Day 8 began like all the others—with the 4:00 AM bell breaking the quiet darkness, followed by slow footsteps moving toward the Dhamma Hall in near-total silence. But inside, something was different. Lighter. Quieter. It felt like I had passed through a storm, and now stood in its calm center.

The body still hurt, the sessions were still long, but the resistance had decreased. It was as if I had stopped fighting against the experience and finally started moving with it.

We continued with full-body Vipassana scans—up and down, patiently observing every inch of sensation. And now, there were new layers of experience emerging. Sometimes, the body felt almost fluid, as though I were dissolving into waves of vibrating energy. Other times, the old stiffness would return and anchor me right back in discomfort.

But now I understood: everything is impermanent.

Pain arises. It passes. Pleasure arises. It passes. Thoughts, emotions, memories—each one flickering like a candle flame, never still, never permanent.

This wasn’t just philosophy anymore. It was becoming truth at the experiential level.

Still, Day 8 brought its own challenges. With only two days left, the mind began to play tricks again. Small cravings returned—fantasies about food, music, conversations, even just checking my phone. A part of me was already planning the future: What will I do after this? Will I be able to keep meditating at home? Will this change last?

But Goenka-ji’s evening discourse brought me back.

He reminded us: “You are here to learn how to live—not just how to meditate. You are learning how to face life’s ups and downs with equanimity, to break the habit of blind reaction.”

That hit me deeply. This wasn’t a retreat from life—it was training for life.

As I walked back to my room that night under a dark, starlit sky, I felt a deep stillness—not just outside in the hills of Budhanilkantha, but within. A silence I had never known before.

I still had questions. Still had doubts. But beneath all that, a quiet knowing had begun to grow:

Whatever arises, will pass.

And in that awareness, there was peace.