Read time: 5 minutes
TLDR:
- Vipassana meditation helped to decrease my baseline reactivity by teaching me to remain neutral to body sensations
- All courses are completely free
- FAQ below
Preamble:
Dear Readers,
Ah Vipassana Meditation…my saving grace. I learned it about it almost 2 months ago and it has truly transformed my life. Forgiveness to my past, happiness in the present, more comfort toward an unknown future. For those who are curious, I wanted to give a deeper dive into how Vipassana meditation works, how it differs and to answer some FAQ.
What is Meditation?:
Let’s start with the basics. In a broad sense, meditation is about observing reality as it is. This is often done by focusing on the breath and noticing when the mind drifts away. With time, those who meditate come to realize that thoughts are simply thoughts and as such, are less likely to automatically react to them.
What? I don’t automatically react.
Yes. I thought so too, but let’s take a little (oh so non-frequent) example from my own life.
Example:
I’m driving home in beautiful Vancouver and wonderful…there’s traffic. Waiting…2 feet further…2 feet further…someone cuts in front of me.
Feelings: Irritation, frustration, anger
Thought: What the ! Wait your turn, you A******
Action: **HOOOONNNNKKKKKKKK** **GLARE**
Thoughts: What an ***
(Disclaimer: I never claimed to be a patient person)
Thinking Rationally:
Rationally, it’s not a big deal if someone cuts in front of me. I lost what? A couple seconds? It totally makes sense, but in the moment, I felt irritated and automatically honked my horn. I know that my thoughts and actions were not the person I wanted to be so I learned to meditate over the past few years.
Effect of meditation on above example:
Same situation…someone cuts in front of me
Feelings: irritation, frustration
Thought: GRRRRRRR…oh wait…actually why am I irritated? It’s no big deal…it’s only a few seconds
Feeling: less frustrated
Yay progress! I didn’t honk my horn or glare, but it didn’t mean I wasn’t still seething inside. Practicing meditation gave me some awareness, but I found that continuing vipassana meditation has changed the root of my irritations.
Above example post-vipassana:
Same situation…
Feelings: neutral or minimal irritation
Thoughts: no thought or “ah! There’s my brain’s patterns again”
Why does vipassana meditation work differently?
The bottom line is neutrality to body sensations. Other meditations give importance to focusing on the breath and improves concentration, but vipassana focuses on equinimity to body sensations – pleasant or unpleasant. In the above example, I felt uneasy/unsafe/uncomfortable when someone cut me off. I don’t like that feeling and, as a result, my unconscious reaction was to honk my honk.
In vipassana meditation, one learns to sit with discomfort or pleasant sensations and objectively notice the feelings. Over time and, with being neutral to sensations, the mind learns to observe and the automatic reactions (i.e. honking a horn/thinking someone is an idiot) go away.
But…People need to know their action was unsafe!
Okay, yes definitely, but the above is just a fun example. What I’ve realized is that the same neutrality helps me in other areas of my life whether it be fear of public speaking, fear of spiders, irritation to my swirling thoughts, dread about an upcoming work week…it doesn’t matter. Everything that feels bothersome can be overcome and the power is entirely within oneself.
Cool! So I’ll practice being mindful to how I’m feeling!
Great start! It’s so important and is something I try to practice daily. What I want to bring attention to is that even though mindfulness is incredibly helpful, it won’t remove the really deep rooted automatic reactions unless one learns to feel the most subtle sensations on the body.
How do you learn to feel subtle body sensations?
In a vipassana retreat of course! (Nope. I haven’t joined a cult. The courses are completely free.)
When you learn vipassana in a 10-day meditation retreat, the first 3 days are spent concentrating the mind. It sounds like a long time, but in order to feel the subtle sensations that the unconscious mind reacts to, this time is necessary.
How do I learn vipassana meditation?
You can book a 10 day meditation retreat at dhamma.org. They have courses all over the world and are completely free.
FAQ about vipasssana retreats/meditation:
| Question | Answer |
| I can’t talk at all? | You can speak with the teacher or course manager if there are questions, but not to other students/volunteers. The reason for not talking is because when we talk, our brains become so full of thoughts that it’s harder to concentrate on our inner world and meditate. |
| What’s the cost? | Completely free…all courses are funded by past students |
| Do I just sit there and try to not think? | No, you will be given detailed instructions every day/session on how to meditate and what to do |
| Was it hard? | Yes, but I became so much stronger mentally as a result. I no longer cry as long when I cry and I don’t get so upset when I’m scared or my thoughts are jumbled. |
| Did you want to leave? | Yes, I did have thoughts to leave, but this is a completely normal occurrence. The brains habit pattern is to avoid things that are uncomfortable. |
| Can you leave? | Technically yes, but it’s not really safe to leave part way. Vipassana meditation will bring up some deep rooted insecurities/anxieties/thoughts and it’s important to learn how to clear them otherwise they’ll just be left hanging around. |
| No books, phones or writing? | Nope, this is so that you can really go deep and pull out old negative habit patterns. With books, phones and writing, these are typically used as a distraction and will actually push the discomforts deeper as we’re avoiding them. |
Summary:
And…that’s a wrap! Vipassana has really helped to change my life and how I live it. Hope you’ll give it a chance and, if you have questions/thoughts, please feel free to post below.
~Tracy
World of Wandering Minds 