Meditation: A Compass and a Path

An Interview With Dr. Paul R. Fleischman which gave answers to following questions.

• How would you define meditation?
• Can you share what the purpose of meditation is from your perspective?
• The common perception of meditation is that it is a very personal experience, and in recent times the emphasis seems to be on its utilitarian value. What are your thoughts?
• Can you say more about these moral attitudes?
• Can this skepticism actually play a helpful role in one's progress?
• What is the role, then, of logic vs. inner experience?
• What is the role of detachment in meditation? How does detaching help us become generous?
• Can you start by describing what actually happens when someone tries to meditate?
• So then how does watching that kaleidoscopic activity help you engage more effectively with life?

More information:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/viral-mehta/what-is-meditation-_b_1366194.html

Radio Interview about Vipassana Meditation

Piers Messum, an assistant teacher to S.N. Goenka, recently gave an interview to Zone One Radio about Vipassana meditation and what people can expect when coming to a course. To listen, you can follow the link here:
http://soundcloud.com/gunitp/vipassana-meditation-interview

Yoga Rockford: Learning meditation

 By Jennie Williford

 Yoga students often ask me about meditation — whether I teach it or where they can learn it. My answer is always the same: find a Vipassana Meditation Center and find the time to take a course. Learning this technique of meditation could be one of the best things you could ever do for yourself.

More Information:  http://rockrivertimes.com/2012/02/29/yoga-rockford-learning-meditation/

Liberate yourself with Vipassana

Swati R Chaudhary

Are your thoughts spinning out of control? Do you experience overwhelming anxiety and restlessness? Vipassana can empower you to take stock of your life.

Thankfully, meditation techniques like Vipassana can help people take stock of their lives. It can empower them to de-clutter their minds and experience real peace and happiness. There is accumulating evidence that meditation offers a host of benefits - both psychological and physical. Meditation is known to calm the agitated mind and help the meditator find peace and solace. Vipassana meditation, as taught by S.N. Goenka, not only offers psychological and physical benefits but also helps them take concrete steps towards liberation - liberation from misery, defilement, bondage and ignorance.

 

More Information:  http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-02-04/new-age-insight/30620441_1_vipassana-meditation-happiness

The Dhamma Brothers (2008) freely available on Hulu

An overcrowded, violent maximum-security prison, the end of the line in Alabama's prison system, is dramatically changed by the influence of an ancient intensive meditation program. Behind high security towers and a double row of barbed wire and electrical fence live 1,500 prisoners, many of whom will never again know life in the outside world. But for some of these men, a spark is ignited when it becomes the first maximum-security prison in North America to hold an extended Vipassana retreat, an emotionally and physically demanding program of silent meditation lasting 10 days and requiring 100 hours of meditation. The Dhamma Brothers tells a dramatic tale of human potential and transformation as it closely follows and documents the stories of the prison inmates at Donaldson Correctional Facility as they enter into this arduous and intensive program. The film has the power to dismantle stereotypes about men behind prison bars.
Watch movie: http://www.hulu.com/watch/255596/the-dhamma-brothers

What is making them spiritual?

Not just senior citizens, many youngsters, who are otherwise dismissed as reckless in their lifestyle and behaviour, are taking to meditation and spiritual healing to beat the stress in their daily lives. Of late, a healthy number of teens have been registering for vipassana courses not just in their own city, but in far off retreats as well. While some see it as a “different” kind of holiday, there are others who claim to having actually benefited from such exercises.

 

More Information:  http://www.deccanchronicle.com/tabloid/others/what-making-them-spiritual-283

Meditation vacation

The guru looked troubled. A spry 75-year-old, who could have passed for 60, he usually wore an expression as pure as his ivory robe. Peering into my cell, he watched as I wept harder than I could remember, for a reason my mind could not fathom. Then he beamed. “You are very lucky,” he said. “This is a very big sankara leaving your body – perhaps it was an illness that even a doctor could not cure.”
Perplexing as his words sounded, their meaning would become clear later. All I could grasp then was that the Indian meditation master believed that my mysterious meltdown had taken me a step closer to enlightenment.
Read More: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/a5e3476e-2a36-11e1-8f04-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1jC7Pxdba

With Vipassana, explore the worlds within

 Kushalrani Gulab

It had taken Aditi Govitrikar about 10 years to get to the point where her doubts about taking a vipassana course were last minute ones. It had been something she’d thought about over those years, but never got around to doing. “But around August 2009, I was at a crossroads in my life,” says Aditi. “I needed to figure things out. So I tried various things, like an Art of Living course, but nothing helped. Then I realised I needed a detox programme for the mind. And my sister suggested vipassana.” ....

More Information: http://www.hindustantimes.com/Brunch/Brunch-Stories/Explore-the-worlds-within/Article1-754944.aspx

Vipassana liberates

...... The absence of communication with others in any form forces you to go within the depths of your psyche. This prompts reactions ranging from tears, anger, reliving past traumas to catharsis, bliss and peace.The goal of Vipassana is to make you more calm compassionate and tolerant towards others. It leads to a realisation that a simple life can be a joyous one. The ultimate aim is to attain nirvana or liberation from the cycle of rebirths.

Read more : http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-09-26/holistic-living/30203787_1_meditation-vipassana-gong

Ten Days In Silence At A Meditation Retreat Changed My Life

...... On the tenth day I left feeling like a new woman. I was liberated. I knew I could always come back to meditation to deal with stress, anxiety and day-to-day life stressers that often consume us. I was ready to face the world head on. I didn’t really understand how it worked, but somehow meditation changed my outlook on the world. With every step of my life thereafter and every hurdle I found, meditation –and that retreat particularly–helped me get through it. It has helped me appreciate the things around me and live life day by day instead of always worrying about the future. I still stress and I still worry. I am human after all. But the meditation has helped me see life as it truly is—wonderful.

Read more: http://blisstree.com/feel/meditation/ten-days-in-silence-at-a-meditation-retreat-changed-my-life-612/

Vipassana: a most wonderful experience in Auckland

These teachings go deep in your subconscious mind, when you are in meditation. They go deep in your receptive mind in that mode and one really understands the truth of “impermanence” of this life to the core. The only truth of our life is the “breathing”. The constant message of “impermanence” of life, changes your attitude to look at what happens in real life and the urge to “react” weakens. Anger lessens.Read more: http://www.indianweekender.co.nz/Pages/ArticleDetails/19/2628/Travel/Vipassana-a-most-wonderful-experience-in-Auckland

Vipassana meditation popular with youth

The idea of cutting off communication from the world might be a cause for panic attacks. But as Vipassana centres around Mumbai report, the number of stressed-out city dwellers between the ages of 22-30 who’re opting for the intensive meditation technique is steadily increasing.

The number of people below the age of 30 who opt for Vipassana has increased noticeably in the past year. “While Vipassana was considered to be popular among the older crowd, we now find that the number of people below the age of 30 outnumber the senior crowd.”

She adds that during the vacation season, the ratio of women to men is higher: “Most come because they cannot handle the stress in their daily lives.”

Read More : http://www.hindustantimes.com/Vipassana-meditation-popular-with-youth/Article1-732516.aspx

Ten days of silence- why is it so popular?

Here's the interview Leon did on Monday (July 18) with Patrick Given- Wilson, a former merchant banker, now meditation instructor.

He spoke at length about his extraordinary story and why ten day courses of absolute silence (Vipassana meditation) are becoming more and more popular.

Listen to the full interview here: http://blogs.abc.net.au/files/patrick-given-wilson.mp3

Introduction to Vipassana Meditation

For those who are not currently familar with the ancient technique of Vipassana Meditation, its non-sectarian nature and its benefits, a video discourse approximately 17 minutes in length is available for viewing in both English and Hindi languages.  

A short video with subtitles in multiple languages that consists of a series of interviews with Vipassana students. They talk about how they first came to a Vipassana course, and what the practice of Vipassana has meant to them in their lives. The title of this film is "Practicing Vipassana: Meditator Experiences". The interviews were conducted of students from various countries and were recorded at the Italian Vipassana Center.

Watch videos online:  http://video.server.dhamma.org/video/intro/vintro.htm

The Life Out Loud: Sometimes You Need to Shut Up [Video]

Think meditation is only for monastic types? The kind of people who chant "Hare Krishna" as they dance about in their orange robes? So did I. Until I really tried it, that is.

In the fall of 2007, I attended my first 10-day silent Vipassana meditation retreat. Find out what happened -- and why you should do one, too -- by watching my 5-minute Ignite talk:

Watch video: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/meimei-fox/vipassana-meditation_b_868335.html

The Life Out Loud: Learning to Revel in Your Sorrows

.........After years of failing to avoid the darkness, I finally confronted it when I attended a 10-day silent Vipassana meditation retreat in 2007. I had no choice but to sit, and sit some more, and then sit some more, because that's all we were permitted to do (aside from eating two meals per day). It turned out that the broken record player in my mind was stuck on one boring track: "You're a loser. You failed at your marriage. Your family is a mess. You're the only one of your friends not to have a partner and kids. You're nothing but a ghostwriter in your professional career. Whatever happened to you, MeiMei Fox? Where did you go wrong?"

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/meimei-fox/reveling-sorrow_b_862288.html

Ten days without talking

Was it possible to survive 10 days of meditating in an Indian retreat without speaking, reading or making eye-contact with fellow guests?

What I have to admit afterwards is that sensation-seeking is the very antithesis of meditation. It is not about the colours or the bliss; rather it's about strengthening the muscle that helps build resilience. A steady practice that leaves you a bit better equipped to pause before lashing out, to rise above perceived slights and not be put off by the usual setbacks. A little more able to face life's vicissitudes with equanimity, as Goenka would say.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/mar/09/ten-days-without-talking

Meditation with the FT: Tim Parks

Through meditation, Tim Parks was able to cure himself of chronic pelvic pain
What do you learn in this school?

That the discomfort you feel sitting cross-legged is directly related to your mental activity which, deprived of all fresh input, reveals itself as an endless churn of self-regard, pointlessly rewriting the past, vainly scripting the future, stubbornly avoiding the present.

That the moment you truly focus on your breathing, thought subsides and everything relaxes, everything is easy.

That exploring the body with this intensity over so many days will change forever your perception of what it is and who you are.

At long last, when you do learn not to react to pain, pain itself is much diminished, even irrelevant, while pleasure is the more pleasurable when you learn not to hang on to it. The Buddhist context can be taken or left as you please. The meditation works fine without any belief.

Read more: https://www.ft.com/content/e544348c-33eb-11e0-b1ed-00144feabdc0

At End-Of-The Line Prison, An Unlikely Escape

Deep in the Bible Belt, an ancient Eastern practice is taking root in the unlikeliest of places: Alabama's highest-security prison.

Behind a double electric fence and layers of locked doorways, Alabama's most violent and mentally unstable prisoners are incarcerated in the William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility outside Birmingham. Many of them are here to stay. The prison has 24 death-row cells, and about a third of the approximately 1,500 prisoners are lifers with no chance of parole.

Read more: http://www.npr.org/2011/02/08/133505880/at-end-of-the-line-prison-an-unlikely-escape

At End-Of-The Line Prison, An Unlikely Escape

Deep in the Bible Belt, an ancient Eastern practice is taking root in the unlikeliest of places: Alabama's highest-security prison.

Convicted murderer Johnny Mack Young in the meditation stance he keeps for nearly 10 hours a day during the 10-day silent meditation course. Officials say the meditation program is reducing violence at Alabama's highest security lockup. "It changed my life," Young says.


Dr. Ron Cavanaugh, treatment director for the Alabama Department of Corrections, says many inmates put their defenses up, denying responsibility for their crimes and blaming others. But the meditation practice, he says, chips away at those defense mechanisms.

More information: https://www.npr.org/2011/02/08/133505880/at-end-of-the-line-prison-an-unlikely-escape