Hi everyone
![Smiley :)](http://www.aypsite.com/plus-forum/Smileys/akyhne/smiley.gif)
At the end of August, we did a 10-day AYP retreat in Czech Republic, near Prague.
There were 4 people at the retreat, two men, two women. It took place at our friend's summer house. We used a version of the retreat schedule available here in the forums. It's been our first ayp retreat, some of us had some previous experiences with retreats in other traditions and settings.
First two days, we did three sessions a day, then for 6 days there were 4 session per day and then the last two days we did three sessions a day. The amount of time that each practitioner spent doing his/her practice (per session) varied from 30 minutes to about 80 minutes. The start of morning and evening sits was synchronized. It wasn't a silent retreat (although this may be a good option, if not for the whole period, then at least for some time).
Mostly, we ate lunch and dinner together. We cooked for ourselves, light and delicious vegetarian food
![Smiley :)](http://www.aypsite.com/plus-forum/Smileys/akyhne/smiley.gif)
(We've found out that as retreat progresses, potato chips become more and more popular. Was that a coincidence?
![Cool [8D]](http://www.aypsite.com/plus-forum/Smileys/akyhne/icon_smile_cool.gif)
)
We didn't stick to the schedule 100%. It was planned that apart from the 3 or 4 sittings per day, there'd be two "silent awareness" sessions, each lasting one hour. This was something that we skipped sometimes and replaced this with a walk, drawing, or something else. For a more relaxed schedule, it's probably not a bad idea to plan it like this in the schedule.
There have been some good releases during the retreat. The retreat really builds a momentum that you can then feel for quite some time afterwards. The effects I've mostly noticed after the retreat ended. The group of people kind of goes higher and higher together and it's after coming back to the rest of the world that the difference is noticed
![Smiley :)](http://www.aypsite.com/plus-forum/Smileys/akyhne/smiley.gif)
We didn't talk about having or not having sex at the retreat in advance. In the situation of a big release and opening for my partner, we did have sex and all the released energy and emotional openness went into it. I sometimes wonder about experiences of other people in such highly open situations. If you have something to share in this area, please do
![Smiley :)](http://www.aypsite.com/plus-forum/Smileys/akyhne/smiley.gif)
We're looking to do another retreat at some point, hopefully not later than again during the next summer.
I highly recommend to put together a group of practitioners and do a retreat together. It's great. Try it
![Smiley :)](http://www.aypsite.com/plus-forum/Smileys/akyhne/smiley.gif)
If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Happy living
![Smiley :)](http://www.aypsite.com/plus-forum/Smileys/akyhne/smiley.gif)