat. In Zen you don't just give space to anyone but to those the teacher finds ripe to sit a retreat. Talking to the teacher is very important in Zen. If I remember well its called dokusan. 

I was too much of a freelancer in attitude and Zen doesn't like that so I moved on and found Free Style Noting Aloud by Kenneth Folk and that did suit me very well!  

Yes, you are right about Zen. I absolutely love the meditation in the Dojo I go to (and partly do my quasi-noting stuff), but I keep a secure distance to the master. He lives somewhere else and expects us to go to his retreats, which the casual students (most of us, acutally) avoid due lack of (time) resources.

This is maybe a sort of trauma, and I might change my mind, but here it is. Until my knee stopped me on the tracks, I was an avid martial artist. After the black belt, my interest turned from further grading towards exploring (variations, rare techniques, my own creations, other approaches etc.). This combined with apparently declining technique: my knee forced me to use non-standard variations which were not always seen as "correct". The whole situation led to conflicts and I don't want to go through the same story with a new master. I don't want to learn his preferred technique; I need his or someone else's guidance on my own path and am a bit worry that Zen is too dogmatic to offer this.

Still love the Zen Dojo and the group.

Che, you exactly describe my ideal meditation plan (about 6-8 hours per day; do not exagerate etc.). I hoped to find a group I could join, as I am a bit warry of the possible risks. As I also lack the dedication to consistently sit alone, that would probably be the first step towards my solo. I know a good place for a short solo.

Maybe you are actually right: stream entry is a road that each walks alone. Guidance is possible, but no one can do it for me or push me forward.

Thank you so much.