I had and have times where I didn’t or don’t feel well at all, my mind is running wild, endless thoughts, sleepless nights accompanied with aimless time killing during the day. And so meditation, “relaxing” and “controlling” the mind, sounded really good and familiar to me. It sounded similar to what I tried during the days I was not feeling good in order to somehow manage my every day life.
But on the other hand I heard so often about meditation in Europe in the recent years, I had the impression it became one of these new “hippy trend things”… This was the reason why my initial intention was to learn it the “hardcore way”: spending 3-4 months in an ashram isolated from the world.
During our trip Samira convinced me to try Vipassana Meditation by S.N. Goenka. She had already tried it some years ago and had a good experience and I also think she didn’t want me to disappear for four months to an ashram. 😀
Vipassana meditation by S.N. Goenka is a 10 days course: waking up at 4 in the morning, going to bed at 21:30, vegetarian food, no smoking, no drinking, no talking, no interaction, no reading and writing, just the body, mind and all its mental processes.
First I thought, “okay only ten days, easily done”, but I can tell you…I was questioning everything, hating, suffering, twice I thought I lost my mind and I thought about giving up more than once.
But after these 10 days everything was good, I realized all these emotions, feelings and thoughts are part of this course and it is one of the “biggest” lessons I learnt so far.
I tried so many different things to come out of my suffering: reading books and articles, attending psychology lectures, trying to be the best in all I was doing, searching for love and confirmation, searching for meaning in life, searching for challenges, avoiding challenges, excessive sport, drugs, psychologists… it’s not like these things didn’t help me at all. Somehow all of them brought me further in my search for knowledge and wisdom but none of this helped me to end my suffering. The only thing that made me feel better when I was totally down was controlling or trying to control my mind. And this is vipassana meditation; just on another level… structured and considered, it’s a science of body and mind.
Vipassana meditation is so much more than just 10 days of sitting.
It changed my life, my view on life and everything that comes with life, for the better.
It’s not possible to describe the experiences and the knowledge you gain during this time, there are no words. If I would try to explain it, you would just smile, nod your head and think “once more this spiritual, philosophical chatter”. More so, experiences like this are individual for every one taking part. Theory doesn’t help in this subject (at least not in the beginning); it needs to be experienced practically.
Everybody who experienced suffering in his or her life in forms of fear, pain, anger, worries, sadness, unfilled wishes and dreams, loss of something or someone loved, dissatisfaction, restlessness or drowsiness, like I did and do;
Everybody who would like to know where this kind of suffering is truly coming from;
Everybody who is interested in finding a way out of this suffering into a truly self-controlled life;
In my opinion, vipassana meditation is the only solution, which truly deals with the roots of suffering.
I’m not completely “healed” and free of all suffering, one cannot expect miracles, it is a long way to go and needs daily practice, like everything in life. But now I know a way, a way, which truly works.
I never expected something like this, when I signed in for this course.
Vipassana is not about spirituality, religion or praying and worshipping anything or anyone. It’s just about your being and as a positive side effect it makes our world a much better place.
The course costs nothing and after the 10 days you are free to judge.
If you are interested in vipassana meditation, there are centers and courses all over the world. Have a look on the vipassana homepage.
Everything is as it is and that’s good.
Thank you for your time, we wish you all the best!
I could not use better words for describe it. Thank you so much for introducing Vipassana in my life, it changed my whole way of thinking!! So grateful about this experience and I would probably never know about it if you would not have told me and encourage me to go to India.. You have probably no idea how much this means to me but you guys are just inspiring me so much with everything you do. Keep up that energy and love!
I also wanna spread the message and recommend Vipassana to everyone, no matter about age or your religious believes, where you are from or what you doing. 10 days which will turn your life upside down – for good 🙂 Anywhere. Anytime. Just do it!!