India - Step 5.2 VIPASSANA: 10 days of meditation in India 🧘🏽‍♀️

Now I want to tell you first what VIPASSANA is about and then describe my experience with it.

What is VIPASSANA?

So my AI describes it as this:

Vipassana is a type of meditation that focuses on self-observation and introspection. It is an ancient technique that originated in India and has been practiced for over 2,500 years. The word "vipassana" means "to see things as they really are" in Pali, which is an ancient Indian language. The practice involves sitting in silence for long periods of time and observing one's own thoughts and sensations. This technique is said to help practitioners gain insight into the nature of reality and achieve a more peaceful state of mind. Vipassana is practiced by people all over the world and is not associated with any particular religion or belief system.

This is basically what they also teach and tell you on the first day in the Introduction. You commit yourself for 10 days in which you also cant leave the Dhamma Center. During this time, starting in the evening before day 1, you follow the five SILAs:

1. abstain from killing any living being (also no ants, mosquitoes etc.)

2. abstain from stealing

3. abstain from sexual misconduct

4. abstain from wrong speech (telling lies)

5. abstain from all intoxicants (no alcohol, cigarettes, drugs)

Also in this ten days you will remain “noble silence” which means no talking, only to the teacher if instructed. Of course on the day 0 you give away your phone, values notebooks, book or anything that you shouldn`t use.

Why people do that?

S.N. Goenka - who wstablished the Vipassana Research Institute at Dhamma Giri in 1985 - explains it like this:

Life is constant misery (which is also a buddhist way of thinkining). The misery is caused by ones constant craving or abortion, this means:

We like something - we crave it - we clinge to it - we are attached to it = misery

We dont like something - we cherish aversion = misery

So to come out of creating craving and aversion in life, VIPASSANA teaches one to obvserve the reality as is. As the truth. Not as we want it to be, but as it is in every moment. and then learn to observe equanimous.

If you learn how to practise this and integrate in your daily life, you will be more peaceful and happy.

Of course this is not done in 10 days, but more about this in the paragraph “my experience”.

Schedule

My experience

❗️Attention: If you are planning to attend a VIPASSANA course someday, I advise against reading any experience reports. These are extremely individual and contribute to developing expectations, which can be hindering in the course. One should start the course without any expectation or attitude. I had heard about VIPASSANA experiences from friends, books I read, and podcasts before, and even if you do not consciously develop an expectation, you still have one, which can be detrimental in the course.❗️

Way to the rooms and Dhamma halls.

After a more than 3-hour Uber ride through roads that do not exist, construction sites, traffic, weaving behind an ambulance - I arrived at the Dhamma Center just in time. After registration, you hand over your phone and valuables, as well as yoga mat, books, etc. I was the only participant who was not Indian, so I did not attend the official introduction as it was in Hindi.

I received a separate introduction in English where all the rules, procedures, and other things were explained. At the end, I was shown the premises, which means: dining room, my room, and the meditation hall. The only three places where you will be during these 10 days.

Day 1, the gong sounded at 04:00 a.m.: wake up and gather in the meditation hall half an hour later. Before meditation, an audio sequence of Goenka is often played, in which he describes the technique and what to do. There is also morning chanting and more throughout the day.

Overall, the first three days were less difficult for me than expected (again, never have expectations!). The long sitting was painful but ok. Keeping silent was easy for me. No phone - no problem. Getting up at 4 am was also fine. However, what was really suffocating for me was the heat.

Of course, I did not know that I would arrive in India precisely in the middle of summer, and it was 37-40 degrees every day. Especially in the afternoons when we meditated from 1-5 pm and >40 women sat in the Dhamma Hall. Hot. 🥵

It means sitting, sweating, silence, meditating, and I showered four times a day (which is not a shower but a "bath" as they call it - with a faucet, soap, and a bucket.

The food was actually great. Breakfast was often something like rice or couscous cakes, curry (yes, you eat curry at 6:30), and fruit. At noon, chickpea or bean curry with roti. I got my vegan rotis extra every day, as they are usually prepared with ghee. The first few days, that was definitely my daily highlight that I always looked forward to: 11:00 a.m.: Roti-time 🥰

From day 4, we came to the actual VIPASSANA meditation, which meant sitting completely still and meditating for one hour three times a day. Now one might think: but you meditate all day for hours and sit. Yes, but what you do not notice is; every time it becomes uncomfortable, you change your sitting position, shift your weight, sit up straight, change your posture. In these sessions, however, you are supposed to keep your eyes closed for an hour and not move. When we did this for the first time, I thought: okay, I cannot do this. It was really painful, and I had to move a bit. This is normal at the beginning and, of course, gets better.

I liked the routine very much and can say it was intense and a rollercoaster ride of peaceful meditation and the feeling of making progress, absolute madness, almost standing on the brink of a mental breakdown, the feeling of light and soothing vibrations in the body, and self-doubt. By absolute madness, I mean: the realization - we are slaves of our minds, and it controls us, not the other way around.

On day 6, I thought, okay, I have reached a point where I can meditate mindlessly and peacefully, and in the afternoon sessions, I went crazy. I couldn't keep my mind calm, and every 4 seconds, it started: planning for the future, memories of everything possible that was already thought to be forgotten, up to childhood-memories, missing (= CRAVING) friends and family, questioning life decisions, blah blah blah, and cats. Eyes closed: cat faces, soft noses cuddling up to me, cute faces yawning and winking. Yes, I think I have a problem. 😂

I planned my travels (complete change of plans due to my VIPASSANA feelings and melancholy), I thought a lot about Barcelona - Eyes closed: Streets of Barcelona, the beach, my olds flat roomies.🥲

Hours of sitting and meditating in peace in the previous days have apparently brought everything to the surface. And, of course, you experience a lot of discomfort, and from moments of discomfort, sensations of longing and despair arise. But that's why I was there. To learn and observe.

Now that I have completed the 10 days, I can say: it is a constant struggle with yourself. But after these days, you are not "finished" with your internal work, but the opposite.

I had meditated regularly to a greater or lesser extent over the past years and had to realize that I had always worked only on the surface. You can imagine it as a huge iceberg, and the small tip above the water is still our consciousness, on which we can work superficially. Meditation techniques that work with visualization, mantras, manifestation, etc., operate at this level.

VIPASSANA goes beneath the surface, and after 10 days, you are 1-2cm below this water surface and see the rest of the iceberg. And you can say: I have now learned techniques and tools to work on it. This work will probably never end, but the good thing is: it is up to us, and through determination and discipline, we can achieve the benefits and successes of "the life of dhamma."

(don`t get me wrong, if you don`t plan to get into VIPASSANA - meditation is still something I would always 120% recommend to everyone. No matter what method, just meditate and find your own prefered way!)

The insights from VIPASSANA helps you not to be overwhelmed by the ups and downs of life, to maintain your inner balance, and to act in a way that makes you and others happy. The ultimate goal is the liberation from all sufferings.

But also now the first day back in normal life facing new, chaotic indian situations - I feel the presence of the benefits that these 10 days already gave me.

My room

Mango Tree in front of my room 🥭

Oh and all the days as you dont talk and also should`t have eye-contect , I was wondering if the indian women are hating me or judging because I was the only foreigner. Then on the last day the noble silence was broken. And all the other indian women came to me and talked and wanted to take 1000 selfies. They are so fascinated by the fact that I am white and some of them never really had someone from europe face to face. They were super cute, did a whatsapp group with me and the 40 of them and I felt like I am famous, when they said things like "wait my husband picks me up but I want him to see you and we take a photo together".😅

Yes, that was my experience that I am writing down right now in Starbucks in Mumbai. After the course, it is recommended to meditate for one hour every morning and evening and repeat the 10-day course once a year. I will try to work determinedly further.

The next goal is Delhi - Agra (Taj Mahal) - Rishikesh.