Vipassana meditation: a tool to change oneself and achieve concentration and happiness
Vipassana meditation is a very ancient type of meditation that focuses your attention on the perception of your breath, according to the rules of Buddhism. Vipassana meditation can lead you to true well-being and happiness, it only asks for consistency in return. If you want to get closer to a greater understanding of your inner sphere, watch this video and discover the simple exercises for the conquest of mindfulness, the true awareness of yourself!
Vipassana Meditation: the origin of the name and characteristics
Vipassana meditation comes from an Indian Pali word which means "to see things as deeply as they really are". It is no coincidence that we are talking about one of the oldest meditation techniques from India. This meditation is rediscovered and taught by Gotama the Buddha more than 2500 years ago to soothe all suffering of the mind and body, which is also called the art. to live. Through vipassana meditation, mental impurities are eliminated to bring you straight to true happiness. To understand what Vipassana meditation can do for you imagine how it was a tool for changing yourself, a way of observing yourself that improves and purifies the mind and body. Meditating according to this practice is a real exploration of the roots of mind and body that leads you to true knowledge. By meditating everything becomes bright and clear, life becomes aware and all illusions are removed from you. Peace and self-control become trusted friends to lean on every day. In this period we are witnessing a precious rediscovery of viapassana meditation in India and also in the rest of the world thanks to an Indian-born industrialist, S. N. Goenka, a pupil of the famous teacher Sayagyi U Ba Khin and his heir in the popularization of vipassana meditation.
Vipassana meditation: the story of Goenka and the spread of this practice that unites mind and body
Vipassana is a meditative technique handed down to this day by a long line of masters. The current master in this tradition, S.N. Goenka was born in Myanmar and studied this art of living from his teacher Sayagyi U Ba Khin. Only after 14 long years of teaching did Goenka also start teaching Vipassana: it was 1969. Since then he has taught this discipline to thousands of people in the East and West. Given the spread of this type of meditation and the continuous demand for courses, he was forced to find assistants to help him in teaching. The vipassana meditation technique is taught in special 10-day courses in which participants experience and learn every secret with great attention to the code of discipline, which consists in "refraining from killing, stealing, sexual activities, lying and substances that poison the body throughout the course. In this way the mind calms down and prepares for the benefits. The second phase of the course shows students the importance of the breath on which attention is focused, following the path from the nostrils to the inside and then to the outside of the body. The mind becomes calmer and more and more capable of undertaking the " effective practice of Vipassana which consists in "observing the sensations on the whole body and developing equanimity by learning not to react to them. At the end of the course the students they learn the meaning of passionate love and purity and are ready to share it with anyone they meet. Vipassana is an exercise that trains the mind: those who follow the course usually pay nothing, not even for food and accommodation. Just as the teachers do not receive any compensation under any circumstances: the money to pay for the course comes from satisfied alumni who they want to give the world their own benefit.
Of course, the 10-day course is not enough to master the vipassana and solve every problem, only continuous and constant practice brings the real benefits. In the days of the course you only learn the fundamentals and choose and then continue the meditation alone. The more you practice, the more you get rid of suffering!
To be accepted into a vipassana meditation course, it is necessary to be highly motivated to undertake this difficult path that leads to the knowledge of true happiness.
Vipassana meditation: when to meditate and why this technique can change our life
The principle on which this meditation is based entirely is "See things as they really are". Vipassana focuses on the body (rupa) on posture and sensations, up to the mind (nama). The purpose of Vipassana is to purify the mind of all that causes distress and pain. First, one learns to rely only on oneself and not to rely on an external divinity or an out-of-body force.
Vipassana is an intuition that dissolves conventional thinking, constant practice purifies the mind, eliminating material attachment and other low instincts that have characterized life until then.
The aim is to lose desire and illusion, as Buddha said desire and ignorance are the major roots of the inner suffering of every individual. Only by removing them from the mind will the mind be able to touch what is permanent and therefore does not change. Immortal, supramundane happiness. In Pali it is called Nibbana. You can always try to achieve the right concentration and then let yourself be guided by your body and mind.
Vipassana meditation: where do you start to approach this technique?
To begin to approach vipassana meditation you need to develop concentration through practice samatha. To do this you need to focus on the breath and come to awareness of breathing, following the rhythm of the breath without taking the mind away. Try to notice that other perceptions and sensations try to distract you, sounds, smells, emotions, pay attention to them for a moment but then go back to thinking only about the breath: this is the path of awareness. the air that enters and exits from the nose and mouth are to be considered as a simple "background noise".
As you see your body changing and moving to the rhythm of your breath (primary object) you also notice thoughts that are a secondary object, a perception that comes to you from the 5 senses or from the mind as a memory or an emotion. Label it for what it is and value it, then go back to your breath. This practice is called "notation". It is as if you put mental notes, tied to your senses and then return to the object of your meditation seeking what the masters of vipassana meditation call access concentration. Mental labeling allows you to keep thoughts at the right distance, without being overwhelmed: it helps you to develop a clear and objective vision of the phenomena that are crossed by the three "Signs of existence": impermanence (annica), dissatisfaction (dukkha) and impersonality (vintage).
This is why the true virtues of equanimity, peace and complete inner freedom will spontaneously develop just by looking at the world from this perspective. Do you want to try?
