👁️ VIPASSANA LEARNINGS:
Sitting in silence for ten days with no phones or email, Vipassana (insight) meditation offers the opportunity to delve into the self and explore the mental obstacles holding us back from living freely.
Guided by @YogiAshokananda, meditating for up to ten hours each day means no stone is left unturned. Old aches and pains, twitches and the urge to move surface initially as we face resistance to exploring what’s inside. The teaching is to just observe any thoughts as they come and go without reacting, simply witnessing.
My senses became heightened, a bell is rung whenever it’s time to go into meditation but I began hearing them constantly, even when I drifted asleep I was awoken by an imaginary bell - the mind filling the silence any way it can. As we developed mindful eating, at mealtimes each bite felt like pure joy in the mouth. A side of sprouted mung beans literally felt like they were bursting with life on my tongue.
Over the first few days I alternated between states of joy and tearfulness, as old samskaras - habitual patterns, stuck emotions and generational traumas surfaced. Back and shoulder aches emerged as my heart space went through a process of unlocking. We were told the mental and emotional barricades we build around ourselves as protection manifest physically. Following our discourse on self-worth, I felt a deep grief and then a ball of energy rose up through my stomach and solar plexus. These releases create space for new states to unfold.
I was completely taken in by the joy the plum tree emanated in the orchard, and the whole orchard seemed to dissolve into stillness in front of me. We were told not to become attached to any experience though, as how we relate to everything is in constant flux.
Through bodyscans we went deeper into the subtle layers of the body, becoming more and anchored within it. By the end of the retreat I started to experience a greater state of presence.
If you fully engage, Vipassana can be a beautiful and humbling experience, the equivalent of months or years of therapy, and how privileged we are that it’s a teaching that is freely given. Thanks to everyone at @YogivilleCroatia & @yoga_yucca for recommending 🙏🏼✨
Vipassana @yogivillecroatia