A Break from Cambridge Medical School

I went on my first ever meditation retreat, and this is what happened. Since returning from my final year of medical school here at Cambridge, I felt myself gradually getting more and more stressed. I have my written finals coming up in around two months, and part of me feels increasing pressure to revise for those. But I know it's so important to avoid burnout, which is actually something I've experienced previously in med school. So on a bit of a whim, I decided to book onto my first ever meditation retreat to hopefully help me feel a little bit more grounded, and maybe even a little bit less hectic. So it's finally the end of the week, and today I am heading off to a weekend meditation retreat at Adastana, which is a retreat centre based in the UK. I've got all my bags packed, and I pop my plant babies by the window with the curtains open just to make sure they can get some much-needed sunshine while I'm away to keep them happy and healthy. Finally, I did my lateral flow test, which thankfully came back negative. Love to see it. And I'm all good to go. After a long drive listening to the Huberman Labs podcast, and going through some pretty eerie late-night country roads, I finally arrive pretty late at night, and I'm greeted by a Buddha statue at the very entrance. By now it's pretty late at night, and so I head to reception, which is very mysteriously lit with a single lamp, to pick up my introductory instructions, which are on a piece of paper, and I figure out where my room is and head over. One thing that really takes me by surprise when I first arrive is that there are no locks on any of the doors here at Adastana, and security is just based on trust in the community living here, and also maybe the fact that the retreat centre is miles and miles away from any sort of other urban civilization, which makes it the perfect place to go for a retreat. Then we all head to the main shrine room for the introductory ceremony. We sit together for a 30-minute meditation. After this, we meet some other people on the retreat, and then in small groups we discuss a quote or a lyric that is meaningful to us in some way. I chose a quote that I've been thinking a lot about lately. Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. Finally, we did a ritual involving some chanting and the lighting of candles, and the energy levels were pretty powerful. At night, the main shrine room here at Adastana is just stunning, with all the little alcoves all lit up. After the first night's ceremony, we entered a period of meditative, reflective silence overnight, meaning no talking or communication with another person. We were also encouraged to put away all kinds of internet-connected tech to really fully disconnect for an offline weekend. So on the first full day, we were woken up at 6.30am by someone ringing a bell while walking outside the accommodation. We all wake up at the same time each day just to participate in the morning meditation, and I actually loved being woken up by the bell in this way. And at 7am, we started a group morning meditation, and today it was an unguided 40-minute meditation followed by another 30 minutes of unguided meditation. I initially explored some mindfulness of breathing practice, and then moved on to a form of loving-kindness meditation, aka metta bhavna. After the morning meditation, we had a bit of a little break, so I went for a mini-walk around the gorgeous Adastana grounds. And then sat down to do some light journaling and reading outside, all the while wearing my very fluffy coat, of course. I headed to the second, smaller shrine room to do some yoga in the morning, and since my laptop and phone have both been put completely off-limits, totally switched off, I just had literally nothing else I could be doing other than either walking, journaling, reading, yoga, and actually it felt really amazing to be able to just really focus on my yoga without thinking in the back of my mind, oh, I could be working or on social media instead. I feel like being limited in options is sometimes actually really nice and something I hope to self-impose a bit more often. At 10.30, we meet for the second meditation session of the morning, and I really noticed how nice it is to sit with so many other people, like, so perfectly still in one room. And after an hour or so of meditation, we have the keynote talk of the retreat, which was focused around the Dharmapada, which is a foundational Buddhist text. Experiences are preceded by mind, led by mind, and produced by mind. This is one of the most famous quotes from the Dharmapada. In the early afternoon, we go on a walk up Oyster Hill to a viewpoint at the top with absolutely stunning views. When we got back, I go for a mini photography session around the gardens, and then we did a workshop exercise all together in the main shrine room. Involving holding prolonged eye contact with somebody, and just really feeling into that sensation of what it's like to allow yourself to be seen by another person. On the retreat, each one of us is assigned a community role where we can chip in with chores to maintain the retreat centre. For the weekend, I became the official door handle wiping girl. So I crack on with my job after dinner, and I feel pretty accomplished by the end of it, really. Afterwards, I head to the library to see what they have in store. There are more books on Buddhism and meditation than I've ever seen in one place before, with sections dedicated to different regions and schools of Buddhism. I dabble in a couple of these books before heading back to the shrine room for some more meditation talks and our final night ritual, where we were each given a small little scroll with a line from the Dharmapada, which we could take away with us from the weekend. Again, we entered a period of reflective silence and got ready for bed. On the final day, the 6.30am bell woke us up gently, and we headed to the 7am morning meditation, where I'd actually decided to work through some challenging feelings, and I ended up getting quite emotional. So I spoke to the teacher leading the session at the end, and felt like with their guidance and the practice, I'd made some sort of mini breakthrough in this area. After breakfast, I did my daily yoga in the smaller shrine room again, basking in the blissful feeling of having literally nothing else to do. Then, just as I felt like I was starting to settle into the swing of things, it was time to pack up and clean up. We all pitch in with the clean up, and are assigned an area to be responsible for, so I was cleaning my new favourite space, which was the second shrine room where I did my daily yoga each day. We had our final vegan lunch of tomato and basil soup with salad, and then said our farewells. Overall, this has been such an incredible and unique experience. I do feel like I almost only just got here and am leaving already, but I am leaving with a sense of calm that I'd definitely lost sight of in the midst of my busy life. So would I recommend going on a meditation retreat? Absolutely yes. Just make sure that it's at the right level for your experience with meditation. Some retreats are suitable for all levels, while others may require some pre-existing practice. But I really wish that I'd learned about retreats like this earlier in my university degree, as I know they would have been of like an immense benefit to my mental well-being. Thank you so much for watching. If you enjoyed this video, you might like this video over here, where I talk a little bit more about my experiences with meditating for 600 days. As always, take care of yourself, and remember that the journey is the destination.