Finding Magic: 105 Hours of Meditation in 10 Days

The majestic pagoda at the center of Dhamma Giri Vipassana Center

Many people have asked me about the Vipassana course I recently completed in India and why I would subject myself to 10 days of silent meditation. I’m a big believer in learning something intensely for a fixed timeframe and then integrating it into a daily practice. It’s what I did when I learned to code and it’s how I’ve picked up most of my other skills. By doing nothing but meditate for 10 days, I believed I’d get to a state that would otherwise take years of daily practice. Once I entered that zone, I’d experience magic and have insights into the way my mind worked. I was right.

Complete article: https://medium.com/@dliebeskind/finding-magic-105-hours-of-meditation-in-10-days-bf51bd99c983

More info: http://www.dhamma.org/

How Silent Meditation Helped Me Succeed at Work

In this opinion piece, Payal Sheth, a global marketing manager at the Boston Consulting Group, explains how an ancient meditation technique helped change the way she thinks and engages with people.

Complete article: https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/silent-meditation-helped-succeed-work/ 

More Info: http://www.dhamma.org/ 

I Didn’t Say a Single Word For 10 Days—Here’s What I Learned

As the days turned I felt as if I was slowly sinking down through the depths of the ocean like a scuba diver. No movement, just observation, until eventually all my thoughts gave way to total darkness and boom, my feet landed on the bottom of the ocean.

Whoa, I remember thinking. I’ve never been here before. What is this place? It was there, at the bottom of the ocean, where I’d spend the next several days running a mental and spiritual marathon. Here's what I learned.

I STARTED LISTENING TO MYSELF
Looking back I realize now that this was the beginning of a new relationship, and it's this internal voice that I turn to today when I'm in need of guidance. I call it my "internal navigation system," and the good news is that we all came equipped with it.

I HAVE THE POWER TO CHOOSE HOW I REACT TO THINGS
One insight that hit me like a ton of bricks on Day 4 was the realization that every single moment of mental and/or emotional pain that I’d ever felt was the result of how I was responding to something or to someone.

EVERYTHING IS TEMPORARY

IF YOU WANT TO SEE THINGS CLEARLY, YOU NEED TO SLOW DOWN
When I’m driving 50km/h and I look out the window, the view is a bit blurry. When I’m driving 100km/h, the view is extremely blurry. But when I stop at a red light and look out the window, things are clear.

IF YOU WANT TO SEE THINGS CLEARLY, YOU NEED TO SLOW DOWN
When I’m driving 50km/h and I look out the window, the view is a bit blurry. When I’m driving 100km/h, the view is extremely blurry. But when I stop at a red light and look out the window, things are clear.

My time with silence allows me to reflect, gain insight, and check-in with my internal guidance system. Silence is my secret weapon.

Complete article: https://www.menshealth.com/guy-wisdom/what-i-learned-after-ten-days-of-meditation

More info: http://www.dhamma.org/

Yuval Harari, author of Sapiens, on how meditation made him a better historian

Yuval Noah Harari’s first book, Sapiens, was an international sensation. The Israeli historian’s mind-bending tour through the trump of Homo sapiens is a favorite of, among others, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Barack Obama. His new book, Homo Deus: a Brief History of Tomorrow, is about what comes next for humanity — and the threat our own intelligence and creative capacity poses to our future. And it, too, is fantastically interesting.
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Virtually everything Harari says in our conversation is fascinating. But what I didn’t expect was how central his consistent practice of Vipassana meditation — which includes a 60-day silent retreat each year — is to understanding the works of both history and futurism he produces. In this excerpt from our discussion, which is edited for length and clarity, we dig deep into Harari’s meditative practice and how it helps him see the stories humanity tells itself.

More information: https://www.vox.com/2017/2/28/14745596/yuval-harari-sapiens-interview-meditation-ezra-klein