In November 2015 my life circumstances underwent a rare convergence of events, all sorts of things fell into place, and I was able to participate in a one-month Co-working Retreat Program at the Center for Mindful Learning in Vermont (I highly recommend this retreat center).   As excited as I was, I was also quite terrified.   Not a lot of Formal Sitting practice but... I hadn't been to a formal retreat for decades and my daily routine did not include a formal sitting practice. (I had however been "sitting" once a week with my wife, my brothers and a few close friends for a few decades).  I started into the retreat with 6 to 8 hours of sitting a day, to find myself actually settling into some fairly deep states.  This surprised not only me, but the wonderful, wise, and compassionate Soryu Foral, [...]