◉ What inspired you to come and try Vipassana meditation at the temple? • I recently got into yoga, and with that also came a lot of meditation. • During my yoga teacher training course, I heard about the Vipassana meditation retreat. Since I was in Thailand, I thought it would be a great opportunity to try it out and see how I would get on with it. ◉ Before you started practicing, what kind of stress or challenges were you experiencing in your life? • Before coming to the temple, I was struggling a lot with future thinking. • I felt like my mind was always three months, two years, or even five years into the future. I wanted to be more present with myself and in everyday life. ◉ After practicing meditation here, what changes have you noticed in yourself? • I’ve noticed that I’m a lot calmer. I can observe and analyze my thoughts more slowly, rather than being consumed by them. • So it’s been really good so far. ◉ How has learning to observe your thoughts and emotions helped you in daily life? • I think I’ve been able to keep my emotions more in check and just take things more easily. I remind myself that I am not my thoughts, and I take things one step at a time. ◉ When you feel stressed, angry, or worried, how does meditation help you respond differently? • Meditation helps me pause and reflect before I get consumed by my emotions. It reminds me that I am not my emotions and that I can respond to them differently than I did before. ◉ How have the teachers and the temple environment supported your practice? • The teachers have been absolutely amazing. Seeing Pra Ajan Poonsak, Pra Pipe and my instructors in the morning has been very helpful. We received very tailored feedback based on our experiences. • I also felt very comfortable in our rooms and with the delicious food prepared for us. • So I’ve felt extremely supported throughout my experience. ◉ If someone feels unsure or nervous about coming to practice, what would you say to encourage them? • I would say: just do it. • Just come and try it out. • There’s no harm in trying. It takes practice, and you have to start somewhere. • So this is the place. ◉ Last question: Why do you think learning to understand the mind is important in today’s world? • I think today’s society is struggling a lot with feeling disconnected from ourselves and from others. • Meditation really helps us reconnect with ourselves and with the compassion and kindness within us. • So I think everybody should meditate in today’s world By: Marta 🇮🇹

Hello, my name is Aiman. I'm from Australia. I came here because I have somewhat of a small meditation practice back home and I wanted to deepen my understanding with the guidance of a teacher. Fortunately, I was gifted with a great teacher, Phra Ajahn Poonsak Suwadano, who offered me great advice, personalized one-on-one. “What I've received from doing this Vipassana has been a bit of a clear mind, a sense of clarity around my own emotions and my own thoughts and being a bit less reactive to those and external phenomena.” What's changed is that everything feels a little bit lighter. “I can see, certain emotional pulls and how to not get stuck in them. thank you.”

Ich hab dieses Mal mein Zehn-Tages-Retreat Advanced gemacht, ebenfalls beim Lehrer, Phra Ajahn Poonsak (Der Mönch), wo ich auch meine anderen Retreats gemacht habe. Ich bin zur Vipassana-Meditation gekommen, indem ich sehr viel Schmerz in mir gespürt habe und noch nicht wusste, wohin ich will im Leben. Ich weiß zwar immer noch nicht ganz genau, wohin der Weg geht, aber der Schmerz und die Angst und das Ganze sind einfach viel mehr abgepuffert und man kann dadurch viel klarer sehen. Das heißt, es hilft einfach dabei, das Leben während des Prozesses genießen zu können, Dinge herauszufinden und sich auch mehr Zeit für sich selber zu geben oder auch für eigene Schwächen. Phra Ajahn (Der Mönch) hat mir dabei immer viel geholfen. Wenn eine Frage aufkam, konnte man einfach Fragen, bezüglich Emotionen, Versuchungen, oder auch den einfachen Praktiken, wie zum Beispiel, wie sitze ich besser oder wie mache ich die laufende Meditation und overall würde ich sagen, es ist eine gewinnbringende Erfahrung, die einem im Leben weiterbringt, weil man sich nicht so leicht in die Dinge reinsaugen lässt.

Hello, my name is Khrush (Molla), I'm from Singapore. And this is my second time around in “Wat Chomthong”. I'm here, because the first time around “I experienced a lot of peace and tranquility” and I wanted to go deeper. So, the second time around I am in this program. “I am focusing on getting rid of very old emotions that have been bugging me”. And “the program has been very successful in that respect”. The other thing I like about this place, “Wat Chomthong” is “the environment…, the food is delicious…the people are nice…” And there's a structure, but… there's a lot of flexibility into the structure as well. And I think all of this, is very supportive in my quest to “relieve myself of…all thoughts… and…all the emotions”…that, no longer serve me… And finally, if you want to do the program, come back and do “the Advanced Program” because it enables you…each time…you do it…you get to go much deeper…

Sawasdee Krub. So, the reason I came to the Vipassana retreat is because I was cycling around,…around Asia. And there was always a choice,… a choice to go left,…a choice to go right. Do I go there?…Do I do that?… What do I do?…I don't know… Too many choices…too much thinking…because when you're cycling, moving around in one direction,…doing the same thing over and over…, things just pop up like memories…or thinking about the future…fantasising…can be very beautiful…can be very ugly,…anything… So, that was kind of bothering me that I get so caught up, in my mind all the time. And then I heard about “Vipassana” many times, I didn't do anything with it. But eventually, I heard about it so many times. That I think, OK. This is a sign I'm finally going to make the decision to do it, So I went to Chomthong, and it was one of the best decisions from the trip, so far. I'm sure of it and “(what I've gained from the Vipassana is more clearance in my mind”. And the decision making is not hard anymore. I see now,…left and right… and I can go straight through…go through the middle. & And “be OK” with anything that comes with the decision I have made. Be OK with the outcome… be…negative or positive… And just “be more calm with everything…more peaceful…more easy…more simple and make life better…Honestly”... So that's it. Oh, and my name is Sten Nelson from the Netherlands.

Hi, my name is Natalie Dvorakova. I'm from the Czech Republic. And this is my first time doing Vipassana. I think what I gained is probably “discipline” which I've never had. And I would say I'm more “calm”. The chaos that I had in my head is silent right now. And I think, I will be practicing also after I will leave this place and go back to my country. Because it was just 10 days, but my last meditation was very worthy. Because, may be just for 20 minutes. I felt absolutely, I don't know how to say…“peace”, something like this. It was just for 20 minutes, but because of that…, I know, I will be continued with this practicing. I said I gain…like discipline. And I little bit see the truth about the world like everything, almost everything, everyone got their own “mask”. But here…, I was able to be just myself, like…not myself, but with my “mind”. So it was absolutely without any mask.

Hi, I'm Gilda from Germany. And my opinion of the Vipassana meditation is that it is the single most powerful practice I've been allowed to encounter in my life. For really understanding myself, for really acknowledging my emotions and who I am, and for ultimately really building a strength of mindfulness that I didn't think was possible to attain for me. So I'm very grateful for this. And I find that nothing that you read in books or that you just hear about can get you there. But really doing the practice and being in this environment has done so much for me. And regarding the quality of instructions here, again, it's hard to put into words the wisdom I was allowed to receive from Prajan. But he always find the words to really keep me going in this process. So the 21 days was very hard for me. But I always had his voice in the back of my head. Always just like one little lifeline that kept me going. And sometimes he was very firm and sometimes incredibly gentle and compassionate. But it was always really what I needed in this moment. And what I take away from my time here is a complete shift in perception of how I understand myself, the world, my emotions. And I no longer feel a victim of these emotions. And of numbing behaviors and addictions and all these things that I did because I didn't know how to understand myself. So, yeah, I'm just really grateful to.

Hello, I'm Emilio Arenas from Mexico, I've been practicing Vipassana meditation for almost 10 years. Meditation has helped me, not simply to know myself internally, but also to be able to relate better to my emotions, my thoughts, and even the people around me. The instruction given here at the monastery, after having taken an advanced 20-day retreat, is very precise, very direct and every day there is support where they explain the whole process day by day and step by step, so your practice becomes clearer. So the interview each day is not only enriching, but also comforting. What I've gained from this retreat is that I was able to go deeper into my mind and have experiences that I hadn't had in other retreats. So this leads me to want to keep practicing more, keep meditating more, in order to achieve a calmer, more peaceful mind, and above all one that has greater clarity. So I invite you to come and practice it for yourselves.