A LIFE FREE OF MISERIES - A VIPASSANA EXPERIENCE

I believe that pain and suffering are the emotions that make you feel alive the fastest.

Pain brings you straight into the present moment. It has been used for a long time by a lot of religions and philosophical schools to connect with the higher spirits, as a way to redeem or as a way to compensate the guilt of having sensual pleasure.

I remember going to church with my grandma in Spain and being terrified by all this images of beings in deep suffering like Jesus on the cross or him dying in Maria's arms, Saint Sebastian with his entire body covered with arrows and so on. Christianity developed all this self-punishments as a way to affirm your believes, a way to be forgiven for your sins and in the end it secures your place in heaven.

My personal experience having spent 10 days at the Vipassana meditation according Mr. Goenka's tradition reminded me of these tortuous sides of religions that I had encountered as a kid. To me it felt as if he was promising that by undergoing 10 days of physical and mental pain and following his practices it would secure the participants a place in paradise. He called this ¨a life free of miseries”.

Throughout my travels I heard many different opinions about the 10 day silent Vipassana meditation. As I'm attracted to activities that take me out of my comfort zone and as all my thai massage teachers strongly recommended it to me, I decided to give it a go and make my own experience. It took me 3 years to actually give in to this decision and feel that it was truly coming from myself. Here I will share with you my personal experience.

I'm happy having completed this silent retreat, even though I didn't connect with the meditation technique by Guru Goenka, which has been praised to be the one and only true original and effective method. I don't think that one technique applies for all: even though we all follow the same direction of dissolution, transformation or death, as you prefer to call it, we all come from different paths or Sankalpas.

If you chose the path of personal observation, spiritual growth or simply mindful living, life will give you the right amount of suffering you need. Suffering is part of life and there is no point in avoiding it. Pain and suffering will always be there among other emotions such as happiness, peace, anxiety, stress, sadness and enthusiasm. They teach us to feel fully alive and show how to embrace all the natural ups and downs.

10 days of waking up at 4am, sitting still in meditation for 3 to 6 hours, doing daily 17 hours of fasting and being prohibited any kind of physical exercise (no stretching, no yoga, no dancing, no breathing exercises, etc.) creates unnecessary pain and suffering. We suffer enough in our daily lives, so why torture yourself even more?

The practice of Nobel Silence, which consists of avoiding any kind of communication, be it verbal or non verbal, with others or yourself (no reading, no writing, no talking to yourself), was the easiest part for me, although it wasn't easy at all.

If you have a curious nature or you are a spiritual seeker, I recommend you to give it a try and to have your own experience. After all I definitely don't regret it, as it was 10 days of interesting self observation. I felt very privileged to be able to take a break from the outside world, get out of this busy and fast rhythm and to slow down.

The Ladhi Asharam in the magnificent mountain area in Bali, Kintamani, is surrounded by nature, which makes the experience unique. They have centres in many countries and it is donation based. In some countries you need to make a reservation in advance, especially being female.

I totally respect guru Goenka and his followers and also all the people that use his technique as a tool to face life challenges in a more positive way.

I personally connect more with gentle and loving meditation practices that encourage an understanding of your energies and self healing capacities like as Qi Gong, Merta Ada and Chi Kung.

You have a lifetime to explore and chose the one technique that fits to your spirit.

Remember that it's not about the destination, but about the journey. Enjoy it!

Namaste.

#meditation #vipassana #travels