vipassana meditation

I spent 10 days meditating in the Blue Mountains without talking or technology.

I won’t be surprised if you strongly react to that description, so I want to set that aside for THE IMPORTANT STUFF.

To start the new year, I traveled to the Sydney Vipassana meditation center, locked my phone in a box, and meditated from 4:30 am to 9 pm for the next 10 days. During the course, you are separated by gender and not allowed to speak, touch, or make eye contact until the 11th day. (This made eating lunch across from each other very awkward.)

That’s what 100 of us did. Wake up to a gong, go to the hall, meditate for an hour or so, leave the hall, eat breakfast… back to the hall, meditate, leave, lunch… hall, meditate, tea, meditate, bed – an average of 8 hours of meditation. Before now, I had meditated for maybe 30 minutes for school while lying down with a guided-audio. I was in for a long stay.

A personal rant. Otherwise, skip to THE IMPORTANT STUFF.

I think I had it particularly rough.
At this center, there are two types of accommodation that I call “dorms” (for the new students) and “cabins” (for the old students).
I expected to be in the dorms. However, I did not expect to be sleeping at the entrance, so anyone going to their curtained-off bed had to walk straight through my mine. On the first day, it was a fun icebreaker to spook people from behind the door but by the third day, it felt uncomfortable.
Thankfully, on the 4th night, an old student had left and I was upgraded to a cozy cabin with an ensuite and shower. Again, it felt great, but after a couple of nights, this too started to feel uncomfortable. The complete isolation was making me agitated and scrambled my mind. I spent less time in the hall and more time in bed writing or replaying memories of the outside on the bare ceiling. I was aware of my slow decline, yet did nothing as I was fascinated by it. I was studying myself as if playing both the patient and experimenter.

THE IMPORTANT STUFF

(Here’s where you use that initial reaction to dismiss whatever you like.)

Positives

  • The course is run solely on donations and volunteers. They only accept these from people who have completed the full 10 days. Meaning, it is run by passionate people who wholeheartedly believe in the technique.
  • Once the vow of silence is lifted, it is immediately apparent that the other participants working alongside you are incredibly welcoming.
  • I proved to myself that I have the discipline to seriously meditate. A new tool I hope I can call upon in the future.

Negatives

  • The approach is sweeping, meaning it doesn’t aim to address a specific habit. If you’re going in with an aim, it is equivalent to taking Panadol to treat a broken leg.
  • 10 days is a huge commitment. I stayed as part of a gap year alongside experienced people (who would be disappointed if I quit) to the best-rated course and struggled to keep my head above water after halfway. Along with benefits becoming apparent “after the last day” or “after a few courses”, it is difficult to recommend to someone searching for specific help.

More technically, I appreciate such a disciplined meditation environment that taught me, if nothing else, that I can seriously meditate. It was great to have a dedicated environment to practice again and again controlling my reactions to the chaotic world around me.

Vipassana meditation delays our reactions so we don’t blindly follow our old habits. It creates a moment when we can choose to follow our habits or find a different path.

But would that new path be better?

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