Travelling Lets You Capture the Outside World but these Vacations Maybe Explore Within

Aalisha Jain
Nov 7 · 4 min read

My learnings at Vipassana Centre

Photo by Patrick Schneider on Unsplash

I went for 10 days Vipassana course at Dhamma Centre, Kadel, Pushkar. These centres are located around the world. Those were 10 days of no phones, no music, no books, around 11 hours of sitting with straight spine, no eye contact with anyone except teachers, absolute silence not only in terms of speech and actions but also by thoughts. And yet it was peaceful, enriching and rejuvenating experience. It was challenging per se but serenity is what you take back home.

Vipassana is an ancient meditation technique of India which was rediscovered by Gotham Buddha 2500 years ago. Vipassana means to see things as they are. The technique focuses on two things firstly to stabilize your mind which keeps wandering and secondly to focus on the sensations (tickle, warmth, itching, ache etc.) occurring every moment on your body and realize that everything is impermanent. Just like sensory experiences on body are changing with time, our thoughts, emotions, circumstances etc. will also eventually change. So if everything is going to change anyways is it intelligent of us to suffer or to succumb to state of joy.

Consciously we are well aware of what is good for us physically, mentally or emotionally. We know anger damages us more that it can ever damage the person on whom we are angry. Yet in spur of moment, aggression once evoked can’t be subdued. We know constantly thinking about our fears, insecurities, failures will only increase anxiety. Expecting more from people and instances will only bring more disappointments. Being too attached to people or things will bring sorrow once they are gone or lost. All this is part of our intellectual awareness but we fail to reflect it in our behavior when required. But why is that? These 10 days of diligently following the technique helped me understand it is not our conscious mind but our unconscious mind which influences our behavior and it according to our behavior we react in impulsive situations.

Sigmund Freud a renowned neurologist, found out from his research that the unconscious mind is the primary source of human behavior. Our feelings, judgments, decisions, intent are influenced by our unconscious. Studies have shown that we make decisions unconsciously and act on them physically before we are aware that we have consciously done so.

So in order to alter our behavior we need to train our unconscious mind by reinforcing the lessons which we are well aware of on moral and ethical grounds. And such reinforcement can be done by experiencing the sensations on our body and assimilating that neither pleasant nor unpleasant sensations can last for long since everything is guided by the law of impermanence. Inculcating this thought process through bodily experiences will make sure it is perceptible in actions.

My takeaways

Face the fears

We often avoid our fears, issues, feelings which we find distressing, but now that I was on a date with my thoughts for longest time I had no other option then to encounter them head to head. Moreover surroundings were profusely positive which propelled me to not only deal with my thoughts but was also encouraged me to switch from I am the victim to taking the charge.

Discover your potential

This technique not only teaches you to concentrate on taming your mind but also teaches you to become more aware of yourself as an individual. Had ample time to lay off the baggage of messed up thoughts which gave me opportunity to discover and reorganize my strengths.

Acknowledge self efficiency of the body

Our body is converting food into flesh everyday it is such a regular phenomena that we fail to acknowledge its enormity. Whether it is internal or external injury unless intense, our body has the power to heal itself. It is self sufficient in mental and emotional aspects. It is because of our ignorance and lack of self realization that we overlook its immensity.

Self assurance and Positivity

Managing to survive all the emotional, mental and physical barriers for 10 days will surely give a boost to your confidence. You have everything that it takes to accomplish your ambitions. Just a bit of belief and perseverance can go a long way.

Learnt to contemplate

While dropping me at the centre I asked my mom to take my phone along with her since it was too precious to me to risk. I got to know we will get our phones a day before we will leave and I was left thinking, I was so attached to my cell phone that I couldn’t afford losing it but in the process I had rather devoid myself from enjoying its benefits for which I bought it at the first place. My intention was to protect it for its usage but on the contrary my attachment obstructed its present utilization. Similar is the case with every other thing or people, too much attachment will devoid us of happiness drawn from our relationships with them.

I won’t deny it is bit challenging experience, it guarantees some level of physical and emotional agony, but who knows you might surprise yourself!

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