Vipassana Timetable

For the next 2 days, we were focussing on our breathing. We focused on the triangular area right from the top of the nose to the area above the lips. The whole idea being, you train your mind to be sharp enough that it can feel the different sensations on that part of the body. There were some glimpses of peaceful moments, that I quickly started to crave for. I loved the feeling. The teaching says, craving and aversion are the two things that guarantee misery. But as long as I craved for it, I wouldn’t get it. That was not cool. Now I hated that I did not have that feeling. But guess what, when you sit there for 2 days with this feeling, you slowly start to develop equanimity towards it. For those 2 days all you are doing is preparing your mind and making it sharp enough for what is going to come next.

They slowly eased us into the technique of Vipassana on day 4. At the end of day 4, I was convinced that I was special and meant for this. I almost was convinced that I was liberated. They asked us to sit in “Adhittana”, sitting of strong determination. You sit for an entire hour without moving your hands, legs and eyes. I was able to do it without moving for an entire hour. And I was able to feel a whole lot of sensations all over my body. It felt really great. I was ecstatic. I went to the teacher at the end of the day, and told him everything about it. He smiled at me and said, “All of this is great, but don’t be disheartened if you don’t feel it tomorrow”. I thought to myself, “This is here to stay, why would it go away!” Classic case of egotism, creating a false sense of self. Next day, I felt nothing. All was gone. Everything was inert. No sensations. At the end of day 5, I felt like quitting. I craved going back. On day 6, I told the teacher that I craved for home, and he smiled at me and said, “Of Course”.

Over a period of next few days the instructions took us more deeper into the technique. I strongly believe that everyone takes home a very different experience with them. I will not pollute your expectations by talking about my experience in depth for those next few days. I can say that the experience was one hell of a ride. I was definitely very challenging. But it was also the most rewarding experience in my life. People ask me what I learnt from the whole experience. If I have to point at one thing, I would say Vipassana made me unlearn, so that probably makes me more dumber. It creates space within you for awareness and sympathetic joy. I believe Vipassana made it more accessible for me. I would highly recommend Vipassana to everyone. That “vacation” might be the best one of your life.

Peace.