Vipassana: what it is & what it teaches us.
Last month I attended a 10-day Vipassana (aka “insight” meditation) in Joshua Tree, a silent retreat where you learn a specific meditation technique, taught be S. N. Goenka. Going into this retreat, I knew 2 things: that this meditation was based in mindfulness and that it would be difficult. What I didn’t know is what would happen in 10 days without speaking, reading, writing, and practicing meditation for several hours each day. I was honestly a bit scared, but also extremely curious.
The structure of the day was: wake up at 4am, meditate in your room or the meditation hall from 4:30-6:30am, and then proceed through the day with several more meditation periods, 3 of them being mandatory in the hall since they were accompanied by audio teachings, while the other meditation sits could be done in your room if you wanted (and truth be told, I fell asleep during quite a few of them). In between meditation sits were meals (breakfast at 6:30, lunch at 11, and fruit/tea at 5) and breaks, where you could walk along the paths on the property, rest, do laundry or shower. You were instructed not to bring books or journals and phones were taken upon arrival. Men and women were separated throughout the stay (with the exception of the meditation hall, where we were all together, but split on opposite sides of the hall) and you were to maintain “noble silence” and could only speak withe instructor or facilitator with questions each day (and even that would be at most 10 minutes).
Vipassana is a specific meditation technique that the Buddha used to eventually reach enlightenment. The teaching of this meditation were passed down, and eventually mostly dissipated in India, however a lineage of instructors maintained the teachings in their pure form in Burma. When Goenka learned this technique, he was so taken aback by the usefulness of it for everyday life, and how it could drastically reduce suffering, that he became a instructor himself and went on to open centers around the world, and to ensure that they could be 100% free so that anyone can access this technique to bring more happiness and ease into life. The technique is taught in this 10-day silent format because it allows the mind and body to go through its natural discourses, without the distractions of speaking, phones, and daily life, and the pure focus for 10 days is meditation. While the word “retreat” is in there, it’s certainly not a spa retreat that you might normally imagine.
While the origins of Vipassana are derived from Buddhist philosophy, the practice itself is not religious. Of course, one could move forward with delving deeper into Buddhist philosophy/religion and even with an eventual goal of enlightenment; however, this practice also meant to bring ease to everyday life and reduce suffering.
So how does it do that? The first 3 days are focused on anapana (a focus on the breath) while on day 4, you are taught Vipassana itself. A mindful body scan is essentially the basis of Vipassana except its much more detailed and thorough with focusing on body sensations. From day 4 onward, during the mandatory meditation sits, you are also instructed not to move (of course if you absolutely have to, you won’t get in trouble). After some time (for me it was around 35 minutes), you will start to feel it. In your hips or legs or somewhere else. It will begin to hurt. And what happens next? Well in our normal states, the mind takes over. And what Vipassana teaches us is to observe the sensations with equanimity, which is an even and neutral mind; to not attach on any judgments (even good ones) on the observed sensations, but to simply observe and move on to the next part of the body; and to constantly remind ourselves of the impermanence of sensations (and on a larger scale, the impermanence of everything).
During the first Vipassana sit, for me, the emotions of irritation, annoyance, and even anger came up. My mind would be screaming on how much I needed to move my legs, that this practice was pointless, that I was going to be sore for days, about how painful it was, etc, etc. And in the first sit I did have to shift my leg and open it up from being folded to straight, and that’s ok. But guess what? The extreme pain and soreness in those last 10 minutes of that first sit did of course subside; they went away because they are impermanent and my mind became even again. By the time day 10 rolled around, I could sit through the full 1 hour without moving and my mind wasn’t screaming; it was noticing the sensation and not getting hooked onto it. My mind was able to find the evenness during the pain itself. Which is exactly what Vipassana is teaching us when dealing with pain in life.
Throughout the 10 days, many emotions came up for me and realizations surfaced that I never connected the dots on before. For 10 days, you are both in your head and learning to observe the mind and body without reaction. And it works. The reason Vipassana reduces suffering is because when we have to observe the body (and mind) without attaching judgment, we move away from reaction. We are learning acceptance on an experiential level. That directly translates to our reactions in everyday life. Acceptance has been a tough one for me this past year; I expected to be in a different place in life and I’ve suffered with the intense sadness that it happened. Acceptance is tough for a lot of folks. But practicing this has shown me that it is possible.
It’s not a miracle cure that afterward you are suddenly enlightened and full of ease. But you now have a technique that is accessible to you anytime and the more you practice it consistently, the more you see the benefits reflected in daily life because you are literally retraining the mind and how it responds to unpleasant sensations and thoughts. Your overall mindfulness goes up— with thoughts, visuals, smells, sensations, all of it. And when that internal gauge goes up, you have more freedom to align with actions that are valuable for you, rather than reactions based in emotions or thought spirals.
Research shows that those who engage in Vipassana show lowered anxiety; higher self-acceptance, growth, and positive relationships; and better self-control with habits. It’s also shown to improve brain plasticity, which is the brain’s ability to change how it processes information and the automatic thoughts that follow. That’s huge. Because so much of our suffering comes from thoughts— our reactions to what we don’t like or how life is not panning out how we want— and from our reactions to situations. And while cognitive restructuring is 1 helpful tool, it only goes so far. How many times have you tried to convince yourself over and over of a more useful or positive thought, and it just doesn’t work? Many changes, especially with acceptance, self-compassion, and neutral thinking, need to also be engaged at the experiential level. When we embody these, the mind will follow.
Since ending the retreat, I set a goal for myself. The course recommends you meditate twice/day for 1 hour each, but I did not want to set myself up with unrealistic expectations, so I’ve adapted it to 1 hour/day, whether it’s in 1 sit or broken up into 2 30-minute sits. And to my surprise, I look forward to these times. I carve them out each day and prioritize them. In the past, meditation for 1 hour would have seemed impossible but its slowly becoming a built-in habit, and one I enjoy, even on the days where I genuinely don’t feel like it, because I can see the value of this practice and I’ve decided to be led by that value, rather than what I “feel” in a moment (which is usually to just relax with Netflix or get things done if I have a free hour!). That in itself is a direct result of Vipassana! The usual process: I want to do something (like meditation), but I’m fatigued and the thoughts come about around how much I don’t want to do the task and would rather do something else. But now, I observe the fatigue or desire not to meditate and don’t react to them; instead I follow what my initial action was going to be.
Vipassana means to see how things as they really are. The idea and even the technique may seem oversimplified but the truth is, this is really hard. Our minds are so active and have complex layers with our conditioning, trauma, and beliefs so most of the time, we don’t actually see things how they are, in a neutral and unresponsive way. My advice to anyone thinking of Vipassana is just do it, and to trust the process. It’s incredibly valuable and despite all the emotions and unpleasantness that will be surfaced, you will experience that equanimity and acceptance, and be shown that there’s a different way to live.
