The Long Sit
Posted on Jun 01, 2009 under Business, Culture, Travel | No CommentI’ve been practicing a particular type of meditation Vipassana, Insight meditation. Seeing things as they really are; India’s most ancient techniques of meditation. It’s a non-sectarian technique taught by Gotama Buddha as a universal remedy for universal ills over 2600 years ago. I found out about this Vipassana Meditation technique when a good friend of mine told me that she just finished doing a 10-day sit recommended to her by one of her spa clients. She was all excited and told me that this meditation technique is life changing and amazing. She said there’s tons of Vipassana Meditation Centers around the world and there free. The centers do not charge to attend a 10-day sit. They even give you room and board.
I could tell in her voice that she was a changed person. She was more alive and calmer at the same time. I arranged a time to meet up with her a one of Singapore Best Spas, my favorite way to meet up with friends for a day, when we meet up I could ’see’ the change in her. I couldn’t wait for her to tell me all about what she learned. She and I have been meditation buddies for years, going from one spiritual center to another, learning how to meditate. There are so many techniques and so many ways to meditate, all promising a peace within. Some techniques require chanting a mantra, another is to visualize a deity and some focus on the breath, counting how many breaths you take. All of which my friend and I found lacking. Yes, after practicing these meditation techniques we did feel peaceful and happy, but it didn’t last.
She proceed to tell me that what she learned in those 10-days is a technique aimed for the total eradication of mental impurities and the results of the ultimate happiness of becoming fully liberated. This got my interest. She continued saying Vipassana is a way of self-transformation through self observation of the mind and body interconnection. This definitely sounded like something I’ve never tried before. But, seeing how she glows, and it’s been a month since her 10-day sit, and how much joy is in her life, I decided to try it myself. To date, I’ve been to four 10-day sits and all I can say is that this Vipassana Meditation Technique is truly transforming and life changing.
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