Hiii friends, it’s Estefi — and today Meijun and I are taking you back to the quietest part of our 10-year trip: an 11-day silent meditation retreat. Yep, no phones, no journaling, no makeup, no music… and no talking. We went full monk mode in Chiang Mai, Thailand at Wat Ram Poeng— and let’s just say we learned a lot about ourselves (and each other).

So what is Vipassana, anyway?Vipassana means “clear seeing” — it’s an ancient form of meditation where you focus on your breath and your body, moment by moment, without reacting. Wat Ram Poeng, the temple we stayed at, takes it seriously: no distractions, no talking, and no external tools.Just you, your body, and your mind — for 11 whole days. And we did it… together. As a couple. Which made things extra spicy in the silence. 😂

A Day in the Life at Wat Ram Poeng:

* Wake-up call: 4am

* Chanting: 4:20am

* Breakfast: 6:30am

* Alms for monks: 7:30am

* Dhamma talk (some days)

* Lunch: 10:30am (yes, the last meal of the day)

* Meditation / walking / sweeping / bathing

* Evening chanting: 5pm

* Lights out: 10pm

All while wearing only white, staying in a bare-bones room, and navigating the swirl of thoughts without distraction.

In this episode we talked about…

* The moment one of us almost gave up

* The weirdest intrusive thoughts that showed up

* The thing we missed the most from the outside world

* Our favorite part of the temple’s methodology

* Whether we peeked at each other in silence 😅

* What we each learned — about meditation, about ourselves, and about being together in stillness

Listen to the full episode wherever you get your podcasts!

And if you’ve done a retreat like this (or want to), drop a comment — we want to hear your stories too. 💌

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