Testimonials

I ended up here because of a little conversation with my friend Tyo who visited in Manila a few months ago during our commute. Upon discovering my interest in yoga he told me that he had joined this program with his mum and I could only think about how insane it was! I never thought I’d last a week without speaking, without Internet access, without good-nights I-miss-yous and I-love-yous from my boyfriend, and I also did not think that I could afford to find the time or money for something so luxurious.

Even though I have attended this clinic before, I did not remember how difficult it was. That must be because I am about 12 year older than I was last time . But, as wise people say: “Anything worth while is never easy”. The meditation was not easy for me. But I am so glad I was lucky enough to be able to go to your clinic. My most significant success is as follows:

A week of silence meditation, what is it, how does it work, and most important: what are the results? When silence comes, and there’s nothing and no one left to distract you from yourself, that’s when they come. One by one they come, the demons, fears and insecurities, the character flaws. All your memories, made up of 33 years of life, stored in that poor body that you call yours. It’s definitely what you call a major clean up.

When I first went to Tapa Brata Meditation I was feeling very unbalanced and unfulfilled in my life. I was thirty six years old, still single and without a child. I had told myself that a successful career and life in a tropical country should be enough but my true burning desire was to meet the right person and have a child together.

My name is Bhikku Bodhi, and as Merta Ada mentioned yesterday, I’ve lived as a Buddhist monk now for 29 years, most of this time I’ve spent in Srilanka. In a way I have to say it’s a little unfair to me to try to evaluate this Usada II course for 2 reasons : First of all, that I didn’t really do systematically Usada I, and so this is my first experience to come into the blue to Usada II. And the other reason is that I’ve been living as a monk for 29 years. I’ve done some of these meditations for many years. I’m not completely new to them.