On September 2013 I have attended the six-month Meditation Instructor course at Willpower Institute located in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada. It was a unique meditation course that you cannot find it anywhere else in the Country. I had taken many different meditation courses with different teachers and masters in the past, however, none of them taught me in-depth study like the one offered by The Willpower Institute.
In this six-month course, we studied three handbooks and did meditate an hour every day Monday to Friday, and we were instructed to meditate in the weekends at home as well, the same way we did in the class. The Books have been designed to teach you what exactly happens to your mind when you meditate, and how you can gain mind power, become concentrated, and keep your emotions under control when you meditate daily.
After we finished this six-month meditation course, we traveled to Thailand to attend the Meditation Retreat to Doi – Inthanon for two weeks, and we attended a 4 days retreat on the mountains. This trip changed my life forever, we were hiking, walking and meditating on the mountains during the day, and had group meditation sessions and talks at night, together with more than 4,500 people from all around Thailand, United States and Canada, with our master Luangphor, other teachers, and the group of top rank Willpower monks that accompanied him.
My remarkable times over there were the nights when we had our group meditation
sessions. We meditated and shared the energy with over 4500 people at the same time, there was a great power, luminosity, stillness, and pure awareness, which gave you the sense of great peace and calmness, that you can never imagine one can get on its own meditation practice!
During the hiking trip on the mountains we were observing our thoughts and emotions, we were being present in the moment. The temperature on the mountain was around 38 C, it was very hot up there, and not an easy walk, as a matter of fact, it was pretty tough to continue walking especially in the afternoons when we had already walked for a few hours and had become exhausted with heat waves and the long walk.
However as we were watching ourselves and our thoughts and meditating all the way, we were so present that by observing our minds, any emotions like tiredness, exhaustion, and so on had been looked at and let go at the moments when they arrived! Therefore we would be able to gain energy to continue our walk, clear and transform our minds.
It was a great test for each of us to see how this training of the mind for the past six months, with the group in the classroom, worked for each of us, and how our minds now had the training that we were able to stay calm despite the tough situations we had been through on the mountain’s walk.
The experience was amazing, one of a kind and life-changing. It gave me the sense of responsibility to pass this unique practice on, as Luangphor advised us in his books and talks to teach meditation to others, and let everyone get the great benefits of this simple yet profound practice.
I wish to thank Willpower Institute for offering this unique course for free to
whoever is interested, it is a great gift that one can give to him/ herself. It is something that will impact one’s entire life, and help one to be able to better manage his/her emotions, and live a happier, healthier and more harmonious life.
Namaste!
Gita Nilforoush
July 17, 2014
