Training the Mind with Vipassana Meditation
Outside the main meditation hall at Dhamma Shringa, Kathmandu Valley 2023. Noble Silence - silence of body, speech and mind to be adhered to by course participants.
‘The sculpture is already complete within the marble block before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.’
- Michelangelo.
It were as if I had landed in a completely different planet, walking through the arrivals immigration of Kathmandu, Nepal. Leaving the whirlwind of colourful experiences within the old city walls of Varanasi just hours before, I had departed India bleary eyed and fatigued - feeling ready to land in a new and unexplored country I hadn’t expected to visit so soon. Stepping out into the freshly crisp morning air outside the airport, I hailed a local taxi to enjoy the short and sweet one night stay before heading to my first Vipassana Meditation course at Dhamma Shringa.
At the time, the fact I was readying to sit in silence to learn and practice a new meditation technique for ten-days felt like a gift to myself after the intense, dynamic and incredibly profound near 90 days in India. I had prepared my application to attend the ten-day course at this particular S.N Goenka Vipassana Dhamma centre located on the foothills of the Himalayas while in the midst of the Jivamukti Teacher Training at Govardhan Eco Village two months before. During this training I had met a handful of peers and teachers who had practiced the technique of Vipassana Meditation. One of the Jivamukti visiting teachers had caught wind of our shared Australian roots, and noticing my apprehension for the ten-day course had suggested a way of approaching the meditation experience to come. It was suggested that I look to appreciate the experience for the opportunity it was - one of privilege. A reminder to feel gratitude for the fact I was to be housed, fed and supported for ten-days while receiving the teachings that underpin Buddhist philosophy. That not everyone can have access to dedicating their energy on the sole purpose of focusing on learning a meditation technique to bring clarity to mind and peace in heart - an invaluable technique studied within an environment created to provide a minimally distracting vicinity where one does not need to worry about taking care of survival needs of ; food, shelter, and safety.
It was first in Australia before my solo India sojourn that I had heard directly from two friends’ experience at the Vipassana ten-day course offered at Dhamma Bhumi in the Blue Mountains of Sydney. It was music to my ears listening of an ambiguous topic that I had yet to research myself, and to hear of their unique journeys and processes gone through at the same centre. Diverse in age, stage, approach, expectations and familiarity with meditation practice - both friends in Australia were embodying their experience much more than their words could ever portray. I could hear, see and feel in their clarity of speech the patience in which they listened, the considered choice of words used, and the level of presence held. With many meditation tools and techniques available and highly accessible, I was intrigued of the fact that the course length of ten-days was taught as a foundational residential course for this technique. Both conversations contributed to loosening the resistance towards the idea of seeing value of placing myself in a strict environment - where working within the confines of the capacity of my mind was something I would choose to do ! Albeit, within a beautifully located premises that asks participants to review and accept the course requirements before arrival and day of registration before the course officially begins. With considered limitations embedded in the ethical framework of Buddhism’s five precepts, all participants are given the opportunity to take their personal and unique experience of learning and applying the meditation practice seriously. Throughout the ten days (11, including registration day 0 ) participants are supported by the assistant teacher(s), and silently encouraged by the Dhamma Servers who do their best to facilitate a peaceful, clean and distraction-free environment for participants to do so. When applying online for a course anywhere in the world, applicants are clearly informed of what to expect among other essential information included in the comprehensively detailed organisations website. The below is the timetable followed by all S.N Goenka Vipassana Meditation Centres copied directly from the offical website here.
THE COURSE TIMETABLE :
The following timetable for the course has been designed to maintain the continuity of practice. For best results students are advised to follow it as closely as possible.
4:00 am Morning wake-up bell
4:30-6:30 am Meditate in the hall or in your room
6:30-8:00 am Breakfast break
8:00-9:00 am Group meditation in the hall
9:00-11:00 am Meditate in the hall or in your room according to the teacher's instructions
11:00-12:00 noon Lunch break
12 noon-1:00 pm Rest and interviews with the teacher
1:00-2:30 pm Meditate in the hall or in your room
2:30-3:30 pm Group meditation in the hall
3:30-5:00 pm Meditate in the hall or in your own room according to the teacher's instructions
5:00-6:00 pm Tea break
6:00-7:00 pm Group meditation in the hall
7:00-8:15 pm Teacher's Discourse in the hall
8:15-9:00 pm Group meditation in the hall
9:00-9:30 pm Question time in the hall
9:30 pm Retire to your own room--Lights out
…
I had walked into the meditation centre with an approach of not having any expectations of what I would receive or gain from this experience. I had said to myself that I would take each day as it comes, and to do my best. The environment was already an alien one to acclimatise to - ie. consistent 4:00am starts, physical discomfort, silent surrounds and meal times and spending an entirety of a course in a same sex dormitory with up to 5+ participants who were all going through their own personal development journey in line with following the standard of noble silence. So why would I put extra pressure on myself to expect a specific outcome when I had never been in that situation before? My initial approach of taking each day as it came, had turned to, taking each meditation sit as it came - experiencing after the first sit that the course ahead of me was asking for more of a marathon-like mindset, and not a sprinters. I found myself having a momentary pause after each meditation sit, of placing my hand on heart and thanking myself for showing up and doing my best to apply the technique - and looking back, this seemingly small gesture of self-support and nurturing had helped me in seeing the entire course through its completion.
To say that the ten-day course had changed my life would be an understatement. To be a fly on a wall and watch my inner experience as a movie would have categorised it in many genres ! Of comedy, drama, thriller, family, action, fantasy ! Even if externally on rare occasions it looked like a peaceful picturesque meditative scene, rest assured that the tumultuous rollercoaster that the movie of the mind projects is far from a silent cinema. To attempt to understand the nature of the mind is no easy task (and a task that takes more than 10 days…), and I must gently remind that there are many paths of practices and approaches towards doing so. What this particular school of training offers is an ancient technique established in India - one that invites the catalyst of this mental process through applying focused disciplined attention (via the meditation technique ) on physical sensations in order to experience the deep interconnection of mind and body. The practice of Vipassana is - ‘ to see things as they really are’ or ‘ to see reality as it is’ by using the body as a framework for self-observation in order to self-transform.
…
As someone who is more naturally inclined to investigate, understand and flow with the abstract and intangible, I found that this course shared by the instructions of S.N Goenka serves to provide a practical, methodical and highly accessible technique. It has been an invaluable and longstanding tool added to my self-care repertoire. Since completing the ten-day course, I have returned multiple times to further learn and practice the teachings within the ideal training environment the course centres provide. Attending courses as a participant sitting in meditation and as a full-timer server, I had never imagined that I would ; revisit Kathmandu ( Dhamma Shringa ), visit centres in Bali (Dhamma Geha) , Australia ( Dhamma Bhumi ), Sri Lanka ( Dhamma Anuradha ) and in Italy (Dhamma Atala). A true insight that has warmed my heart throughout all these experiences no matter which country I visit no matter the language barrier is that the dedication and determination of the entirely volunteer run non-for-profit organisation has shown me on countless occasions the embodiment of the beautiful sentiment that ‘ actions speak louder than words’, and that the practice of meditation is not limited to a sitting cushion, but offered as an opportunity to test the yardstick of progress through application in every single moment wherever we are.
I am grateful for life’s surprises, the unexpected gifts that seem to come out of the most humble circumstances of experience - especially that of a strict rule of ‘Noble Silence.’ To this day, I am still in contact with a dear friend made during at the end of the silent journey in April 2023. The ending of the Vipassana course had flowed into a sensual world of singing bowls and sound healing - where this new friend and I were to attend a level one training at Sound Planetarium Kathmandu ( taught by the heart-centred faculty duo of Cholin* and Sanjeeta* helped by their assistant practitioner Asma*). Later that same year we had both crossed paths again in Kathmandu, and again revisited our level one course in addition to furthering our studies in the advanced training with the schools founder, Peter. The polarities of experiences in silence and solitude paired with the sensate world of colour and sound each time I visit Kathmandu makes me smile.
I will not try to attempt in distilling the teachings of the Vipassana Meditation course and the technique, instead I will share what has stayed with me and are still concepts I sit with and explore as a yoga practitioner and holistic health facilitator. The concept of observing the natural law of impermanence, embodying the state of equanimity, and how the body is the gateway that connects us to ; living an intentionally created life, and our potential to expand our personal sense of freedom through working with it.
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The introductory quote by Michelangelo for me carries a timeless sentiment - that to seek our true essence outside of ourselves would delay the process of discovery and satisfaction that the fulfilling journey of diving into our inner world and states of consciousness can offer. Yet to be in the world and not of it, serves to aid us in the lifelong task of removing the hard formed debris of dust that we were born to enjoy the work of chiseling away... ‘The sculpture is already complete within the marble block before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.’
Bhavatu sabba mangalam—May all beings be happy !
