Sitting for eleven hours a day practicing Vipassana was painful. My back hurt. My legs were in agony. My buttocks went numb. My mind was filled with aversion, distraction and frustration. I willed for the sessions to be over. I underestimated the time remaining. I couldn't imagine how I'd get through the hour, let alone the next five days. But slowly, slowly, I persisted and my attention increased and sharpened so that eventually I became totally subsumed in the present moment and I surrendered to "reality as it was, not as I wanted it to be". And the pain... It evaporated. Having taken baby steps to train my mind, I found that my senses became elevated and my environment radiated with beauty. I found myself in a state of peace and I felt compassion towards the people around me and a gentleness towards myself I've always lacked.
I believe I learned more about the nature of the mind and the art of living in these ten days than three years studying psychology and philosophy at one of the most prestigious universities in the world. How funny, I thought, that the most renowned Western philosophers contemplate consciousness by dreaming up alternate possible worlds sitting in their armchairs while their counterparts in India experience the actual world sitting cross legged on the ground.
More Information: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/claudia-bicen/mind-surgery-changing-the_b_2639560.html
Dhamm Dipa: https://www.dipa.dhamma.org
