Day 173: The Vipassana Experience – Just Breathe

Now that I have set the stage for my Vipassana experience in my previous posts, you may now be wondering…how does it work? Well, it is super simple, but incredibly challenging. Over the next few posts I will be sharing the process I went through, day by day. Surprisingly a lot can happen in just a day, so today I will start with Days 1-2.

Breathe.

Yes, that’s what we learned. We learned how to breathe. Well actually, we learned how to focus our attention on our breath. Sounds so simple right? One would think that it would be such an easy task as breathing is something we do whether we consciously think about it or not…but it is actually quite difficult. Try it for five minutes. See if you can focus your mind on your breath. If you can focus on breathing and only breathing and NOTHING else for five minutes, I am impressed. I would say that I might have lasted about 30seconds, but the moment I think about time, I have already broken the focus. I learned in those first 30seconds that my mind has the attention span of a gnat. My mind wandered aimlessly like a monkey, running wild like a horse, and about as annoying as a kid hopped up on Red Bull in the backseat saying “Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?” For someone who has never meditated before, that first hour felt like an eternity.

Can anyone else relate to this?

This is what I was going through for three days. Add to that trying to find a comfortable meditation position to sit in that wouldn’t cause so much pain to my neck, back and knees, and I looked much like a squirmy worm. Thankfully I wasn’t the only one doing this though, so I didn’t feel so bad. But I got curious and figured there HAD to be another way to sit more comfortably than the stereotypical cross-legged position that we all most often see in those Zen meditation pictures…and there was. Did you know there are wee benches made just for meditation? It is like a small seat for your butt to sit on while kneeling on your knees. I figured it would be more painful for the knees, but not so…and much more ergonomically correct for your spine which means there is no neck or back problems either. So if you are going to this retreat, make sure you use one of these with lots of support cushions…unless you are a sucker for punishment, then all the power to you. But, trust me, when you get to Day 4 of the Vipassana you will be THANKING me.

Trust me.