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Earlier quoted context omitted.
People have been practicing tribal medicine for just as long. Not a fad either.
And, it turns out, some of those things even work . I know, right?
Are there any worthwhile youtube videos on mindfulness meditation?
And is Vipassana meditation "better" than the other types?
> Finally, if you do not remember a single thing you read in this chapter so far (maybe because you do not care about this book but your wife made you sit down and read it), happily, Jon Kabat-Zinn has a one-phrase summary of this entire chapter:
> __Breathing as if your life depends on it.__
> If you can only remember a single phrase in this chapter, remember this, and you will understand mindfulness meditation.
From Chade-Meng Tan's Search Inside Yourself: The Unexpected Path to Achieving Success, Happiness (and World Peace), warmly recommended: http://www.siybook.com/
Vipassana is an absolutely wonderful experience. A 'brain washing' where it can rid your mind of all the crud that has accumulated from our culture and society. It puts you in touch with your body in a way that nothing my life ever has. I'd be happy to answer some questions if anybody has any.
Where do I find a place like this?
If I want to do this, what are my first steps?
I have been trying to do 5 minutes a day of "ignorant meditation" (just sitting on the floor, clearing up my head, and focusing on breathing), but have seriously slacking off these past weeks. Are there any worthwhile youtube videos on mindfulness meditation? And is Vipassana meditation "better" than the other types?
Vipassana is an absolutely wonderful experience. A 'brain washing' where it can rid your mind of all the crud that has accumulated from our culture and society. It puts you in touch with your body in a way that nothing my life ever has. I'd be happy to answer some questions if anybody has any.
I've signed up for a 10-day course in mid August and am stoked about what I'll gain and also about the sheer difficulty. Could you talk more about the long-term effects of Vipassana on your body/life?
Also, the meditation itself can be used to calm and focus me during stressful times, but like any exercise, it must be practiced. I haven't probably given it the necessary diligence.
I'd like to emphasize more than anything that the teaching truly does its best to be a force above creed and philosophy. I was very skeptical about it going in. Much of the instruction does not expect you to take anything on blind faith, and all its asking is for you to become a more compassionate individual. There's no proselytizing, or expectation of money in any way. All donations which run the facilities are done in private, and it was maybe mentioned once.
Consider the class as teaching you how to exercise. Nothing comes easy, any gain you have comes from the effort you put in.
I wanted to add that there are several forms/types of Vipassana and several different types of centers that conduct retreats. Many people get confused and think that there is only one type of Vipassana. The Insight Meditation Society (IMS) is located near Boston and is the most extensive center in the US. “IMS offers Buddhist meditation retreats at two facilities – the Retreat Center and The Forest Refuge – in rural…
IMS is a wonderful facility. On the west coast, its sister center is Spirit Rock, though they're not quite as well set up for long retreats.
I'm still looking back to my vipassana experience a few years ago. It's something I don't want to miss and it helped me focus again. Mindfulness is something beautiful. Also something that I think is not quite clear from the article is that vipassana is not some kind of crazy cult. It's basically "just" a technique.
Vipassana is an absolutely wonderful experience. A 'brain washing' where it can rid your mind of all the crud that has accumulated from our culture and society. It puts you in touch with your body in a way that nothing my life ever has. I'd be happy to answer some questions if anybody has any.
Do I have to learn how to meditate before I go? How can I learn? Where do I find a place like this? If I want to do this, what are my first steps?
For something a bit easier that you can do at home, check out this self guided course: http://palousemindfulness.com/selfguidedMBSR_week1.html
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Scientology and some Thelemic orgs use Vipassana and other meditative techniques to ensnare their students. The wonky experiences like out-of-body experiences are used to market the system. So it works, yet is still abused to capitalize on the spiritual progress of followers. It works, but so does a parlor trick works when your audience does not pay full attention. Your question: 'Does it cause harm to you if other p…
The article compared meditation to psychedelics because the author is misguided. They may produce remotely similar states of mind. That does not mean they are equal. There is no claim of salvation in meditation. Only claims of personal benefit in terms of calm and compassion, plus an increasing body of scientific evidence of cognitive benefits. Invisible men in the sky are the antithesis of Vipassana, and anyone who…
The cognitive benefits-schtick is also used to justify the religious doctrination: "You have passed and future lives through reincarnation. Buddha existed and we have his teachings. Our goal is to become deathless.". It's scientific right? The cognitive benefits-research focuses on hospital patients and stress/pain relieve. They do not send these patients to a 10-day retreat, where they are not allowed to talk, must surrender to a master, do extreme meditation techniques for hours on end, till they self-operated on their psyche enough it's broken and they now have to repair it.
What salvation is for Christians, is enlightenment for Vipassana.
There are frauds out there who use these techniques to ensnare students, and there are students out there who ensnare themselves through being young, naive and gullible. Since the experiences are so dramatic, you get a host of uncritical people who proselytize Vipassana. Kinda like people who buy expensive Apple products will be lauding Apple, since else their investment was bad, and no one wants to admit to that. The people for who it didn't work remain quiet, especially when the master told them it was their own fault.
Vipassana for prolonged times can do much more than reading a book or eating breakfast. What if the author had gotten a psychotic episode during his tripping balls? Would that be dismissed with another fancy foreign term or garbled psychological babble? Would a master be able to spot deteriorating mental health in their patients? People report disassociation, hallucinations and hearing voices. To a qualified mental health professional that would not be scientific evidence of cognitive benefits, that would be a manifestation of latent schizophrenia. Then there are the documented suicides and self-harm... but then again, people have probably died from eating bad breakfast too.
Meditation-induced psychosis: http://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/108125
Panic attacks and depressed episodes: http://zensydney.com/Mental-Health-and-Intensive-Meditation-...
Psychiatric complications of meditation practice: http://www.atpweb.org/jtparchive/trps-13-81-02-137.pdf
Terrible and Traumatic Experience at Goenka Retreat: http://downthecrookedpath-meditation-gurus.blogspot.de/2012/...
The Potential Downside To Vipassana: http://livingvipassana.blogspot.de/2007/06/potential-downsid...