Insight (Vipassana) Meditation
Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2015 10:47 am
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"Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens."
--Carl Jung
Oprah offers two daily meditation sessions for all her 400 employees.
Photo source: http://www.blisstree.com/2011/12/12/men ... a-day-595/
Pure Awareness
Vipassana just means "clear-seeing," "insight," etc. in Pali, the now-dead language that Siddartha Gotama spoke in his day. The premise is that we can't experience insight if our brains are too busy chattering a litany of discursive dialogues about any and everything. The goal is an objective experience of pure awareness, to transcend the subjective mental chatter which tends to be our normal mental state (called, "monkey chatter" in Buddhism). Our minds are often in one of two places: doddling around in the past regurgitating the same beliefs and reactions to things. Or, it's groping around in the future, fretting about things that haven't (and may not) even come to pass. As a result, we often miss out on a lot since a discursive mind, by its very nature, can't be "present."
Akin to the concept of "grounding and centering" many of us already know about, when one grounds one's attention into a state of single-pointed awareness it's called dharana in Sanskrit. This is done sequentially, starting with observation of the breath as a gateway (called Anapana in Pali). If the person is able to progress beyond that (because this is a lot easier said than done, despite how simple I'm making it sound), the person then turns the awareness to bodily sensations from head to feet (not necessarily in that order). At any time during this process, one can arrive at experiencing pure awareness. It's hard to maintain that state in mundane life. But the skills learned while trying are extremely helpful and grounding, nonetheless. No effort goes to waste.
Great for Empaths, Healers, Witches, and All Walks of Life
An empath who doesn' t tend to draw good boundaries will tend to pay attention to what everything and everyone else is doing and feeling, yet be unaware of his or her own condition. It really is like being in an "out of body" state, and can be disorienting and unhealthy. The good news is that breath-awareness exercises of Anapana, as well as the bodily-sensation-awareness exercises of Vipassana are two perfect tools to bring an empath's awareness back into his or her own body. The empath learns to "separate" what are his or her sensations from those which he or she is picking up from the surrounding people and environment. Reactions to every little thing dissipate. Thoughts become centered and grounded. Calmness and serenity are enjoyed. Relationships are improved and more "real," authentic, because the meditator is not in a "reactive" state all the time.
Vipassana is a technique, not a religion, so one doesn't have to become a Buddhist to benefit from the technique. It is excellent for any endeavor that requires cultivating focus and concentration, so witches would greatly benefit since focus is needed in workings. Business men and women become Vipassana meditators, helping them to navigate challenges they encounter in the course of the work day. Energy healers would also benefit, since focus is needed to "see" illnesses and to direct healing energy to them. Psychic readers and mediums would benefit in that that their psychic channels become clearer and keener, without distracting thoughts getting in the way. And the technique has been introduced to prison populations, lowering violence and creating positive impacts on inmates' lives (below is a video documentary about one such meditation experiment conducted on prison inmates in India).
Transformation Through Meditation
I've personally applied these techniques to healing past life issues by remote viewing phenomena that normally got me agitated when I encountered them during past life regression sessions. Through meditation, I was able to "re-write the script" of (my perception of) what happened in some of those lifetimes, which was healing. It released energies that had been rattling around in my energy field for who-knows-how-many-lifetimes, also providing healing in present time. It was unsettling at moments, but ultimately quite liberating. That wasn't something anyone taught me to do; it just happened spontaneously during Vipassana meditation sessions...it is like having a built-in "inner therapist."
Who knows what healing and insights you will encounter in your own meditation practice. There's only one way to find out.
Here's another story of how meditation could change lives:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkxSyv5R1sg
"We are all prisoners, undergoing a life sentence, imprisoned by our own minds. We are all seeking parole,
being hostages of our anger, fear, desire...Vipassana is a journey of discovery taken with closed eyes. The
goal is not simply to satisfy the traveler's curiosity, but to get transformed by the journey, and start living
a better life...Between the two poles of expression and suppression, lies a third option: observation."
Happy meditating!
Peace.
See also:
Dhamma Brothers documentary about a similar meditation-in-prison experiment done in America: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3dyVYm4tho, with an update: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouL_i6DLBc0
A discussion about aspects of insight meditation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scMRf2I9qLY
.
"Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens."
--Carl Jung
Oprah offers two daily meditation sessions for all her 400 employees.
Photo source: http://www.blisstree.com/2011/12/12/men ... a-day-595/
Pure Awareness
Vipassana just means "clear-seeing," "insight," etc. in Pali, the now-dead language that Siddartha Gotama spoke in his day. The premise is that we can't experience insight if our brains are too busy chattering a litany of discursive dialogues about any and everything. The goal is an objective experience of pure awareness, to transcend the subjective mental chatter which tends to be our normal mental state (called, "monkey chatter" in Buddhism). Our minds are often in one of two places: doddling around in the past regurgitating the same beliefs and reactions to things. Or, it's groping around in the future, fretting about things that haven't (and may not) even come to pass. As a result, we often miss out on a lot since a discursive mind, by its very nature, can't be "present."
Akin to the concept of "grounding and centering" many of us already know about, when one grounds one's attention into a state of single-pointed awareness it's called dharana in Sanskrit. This is done sequentially, starting with observation of the breath as a gateway (called Anapana in Pali). If the person is able to progress beyond that (because this is a lot easier said than done, despite how simple I'm making it sound), the person then turns the awareness to bodily sensations from head to feet (not necessarily in that order). At any time during this process, one can arrive at experiencing pure awareness. It's hard to maintain that state in mundane life. But the skills learned while trying are extremely helpful and grounding, nonetheless. No effort goes to waste.
Great for Empaths, Healers, Witches, and All Walks of Life
An empath who doesn' t tend to draw good boundaries will tend to pay attention to what everything and everyone else is doing and feeling, yet be unaware of his or her own condition. It really is like being in an "out of body" state, and can be disorienting and unhealthy. The good news is that breath-awareness exercises of Anapana, as well as the bodily-sensation-awareness exercises of Vipassana are two perfect tools to bring an empath's awareness back into his or her own body. The empath learns to "separate" what are his or her sensations from those which he or she is picking up from the surrounding people and environment. Reactions to every little thing dissipate. Thoughts become centered and grounded. Calmness and serenity are enjoyed. Relationships are improved and more "real," authentic, because the meditator is not in a "reactive" state all the time.
Vipassana is a technique, not a religion, so one doesn't have to become a Buddhist to benefit from the technique. It is excellent for any endeavor that requires cultivating focus and concentration, so witches would greatly benefit since focus is needed in workings. Business men and women become Vipassana meditators, helping them to navigate challenges they encounter in the course of the work day. Energy healers would also benefit, since focus is needed to "see" illnesses and to direct healing energy to them. Psychic readers and mediums would benefit in that that their psychic channels become clearer and keener, without distracting thoughts getting in the way. And the technique has been introduced to prison populations, lowering violence and creating positive impacts on inmates' lives (below is a video documentary about one such meditation experiment conducted on prison inmates in India).
Transformation Through Meditation
I've personally applied these techniques to healing past life issues by remote viewing phenomena that normally got me agitated when I encountered them during past life regression sessions. Through meditation, I was able to "re-write the script" of (my perception of) what happened in some of those lifetimes, which was healing. It released energies that had been rattling around in my energy field for who-knows-how-many-lifetimes, also providing healing in present time. It was unsettling at moments, but ultimately quite liberating. That wasn't something anyone taught me to do; it just happened spontaneously during Vipassana meditation sessions...it is like having a built-in "inner therapist."
Who knows what healing and insights you will encounter in your own meditation practice. There's only one way to find out.
Here's another story of how meditation could change lives:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkxSyv5R1sg
"We are all prisoners, undergoing a life sentence, imprisoned by our own minds. We are all seeking parole,
being hostages of our anger, fear, desire...Vipassana is a journey of discovery taken with closed eyes. The
goal is not simply to satisfy the traveler's curiosity, but to get transformed by the journey, and start living
a better life...Between the two poles of expression and suppression, lies a third option: observation."
Happy meditating!
Peace.
See also:
Dhamma Brothers documentary about a similar meditation-in-prison experiment done in America: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3dyVYm4tho, with an update: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouL_i6DLBc0
A discussion about aspects of insight meditation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scMRf2I9qLY
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