Like every other parent, I worry about my 13-year-old niece’s future as well. The world she is born into is harsh and not going to be any easier to live in. I worry about what she will go through and how I can make sure that it will be a happier place for her and to many other children. But then I realized that no matter how hard I try, happiness does not come from the outside world. It's something that you search within you. Of course, as the most brainless animal on earth (Destroying our planet), we have our responsibility towards this planet and other living beings. We also have the responsibility of renewing the things we are destroying but at the same time, we have to understand that the destruction outside is a product of what is decaying inside us and so to understand yourself is as essential as “food, house and clothes”, and so here I will introduce Vipassana.
Now one can wonder – what does Vipassana have to do with
science and neurology? And if Vipassana can then other methods can too. But some
basic fundamental differences are there that distinguish Vipassana from others.
Neurology accentuates two points when it comes to stress-free
life and being happy on the scientific level. One is that a brain stays in the
Parasympathetic phase which means your brain stays in a calmer zone. The second
phenomenon is that if a human mostly thinks rationally that is with its Pre Frontal
Cortex (PFC) then he/she will make decisions in his life with a balanced
thought process.
Now I really don’t need to say but I am anyway mentioning that
if you think being equanimous (Calm and composed) and then making decisions is
not that important then think of all the people especially women who live their
entire lives in an abusive relationships, or think of a man going through so
much of stress and trauma just because he has social pressure on him to act
like a “MAN”. Of course, these are some extreme cases I am mentioning here. On
the opposite side, an adolescent girl not able to focus on her studies or a boy
being bullied at home by his father or at school by other boys and scared to
react comes from the same place of the brain where the above two extreme
examples I have given come from. Here comes the importance of balancing PFC and
the Limbic system of the brain and so here I introduce Vipassana meditation.
Vipassana does not only calm your mind or help you
concentrate but it also tells your brain to be balanced and think from your PFC
and not the emotional part of your brain. There are three steps in Vipassana
that a person goes through. 1st one is to concentrate on your breath
– that’s mostly just to make your brain sharp and focused, this helps you to
concentrate on your studies or work. The 2nd part is to focus on your body and
the sensations that are occurring every minute and every second. This part of psychophysics
tells you that your mind is connected to your body. And the 3rd and
last step of Vipassana guides you to deal with your emotions. Now this part is
a little tricky to understand and until you don’t try and practice it, it won't
be easy to comprehend by merely reading about it. The 3rd part
guides you to look at those same gross and subtle sensations without emotions. Let
me give a very simple example – try to remember when you get angry or nervous
your ears will get warm or maybe your nostrils will flare up and you will breathe
heavily. This means, your emotions and your brain are connected to your body,
and when you tell yourself to look at these sensations in a balanced way you
are literarily instructing your brain to deal with your emotions from PFC and
not use your limbic system. When you don’t react to your sensations you guide
your brain to think rationally on the emotional level as well and not just
barely react to your emotions.
Now, I don’t say this is easy. If someone thinks that it is
then he should think from his PFC. But if you really believe in having a change
in your life on any level. It could be as easy as following your routine and
not procrastinating. This technique will help you and sustain.
I think this part is also important – Why Vipassana
more than any other method? Personally, I think the authenticity of a method
can be judged based on the following points.
1.
Before joining a meditation group see if they
are charging for it. Basically, if it’s a business for them as well.
2.
Does it tell you to worship a human being?
3.
Is it related to a specific organized religion?
4.
Does it tell you to imagine or pronounce a god
or a specific word respectively?
5.
Does it push you towards pseudoscience? Now this
could be something we can discuss.
But, Just keep your eyes open if
someone is telling you to depend on something more than your own breath and body.
We don’t really need more than these two things to live ….. Do we?
Lastly, Go for a ten-day course
if you decide to try this method.
