I Spent my Holiday Break on a 10 — Day Silent Meditation Course
By: Zoe Pittman, Associate Consultant
Over the Veeva holiday break, I took part in a 10-day silent Vipassana meditation course. This took place in Blackheath, New South Wales, Australia, about a two-hour train ride from Sydney, in the Blue Mountains. After registration, they separated the men and women and had us line up outside the big meditation hall. ‘Once you step into the meditation hall you begin noble silence’ the course facilitator said. For 10 days we were not permitted to speak, gesture, or make eye contact with other meditators. We were also required to lock up our phones in a big safe.
Vipassana
We woke up at 4 am every morning and meditated for 7 hours a day with short breaks. Sitting for hours was physically and mentally taxing. I would get distracted often and my knees would ache terribly but eventually, I started to become less attached to the thoughts and the pain and watched as they would come and go. One of the big things I learned was that everything is changing. Vipassana means to “gain insight into the true nature of reality”. As you sit for hours, the pain in your knees becomes so abstract that it’s just a sensation. The random racing thoughts have no tangible significance and are just mental chatter. Gaining insight into the objective reality of our experiences is how we can begin to see things clearly, to make rational and wise decisions.
How did I get to this point? It all started one summer evening on the floor of my dorm room. At this time, I was 19 and desperate for even an inkling of mental clarity. The weight of the world had manifested itself as racing thoughts and existential dread. I was so in my head about what life after college would be like.
Was I even good enough?
Was this degree a waste of time?
What will my family think?
I seemed to have no control over my thoughts and emotions, and it made me miserable. One night my friend suggested that we try a guided meditation, something on Spotify called ‘Yoga Nidra.’ Sure enough, the first time I tried meditation it blew the doors wide open to a new way of thinking. “Bring your awareness to your palms. Now your fingers…” the woman’s voice said as she guided us through a body scan (directing concentration to the sensation felt at different parts of the body) “Now you are li…t.. Heavy..” That’s when I burst out laughing. Was I so out of touch with my body until this very moment? Lying down and being with myself was actually fun?
It’s estimated that 200–500 million people meditate worldwide and that meditation improved anxiety 60% of the time. Meditation studies reveal that people who meditate are less likely to suffer from coronary heart disease and can reduce the risk of being hospitalized by 87%. Meditation has a multitude of benefits and can be so worth it. The insight gained from meditation opens us up to tackling challenges in everyday life.
Practice in Everyday life
There is a deep sense of calm and peace to be discovered inside. Continuation of practice is the key to success. There are so many opportunities in everyday life to cultivate peace:
Deep Listening
One example is engaging in deep listening, You do this by relaxing the body and focusing on the breath when speaking with someone. Too often we find ourselves in ego showdowns when stakes are high, interrupting each other and missing key requirements when we were too busy holding up an image of competency that comes off as stubbornness. Connecting with the breath is an anchor to the present moment and allows you to fully and completely take in the external stimuli without judging or manipulating a situation.
Strengthening Concentration
Understand that the urge to check emails, respond to a notification, get a snack when you aren’t even hungry or do laundry spontaneously are passing thoughts and don’t have to be acted on every single time. We can get into states of deep, peaceful, and productive concentration if we find the courage to let urges come and go — without acting on them impulsively. If we truly acted on our urges all the time, we would lose all sense of ourselves and feel burn out. However, nobody is perfect, and everyone gets distracted from time to time, just notice when it happens, take a deep breath and try again. Many of us already know that nothing in the world is that urgent and if it was, a phone call should suffice.
How to Meditate:
If you have made it this far, hopefully, I have interested you in trying meditation so I’ve included some instructions and tips for meditation.
- Sit on a cushion so that your hips are tilted forward and your feet are in front of each other. (If you can’t sit on the floor, a sturdy chair that you can sit with your back straight and put your feet flat on the floor will do)
- Sit with your back straight, imagine a string pulling your spine up through the crown of your head to the sky. Your chin should be slightly tucked.
- Take a deep breath and hold the exhale, then allow the lungs to fill up again naturally. Do this three times.
- Bring your awareness to the sensation of breathing, pay attention to the area under the nostrils and maintain concentration on what it’s like to breathe. Don’t try to force anything, just observe as it is.
- Do your best to sustain concentration for at least 10 minutes. Don’t worry if you get distracted, just notice this too and come back to the breath.
Some tips for meditation:
- Have a timer, I use an app called InsightTimer and set a bell at 20 minutes.
- Wear loose clothing, you want to be as comfortable as possible.
- Don’t panic, there is no right or wrong way at the start, the fact that you sat down to take the time out for yourself is a big deal. If you get into a mental tangle, just come back to the breath.
- Be curious! When thoughts or feelings come up, don’t try to push them away, just observe, get to know yourself and your reactions… Then come back to the breath!
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Veeva.
