https://youtube/watch?v=2jmaA05YQfo FYI, I posted the following note to the above you-tube site, called, My 10-Day Vipassana Meditation Experience May all beings be happy! Well done Sheena and congratulations for you being able to capture the course outline and openly share your experience in such a concise manner! Back in 2,000, when I was 52, I also took Mr. Goenkas 10-day course in California and had a profound experience which influenced my way of life beyond belief. Since then, I attended the course more than ten times, served for the course 6-7 times (i.e., kitchen duty, etc), and continued the practice pretty much everyday. Also, I have read many books and investigated various religious disciplines/sutras/etc to confirm what is seen as the essence of what this is all about. At the age of 66 now, my amazing/mysterious journey of life continues and I am happy to confirm - at least so far, when I am lost or emotionally unstable, I know a way to get back to the Way (without much of a long delay). My very best wishes to all! Kio -- PS I will add few more words: After the course, I did not even try to practice recommended one hour of meditation in the morning and another one hour in the evening every day when I finished my course. Feeling that I do not want to put too much pressure on me, I thought I would only try about total of one hour a day of meditation but I promised to myself was to continue the practice daily. I also kept a note to monitor how much time I meditated in minutes, and I also added symbols next to it if the meditation was deep or shallow, and if there was any negativity I experienced during the day so that I could see if there is any trend. Also, not just doing the meditation in sitting, I paid attention to maintain quiet mind whenever I could - i.e., at work, during sports, in traffic, while chatting with friends, etc. (as practice of meditation in dynamic condition - as opposed to the controlled condition when I sit and meditate alone. In Zen, this is; walk, move, sit, and sleep are all zen. (one needs to practice the idea at all times - from moment to moment) We may just pay attention to the breathing every now and then. After several years of continued practice (i.e., yearly attendance to 10-day course and my daily practice), I thought I was fairly well established in internalizing the essence of this practice as I could connect to feel the subtle vibration throughout my whole body in just few minutes or less - as if there was no blockages. In my life, I had no major catastrophe. So, I started to gradually reduce my meditation to current level of 10-15 min per sitting or even less although I still keep taking a note to monitor how am doing as mentioned above. When I look back my life since 2000, my life became much simpler and quieter - yet having fun and enjoyment of life perhaps in a bit different manner. While I am maintaining the daily practice most of time I stopped attending the course since around 2010. Certainly, I had ups and downs...but no chaos. My journey continues. Hope my note may of some use even though I am fairly sure that each person has to find his or her own way. My very best wishes for all!
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 23:32:19 +0000