# Vipassana meditation can change your life. My experience!



## decodude

I think meditation is very helpful for learning to handle anxiety and to learn to separate yourself from your unwanted thoughts. Negative thoughts are a habit pattern of the mind and I really believe that meditation helps to change those habits over time. I see meditation (specifically vipassana meditation) as very similar to what most professional therapy tries to do.

Here is a great example. These are tips I got from a professional anxiety
psychologist on the back of her business card.

1)Learn to observe your anxious thoughts as though they were spam on a computer.
Fighting them can make them worse.
2)Divert your attention from "What if..?" to "what is." Stay in the present.
3)Success is facing and tolerating your fear rather than having no fear at all.

Also, the idea of an anxiety hierarchy is to learn to face and tolerate your
fears gradually without avoiding them in small steps. Meditation teaches you to do the same thing and more.

I found out many insights as well, including the fact that my mind was addicted to fear and depression, and I have been doing everything possible not to feel it and repressing a lot since this was a long standing habit.

My 4 Vipassana Retreats Experience





Some similar ideas well spoken and related to meditation
Freedom from Stress, Pain and Suffering





How to Heal Worry, Stress, Anxiety, & Fear





Here is the link to the free 10 day retreat that I went to:
http://www.dhamma.org/en/schedules/schpakasa.shtml

What are your thoughts on this and has anyone tried this?


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## LALoner

I've never done Vipassana but it seems a lot like Kundalini Yoga which has helped me a lot.


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## eek a mouse

I agree, meditation does help. Although I dont do Vipassana, but I do meditate 20min twice a day, I just started a few days ago.


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## OtherGlove

I dont really know much about that. I was going to ask a while back if anyone here was into Transcendental Meditation. Id like to learn more about it. I just could never get involved with anything that has any kind of religious basis. Thats why Im interested in TM


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## eek a mouse

Otherglove,

I never did TM, because you gotta pay to be "taught". But I did research what it was all about so that I could do it for free, and its pretty simple. 

1. Pick a mantra
2. Meditate twice a day for 20 min
3. Sit or lie down and recite the mantra until the time is up...


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## OtherGlove

eek a mouse said:


> Otherglove,
> 
> I never did TM, because you gotta pay to be "taught". But I did research what it was all about so that I could do it for free, and its pretty simple.
> 
> 1. Pick a mantra
> 2. Meditate twice a day for 20 min
> 3. Sit or lie down and recite the mantra until the time is up...


That is exactly what I didnt like. It could be a useful thing that you have to pay for, but it could also be b.s. that you pay for. I always wondered if someone payed Howard Stern to talk about TM as much as he does. But so many people claim that it changed their life.


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## heroin

Oh god! My boss goes on about this as a surefire cure for depression. I appreciate his concern, but religious stuff doesn't really jive with me.


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## OtherGlove

heroin said:


> Oh god! My boss goes on about this as a surefire cure for depression. I appreciate his concern, but religious stuff doesn't really jive with me.


Thats how I felt, but not all meditation is religious. If it helps, it helps. Doesnt mean you have to convert


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## leonardess

I just got a book the other day that I really like, Deep Meditation: Pathway to Personal Freedom.

Despite the somewhat overblown sounding title, I like its approach in that it doesn't go into any particular belief system, nor does it smack of any requirements to join in anything. it simply states a method of meditation for daily practice. it describes at length how to handle intrusive thoughts as they come up, and it describes the benefits in mental well being that can be had. 
It is basic and doesn't preach much. I appreciate the author's streamlined approach. I'm two days in and it's hard going even though all that's requried is 20 minutes of sitting, but I hope i stick with it long enough to really determine if it's helping or not..


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## eek a mouse

lol I used to listen to Howard Stern and I dont think he got paid by it but who knows. So paying for TM just to learn these easy steps is major BS, although they do make it seem a lot more mystical. The best way is to try it out, do it for a month and see if you wanna do it. 

I decided to do it because I am using it as a life long reminder to live outside my head. Im also not religious at all but the mantra I chose says "I bow to Shiva".....and I dont believe in Shiva....so you can get the religion out of whatever..


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## OtherGlove

eek a mouse said:


> lol I used to listen to Howard Stern and I dont think he got paid by it but who knows. So paying for TM just to learn these easy steps is major BS, although they do make it seem a lot more mystical. The best way is to try it out, do it for a month and see if you wanna do it.
> 
> I decided to do it because I am using it as a life long reminder to live outside my head. Im also not religious at all but the mantra I chose says "I bow to Shiva".....and I dont believe in Shiva....so you can get the religion out of whatever..


I was half joking, just because of they way they did advertisements on that show. But where did you learn about it. Im guessing either a book or a website??


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## eek a mouse

actually it was from listening to Howard Stern...so I decided to look it up on the web and see how to do TM for free, and also realized (in my opinion) that it seems to work but the price tag is a scam and it does have a cult like feel to it. 

I also downloaded a bunch of torrents for meditation and 90% of it was crap, but I found a recording with the hindu chant and I use that to get used to meditating every day, because it can be very hard(boring) so at least in the beginning I use the audio to help me get some consistency.


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## LostPancake

eek a mouse said:


> Otherglove,
> 
> I never did TM, because you gotta pay to be "taught". But I did research what it was all about so that I could do it for free, and its pretty simple.
> 
> 1. Pick a mantra
> 2. Meditate twice a day for 20 min
> 3. Sit or lie down and recite the mantra until the time is up...





leonardess said:


> I'm two days in and it's hard going even though all that's requried is 20 minutes of sitting, but I hope i stick with it long enough to really determine if it's helping or not..


 I think I'll try this tonight. It's Saturday night, and I don't have something happening tomorrow to worry about, so maybe I could actually stick with it for 20 minutes.

I like the idea of just repeating a mantra - that sounds easier than trying to empty your mind of all thought, which I've tried before (and failed).


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## LALoner

I think the key to meditation is focusing on your breathing because nothing else you do is so jointly controlled by the unconscious and conscious mind. You can't consciously control your heart rate or a bunch of other things but you can control your breath, within limits. So its something jointly controlled. Anyway I think focusing on your breathing helps to connect the conscious and unconscious mind and thats what you need to get over the past.


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## decodude

I just wanted to chime in and clarify some misconceptions. The technique I learned does not preach buddhism or use any mantras and it is a very secular practice. I am Jewish myself and we had people from all faiths there. There is no charge at all for these courses. They go off donations. I was skeptical at first about all these things, and wondered what the catch was, but there was none. I have never meditated in my life before doing this either. What attracted me was the fact that you are not allowed to talk for 9 days to anyone, allowed to ignore people on purpose, get food, good and private place to sleep and think, and most of these retreats are located in beautiful quiet places, no distractions from the outside world, did I also mention that it was free. I had no money and this was the perfect poor-man's vacation, but it was also hard mental work.

I just know it has helped a lot. I spoke to others there on the last day as well and most people clearly come to a retreat because of problems (Anxiety, etc) and it was of great help to them too, but like anything I need to constantly practice the meditation to get better at it. I am not following any buddhist philosophies either, just practicing the technique of observing my breath and sensations.

Good video about the basics of the technique, but it really requires a 10 day retreat to get your mind to start changing its habits and understand properly how to do the mediation correctly. I gaurantee that trying to learn this on your own will be a disservice to yourself.






There are a few talks by the person (SN Goenka) who helped spread the technique it available here where he answers a lot of the basic questions you guys may have.

http://pariyatti.org/Resources/Podcasts/tabid/58/Default.aspx

Just download any podcast because they are all basically the same. He repeates the same thing at every location and answers questions for people who have never tried meditation. This was from his United States speaking tour a few years ago. He also describes his own background as being Hindi.


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## decodude

LALoner said:


> I think the key to meditation is focusing on your breathing because nothing else you do is so jointly controlled by the unconscious and conscious mind. You can't consciously control your heart rate or a bunch of other things but you can control your breath, within limits. So its something jointly controlled. Anyway I think focusing on your breathing helps to connect the conscious and unconscious mind and thats what you need to get over the past.


Agreed-- this is a big part of learning this technique and at the beginning, we spent 3 days just on this alone in order to get the mind clear and sharp enough to start noticing bodily sensations.


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## decodude

LALoner said:


> I've never done Vipassana but it seems a lot like Kundalini Yoga which has helped me a lot.


He also talks about Kundalini Yoga and how it is similar.


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## decodude

I just found this thread as well on here.

http://www.socialanxietysupport.com/forum/f38/vipassana-meditation-and-inner-peace-97902/


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## decodude

A Reply by someone who oevrcame their anxiety and left this forum a while back. I really suggest looking at posts by username yeah_yeah_yeah 
This was exactly my thoughts on SA and why mindfulness is important.

"Hi overlynice

SA is the product of many years of repeating the same set of behaviours and thoughts over and over, and getting and responding to a particular reaction from the world. Its like a feedback loop that strengthens itself. You know as well as I do that the brain is a learning tool. Imagine it like water running down a hill, every time your brain has that reaction and kicks off the same behaviours, it cuts deep valleys into your mind. Just like a river that carves out its own path in the rock and is then destined to follow that path for millenia, every time you are placed in a similar situation, your subconscious mind will flow down those same valleys that have already been created.

Because of this, and unfortunately, you cant just do one technique and have the whole thing be magically better. God knows everyone here wants that - but the truth of the matter is that there is no quick way to change the way your mind is landscaped.

CBT and mindfulness work well because they allow the higher functions of your mind - your conscious , thinking brain - to begin to control the automatic reactions of the subconscious mind and gradually change how you respond and react to the world. *CBT and mindfulness are NOT 'positive thinking', they are not 'lying to yourself' and they are NOT simply learning rapport or social techniques. They are about making a deep, fundamental change in what you focus on, your understanding of what life's events truly mean and WHAT YOU CHOOSE TO DO - instead of being forced to by anxiety.* You GRADUALLY begin to reshape the valleys and rivers of thoughts, reactions and behaviours - and just like the rain would have to work for a long time to change the course of an estuary, so must you work hard to overcome the deeply entrenched waterways that lead you to experience anxiety.

Most people are put off when they hear this. They want relief, they want it quickly. Hell I WANT IT QUICKLY - but it doesnt work that way. When you are depressed it is harder to motivate yourself to make a start. But that is no one's fault - it is just reality. It sucks that we have this condition, it sucks that its even harder for us to recover. Thats why we have to start as soon as possible, making the tiny steps, the ones we ARE capable of, every day. Find the programme that suits you and stick to it. Allow yourself a timescale of MONTHS. You will have slip ups. You will have moments where you feel that everything is a waste of time. But eventually things begin to change - and when you have taken time to make the changes, just like a river, the new course you have carved out is far more permanent.

Think of this: You want a solution now for your anxiety because it is very painful. No one would ever criticise you for feeling that way, and I have felt it myself many times. In this thread are tried and proven - though often maligned and criticised on this board - methods for overcoming anxiety, but that require long and diligent work. This is the part that so often makes it fail for those that try them - the results are not as quick as desired and so the approach is discarded. But the approach INCLUDES the time it takes.

Will you choose to keep on searching for the 'quick fix' - which so far has failed to materialise (except in the form of meds which work only as long as you take them), or will you choose to begin now, knowing that in a few months time you are likley to see the beginnings of progress? If you carry on waiting for the quick fix you could wait 6 months, 8 months, a year ... and still be no better off. Or you could have invested that 8 months in long term, gradual improvement.

Its taken you years to get to the point where you now have SA. It will take time to begin to change that - but it CAN change. SA makes us concentrate on only the evidence that we are unlikeable, boring, worthless. That is how the illness functions, especially alongiside depression. We block out the neutral and positive parts of life and see only the black. And soon enough that becomes our reality as we create it around ourselves. Beginning to accept yourself as worthwhile and deserving of love, simply because you are a living, breathing human being, and dropping any need to rate yourself or hold yourself up to a standard, is the start. Whether you honestly beileve you are scum, destined to be discarded by humaity or not - one thing I know is that when you start to respect yourself whether you think you deserve it or not, the rest of the world starts to notice too.

Ross"


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## leonardess

LostPancake said:


> I think I'll try this tonight. It's Saturday night, and I don't have something happening tomorrow to worry about, so maybe I could actually stick with it for 20 minutes.
> 
> I like the idea of just repeating a mantra - that sounds easier than trying to empty your mind of all thought, which I've tried before (and failed).


just finished this morning's 20. yeah, i agree, particularly if you're a beginner, it's very difficult if not impossible to just empty one's mind completely. the mantra the book gives which is simply "I am" helps quite a bit and for some reason i find it easier to use than "Om". and all the yogi says in the book is that thoughts are fine, it will happen. If you find yourself drifting, just gently bring your mind back to the mantra, and don't beat yourself up about it or try and bend your will to discipline.

I spent a lot of time reading about all the buddhist methods, chop wood carry water, the three six or seven pillars of whatever and I did learn a lot (I particularly like the questions like what is Mu? and all that) but I don't care for the more technical aspects as I dislike subscribing or claiming any group so much, which is why I like this Deep Meditation book. It's simple and doesn't go into anything more than managing one's own feeling.


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## LALoner

leonardess said:


> just finished this morning's 20. yeah, i agree, particularly if you're a beginner, it's very difficult if not impossible to just empty one's mind completely. the mantra the book gives which is simply "I am" helps quite a bit and for some reason i find it easier to use than "Om". and all the yogi says in the book is that thoughts are fine, it will happen. If you find yourself drifting, just gently bring your mind back to the mantra, and don't beat yourself up about it or try and bend your will to discipline.


I don't try to empty my mind at all when I meditate, I mostly focus on my body, especially the parts of the body important to the chakra system. If I did empty my mind I think I would get less out of it because a lot of times insights into my past pop into my head while meditating. Suddenly some memory will pop up only this time I understand it and see the things I overlooked when it happened.

I think in Hinduism Om is supposed to be a babies first words or sounds. In English speaking countries we say that mama is a baby's usual first word and I think in Arabic it is said to be umma. Anyway the point of saying Om is that because its a babies' first word its supposed to plug you into the deepest part of your brain. I would just stick to the spirit of the idea and not the letter, just say whatever plugs you into the deep parts of the brain normally obscured.


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## LostPancake

leonardess said:


> just finished this morning's 20. yeah, i agree, particularly if you're a beginner, it's very difficult if not impossible to just empty one's mind completely. the mantra the book gives which is simply "I am" helps quite a bit and for some reason i find it easier to use than "Om". and all the yogi says in the book is that thoughts are fine, it will happen. If you find yourself drifting, just gently bring your mind back to the mantra, and don't beat yourself up about it or try and bend your will to discipline.


I tried doing this a few times, with the "I am" mantra, but my mind just would not focus - I'd get distracted by something more interesting and completely forget that I was even trying to meditate.

But then I started doing the CBT tapes, which include the technique of slow talk - you just read something to yourself in a slow voice for 10 minutes a day. And it seems to be able to slow the brain down, enough that it's kind of meditative in itself, and then when I tried to do the mantra meditation, it almost worked.

It's like your brain is this herd of cats that is constantly running all over the place, exploring all these different things, and meditation is like trying to get them to all come together and move as one. And with enough patience and coaxing, you can train them to do so, over time.

And the relevance to anxiety is that some of these cats are acting as advance scouts, seeking out all possible dangers in the environment and your future, and reporting back on all these terrible things that might happen, so you end up in this state of red alert. So maybe with meditation you can get more control of these cats and keep them from doing that so much.


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## jacobavali

Nice post. You have given fabulous information. What you have said was absolutely right.Meditation helps human to be fit and live long life with out any health problems.

vipassana meditation


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## Slogger

Meditation is great for overcoming anxiety. It opens the mind to the larger picture, where there's infinite room for each person to fulfill a unique role. Though it's difficult to keep the mind open and aware of that all the time, it's comforting to know that we each have a valuable part to play in the infinite Mind.


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## ratbag

I must start meditating again. I would like to do Vipassana, but I think I need guidance for that. There is a Shambhala Meditation group that I'm going to start attending. I think it would be helpful to start meditating with others as it would also be an exposure exercise.


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## march_hare

Last year I booked myself into a 10 day retreat... In the months leading up I started reading all these horror stories about people breaking out after 4 days because they couldn't take it, and others who had psychotic episodes because of it.
So, I decided to cancel my place on the retreat. I sort of wish I hadn't now...


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## Keith

Meditation has helped me a lot in the past 2+ months of daily practice, even while I'm continuing to go through Benzo Withdrawl Syndrome which makes focusing very difficult. A quote that inspired me was "Its always better to meditate than not" which has kept me going. I've been doing Vipassana off and on for the past 5 years, but I think finally it has become part of my lifestyle. I'm glad about that as its a respite from the horribleness of Benzo Withdrawl Syndrome, and should help even more when my brain chemistry returns to normal.


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## timothy

It changed my life alright, I did the 10 day vipassana retreat last chrismas and ended up in a mental hospital with psychosis for 3 months and had to drop out of college. My fault really cos I do have a history of bipolar disorder and one previous drug-induced psychosis and I lied saying I had no history of mental illness on the application form. That said said there's been alot off people who went on the retreat with no history and ended up with psychosis.

Think my problem was I was putting all my eggs in one basket, was thinking meditation was the last thing i had tried and if it didn't work i was gonna give up. Setting myself up for failure really. As someone posted earlier to get out of this you have to consider the months, years, decades.. we've been cementing our negativity thinking and be willing to make a concerted effort over a long period of time whether it be cbt,mindfulness/meditation,healthy eating,exercise,setting goals..or ideally a combination of all these


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