I did my 10-day silent retreat a few years ago. It was in the Vipassana center in Ontario. The stunning beauty of that place just swept my mind away even before the beginning of the course. I think it was a pivotal part of the entire experience, in addition to the mediation sessions and all the rest. As you probably know, I could not keep any notes during those 10 days (although I wanted to do that badly!), but I did document my raw emotions right after the end of the retreat. I just reread my notes of April 2018 after reading your post. It looks like your experience was vastly different from mine. I guess it is not surprising as we tend to internalize our experiences in highly subjective ways. Besides that, your meditation retreat appears to be outside of the Vipassana network (not sure about that but it looks like it), although the flow of the Shambala Buddhist practice seems to be closely aligned with the Vipassana tradition.

Anyway, it is a such a great read. Thanks for sharing!