Vipassana Meditation: What is behind the popular retreat?

In addition to the well-known meditation on the breath, many other forms of meditation are known today. Some of these were only developed in modern times. However, Vipassana meditation is one of the oldest forms of meditation in India.

What is Vipassana Meditation?

The Vipassana meditation method was already known in India around 2,500 years ago. In Pali, "Vipassana" means "insight". "Insight Meditation" is about recognizing life contexts in their universal reality. In earthly life almost everyone becomes entangled in their own understanding of reality. At the heart of the process that develops in this form of meditation are three universally valid insights:

• everything is impermanent
• life is painful
• man creates even more suffering through his misunderstanding of things.

What sounds very negative to us at first is supposed to help the meditator to free the mind from suffering. In practice, the main focus is on observing emerging thoughts, emotions and physical sensations.

Who is this form of meditation suitable for?

The process of Vipassana could be described as "self-knowledge through introspection". Human life is defined by an unconscious fixation on states of happiness. But this persistence and denial of all other states lead to dissatisfaction, suffering and depression. Many of our habits, prejudices, assumptions, thought patterns and feelings are anchored in the unconscious.

Vipassana Meditation is suitable for people who keep falling into the same dissatisfaction traps. Many want to understand what drives them and controls their reactions. Vipassana meditators want to question their current worldview because they suffer from its limitations.

Preparation for a Vipassana retreat

In order to be able to practice Vipassana meditation in peace, it needs time and a quiet, undisturbed space. This can be at home or in a meditation center. A retreat lasting several days offers the appropriate space to practice this form of meditation.

In many Vipassana retreats, the meditation practice begins as early as four o'clock in the morning - so a Vipassana retreat is not for Sp. A total of up to eleven hours of daily meditation is practiced.

Tiredness, pain, legs that go to sleep, but also hunger should be overcome. This can only be achieved with a strong will and maximum concentration and can also become uncomfortable - after all, there is usually only a small meal in the retreat at noon.

Anyone who books a Vipassana retreat should be aware that it is not about a wellness holiday.

What can you expect on a Vipassana retreat?

The conditions for a multi-day Vipassana retreat are similar in almost all meditation centers. The conditions of participation applicable there must be accepted. These include moral action, mental focus, mental cleansing, and introspection. The basic rules that also apply to Buddhist laypeople apply to all practitioners:

• not to kill any living being
• not to tell the untruth
• not to steal
• to practice sexual abstinence
• and to refrain from any intoxicants.

The retreat is about consciously perceiving and controlling your own thoughts.

Mindfulness can first be achieved through classical meditation on the breath. Then the concentration should be directed to the observation of feelings, sensations and thoughts. Nothing should distract the practitioner from dedicating themselves to meditation. Therefore, conversations and phone calls with other people, magazines or books, TV or sensual pleasures are frowned upon in retreats.

Some people take a pen and paper with them to the retreat so that they can record their experiences and insights if necessary.

What are the positive effects of a Vipassana retreat?

Vipassana retreats lasting several days are a very intense experience. Beginners who meditate first experience pain, frustration and inner defenses. Anyone who faces this can, however, come to a deep experience of himself.

Vipassana is a type of mental training. The meditator sees how the mind creates responsiveness through constant chatter. He experiences how feelings carry us away and how often we suffer, are dissatisfied and unhappy. Vipassana Meditation leads to more inner peace, serenity and equanimity. This form of meditation increases alertness and concentration.

There are also changes on a physical level. In long-term meditators, new neural connections can be identified. Certain brain regions show altered activity. It is interesting that studies on long-term meditators revealed particularly active regions in the brain areas that are responsible for the feeling of happiness. The entrenched neural "highways" that shape our reactions and our feelings are being expanded to include new tracks.

Even weeks after a retreat, these effects can still be felt. The stress level has dropped. Depression and anxiety that previously dominated a meditator are often less pronounced. Dealing with psychological problems becomes more relaxed. Burnout patients no longer fully submit to the stress they previously exposed themselves to. Psychotherapy may still be advisable - but the practice of meditation is still helpful.