Vipassana Meditation

Vipassana meditation is insight meditation. A meditation of complete awareness and mindfulness of every movement of the body and thought of the mind. By observing one’s moment-to-moment mind/body processes from a place of investigative attention, insight arises into the true nature of life and experiences. Through the wisdom acquired by using insight meditation one is able to live more freely and relate to the world around with less clinging, fear and confusion. Thus one’s life becomes increasingly directed by consideration, compassion and clarity.

Viapassana meditation is all about mental noting. Meaning, you’re repeatedly “naming” or “labeling” thoughts and movements with the purpose of directing the attention to the mind/body phenomena in order to understand their true nature correctly. The guiding principle in Vipassana practice is to observe whatever arises at the moment of its occurrence – living the present moment, in the now.

When getting ready to do sitting meditation, relax the mind and body as much as possible, and find a relaxed, balanced posture. Don’t move abruptly or unmindfully. If you are about to move or straighten your back, note before you do it “moving, moving” or “lifting, lifting.”

The starting practice with sitting meditation is to establish the attention on the abdomen caused by the rising and falling movements (your in and out breaths). When you breathe in your abdomen is going to expand (rise), so when breathing in mentally note “rising,” and when you’re exhaling (fall), mentally note “falling.” If you have a gap or pause between breaths, note the gap or pause by saying “pausing” or “sitting.”

You can do the above exercise by placing your hands on your abdomen if you find it difficult to “feel” the rising and falling of the abdomen.

Thoughts and feelings are bound to arise. So when they do, it’s important to quickly note it. If it’s just a thought, note “thinking, thinking” until the thought ceases. Don’t engage in the thought, don’t add to it – just be aware of the thought and then let it go. You can even be more specific when noting; if the thought is about food or hunger, note “hunger.” You want to get to the core of the thought, not just the superficial “food” part of it. If the thought is about homework, note “math” or whatever subject you’re thinking of.

If feelings arise like anger, quickly note it, “anger, anger” until the feeling ceases. The same with sounds and sensations. If you hear any kind of sound, note it “hearing, hearing.” Or if you have an itch, note it “itching, itching.” Once these secondary objects have passed, you can go back to noting your primary object, the rising and falling movements of the abdomen.

Vipassana can also be practiced during walking meditation. In Theravada, if one takes walking meditation seriously, they can attain complete awareness, Arahatship. During walking meditation, you’re changing your primary object from the sitting meditation of the rising and falling of the abdomen, to the movements of walking, brining attention to the feet. You can either look straight ahead of you, or more commonly practiced by having the eyes half-closed and looking about 5-6 feet in front of you, but avoid looking at the feet.

There are several exercises with walking meditation. It just depends on the level you want to take. For beginners, it’s good to start with the noting of just the steps, so, noting “right, left” as you make the steps while walking. You can then move on to noting “lifting, moving, stepping.” Remember to do one foot at a time and pause between each movement. As you learn and practice walking meditation, you can gradually increase the number of steps you note. Finally, you can note “intending, lifting, pushing, dropping, touching, pressing.”

It’s important and better to keep your head slightly down looking 5-6 feet ahead of you and not look around. This will help you by not being so distracted. As with sitting meditation, thoughts are bound to arise, so just note them and let them cease.

Sometimes pain will arise. Good. It’s your friend. It can lead you to Nirvana. Pain is observed not to make it go away, but to realize its true nature. When concentration is good, pain is not a problem – it is a natural process. If you observe it attentively, the mind will be absorbed in it and discover its true nature. When pain comes, note it directly. Ignore it only if it becomes overpoweringly persistent. It can be overcome by deep concentration brought about by continuous mindfulness.

Be patient with anything that arises and stimulates your mind. Your patience will lead you to Nirvana!

It’s very important to be mindful on a daily basis. It’s understandable normal people don’t have the crazy, chaotic, busy lives of monastic monks and nuns, so it’s hard to really be mindful, keep track, and note everything we’re doing all day. The only time I’m ever mindful during my normal daily life is when I’m walking the dog, walking to and from my car, or doing anything mundane. If you can do this, it’s a good start. From there you can remember to be mindful when at work or school. When noting mental or emotional states, do it quickly, energetically and precisely so that the noting mind is continuous and powerful. Then thinking stops by itself.

Sleepiness can accure if you’re not energetically and vigorously noting thoughts as they immediately arise. Drowsiness can be overcome by putting in more effort. If you want to develop this meditation to its ultimate goal of complete awareness you will need to put a determined effort into the practice. If you put in this all-out effort you will achieve the final liberation from habitual clinging, fear and confusion.

Smile and be well!

P.S. This is a great video on an introduction of Vipassana meditation.