How to Do Retreat in Daily Life

Mingyur Rinpoche answers the objection that retreat is only for monks and nuns. He suggests setting aside a weekend at home with four sessions of roughly one and a half to three hours, or joining a week-long group retreat such as his Joy of Living retreats. His main advice is to make the whole day a retreat: begin the morning by generating bodhichitta, then count each time you remember your meditation, using a mala, a small counter, your fingers or a written reminder, starting from about thirty a day. He says, citing his father, that applying meditation matters more than its quality, and ends the day by dedicating the virtue.