I attended one of these ten day retreats in September. It was a worthwhile experience, but it hasn&#x27;t produced any great change in my day-to-day experience.<p>That said, many people I met at the retreat reported feelings of great personal significance. I&#x27;m completely open to the possibility that the fault lies with me, but I wonder whether these reports were influenced by group pressure, since there is something of a sense of community and to admit that you &quot;didn&#x27;t feel anything&quot; is to exclude yourself. After ten days of silence and seclusion from the world (there&#x27;s no technology, communication, reading, etc.), you will want all the social interaction and acceptance you can get.<p>Also bear in mind that this is basically a self-selected group of people who are searching for &quot;something.&quot; Whatever &quot;it&quot; is, it doesn&#x27;t come as a surprise to me that people find it after ten days alone with their thoughts (which still come to mind, however much you try to focus on bodily sensations).<p>As an aside, I was also turned off by some of the quasi-religious content of the retreat. The website claims that this is a strictly evidence-based practice, but you&#x27;ll quickly realize this isn&#x27;t the case when you hear Goenka chanting in Pali or explaining the benefits of meditation as an effect of releasing &quot;sankhara.&quot;<p>After the retreat, I thought a fellow named Harmanjit Singh did an excellent job evaluating Goenka&#x27;s teachings here: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;harmanjit.blogspot.com&#x2F;2007&#x2F;07&#x2F;critique-of-vipassana-as-taught-by-mr-s.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;harmanjit.blogspot.com&#x2F;2007&#x2F;07&#x2F;critique-of-vipassana-...</a><p>If I ever have another continuous twelve days to spare, I&#x27;d still be willing to try another retreat with a more secular focus.