Meditating...

This weekend I finished my second Vipassana meditation course (the first one I did it back in Feb. 2020 in Medellin Colombia).

Even though I had to cancel the week before because we just had the terrible flooding that occurred in Valencia on the 29th of Oct., on the first hand I didn't feel like leaving and not helping, besides being very low on soul energy and lastly there were no trains from Valencia to Barcelona, many signs that it was not the right moment.

I had this course planned for months, so I decided to apply the week after in Madrid (ávila), they responded that there were no more spots for seating, but I could go as a server if a wanted to.

If you haven't been in a Vipassana meditation course, I would explain the difference:

• As a student (new or old), you meditate around 10 hours per day (starting 4:30am), with no access to your phone, gender segregation, eating two times a day vegan food and not able to talk, for 10 straight days. This is what I experienced in Colombia in my first course.
• The second option is to serve, which I did in this second one, where you meditate, for 3-4 hours per day (in some cases up to 7 hours), with the only difference that you are able to talk to fellow servers (as less as possible), and help in the different areas like: managing the course, students and their time schedule, laundry, cleaning or in my case the kitchen.

I offered to cook, and it was probably, all around, the happiest I have ever been in a kitchen in my life.

I had to cook vegan, with the help of 9 other fellow servers, for 150 people every day. Yes we did have a recipe book, with quantities, ingredients and so on, also the kitchen was very well equipped, nevertheless, being in the heat, standing up, for 10 hours per day, making sure the food was good, enough and ready on time (6:30am, 11:00 am and 5:00 pm), for 10 days, was an incredible challenge, that I approached with the best attitude, off course energy and putting in every dish, lots of love.

At the end, when students could finally talked (on the last day), they thank our job, the taste and quality of the food, including the meditation professors, which was an amazing satisfaction.

Many of my thoughts were in my beloved Valencia, its people and what it has gone through, and during my meditations I asked the universe for the best outcome, best energy, peace and happiness for every person affected by this awful event.

If you haven't had the opportunity to attend a Vipassana meditation course , I strongly recommend everyone to do so, I can assure it will be a life changing experience!

Easy? Not at all, I specially missed my family a looot, and I was so thankful to them for giving me this wonderful opportunity to attend.