April 2012
Vipassana, Seeing things as they really are, St Flannan’s
College, Ennis, Co Clare, Ireland.
Vipassana
is one of India's most ancient meditation techniques. It was rediscovered by
Gotama the Buddha more than 2500 years ago. It’s a process of transforming
negative into positive, through self-observation and discipline.
10 days of
silence. About 150 Men and women separated. The day began with a gong at 4am
and we went to bed at 9am, meditating in the main hall or our rooms for most of
the day. One begins by observing the natural breath to concentrate the mind. For
3 days, the only instructions were, bring your attention to the area between
the upper lip and the nostrils. To sharpen one’s awareness and mind.
Confined to
the college grounds. The females had 2 small courts to walk around at break-times.
We walked round and round and round and round. I was very tempted one day to do
the ministry of funny walks but restrained myself. The only hint of outer world excitement was an
odd glimpse of the men walking round the other courtyard, a rainbow, and a
beautiful sunset one evening. Meals were eaten in silence. The only noise to be
heard was the clinging of spoons against the bowls. The food was nourishing and
tasty. Last meal of the day was at 1130 am and fruit at 5 pm. It did feel like prison
only worse, no expression. The first 3 days I found all the reasons why I should
leave, I could heard a comical friend’s voice saying “of course you want to leave”
which made me laugh inside. On day 2 one of the assistant teachers knocked on
the door at 5am. I jumped out of bed with a bed head. She said, just checking
you’re meditating, I said errrrrrm non! On the 3rd day I had settled and
decided to stay the full course.
I was
delighted when on the 4th day, we had new instructions! Start observing any sensations by doing a body
scan from head to toe, toe to head. To observe a gross unpleasant sensation, a
free flowing pleasant sensation, just observe, without running away from it or
suppressing it, or reacting to it and to see that it moves on. The process
allows us to observe the changing nature of body and mind and that everything is
transient. I thought of this a few days later as I cycled around West Cork in
the Irish rain- everything I wondered? I
loved the technique as I have an analytical mind, which sometimes stops me from
living in the present moment.
This technique
is simple, logical. One simply deals with observing the sensations so doesn’t
spark off the ego and also allows one to become more aware of the body-mind
connection. I heard it said recently that many professors regard their body as
a vehicle to transport their heads. I believe it is the case for many us. This
practice, like many other yoga, dancing, martial arts, helps us to bring the
body and mind into union. In Shri Goenka’s
words “it is a meditation to root out impurities
of the mind. A surgical operation on the
mind. A true yogi is one who wants to bring people out of their misery starting
with oneself”.
It was a
wonderful experience and I’d highly recommend it to learn the technique, to
become more self aware and have a daily morning
and evening practice. However, humans are expressive beings so after 10
silent days, a little hesitant at first, I was delighted to talk, sing and listen to
others “when I got out”.
Thank You
for this experience and meditation technique.
Namaste
Tracey
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