Vipassana, a contemplative practice

Vipassana for Mindfulness

Attention or the ability to focus the mind on itself is known as mindfulness. In the book Mindsight, Daniel Siegel says, “mindfulness is a form of mental activity that trains the mind to become aware of awareness itself and to pay attention to one's own intention”. One becomes intensely aware of the internal seascape of the mind. Tuning in into oneself makes oneself a friend of oneself through a process of self-completion. Vipassana is the practice I choose last month to bring about mindfulness state. When Shinzen Young says, “Vipassana meditation is called ‘mindfulness meditation’ because we are very attentive. The main technique is to become extraordinarily attentive to ordinary experience,” he points out that Vipassana can be called as mindfulness meditation (Young 1). Young further states that Vipassana is translated as ‘insight meditation.’ The benefits mentioned in the journal are that you realize the nature of your experience, the nature of yourself, the root cause of your suffering, the science behind how pain creates suffering, the emotions, the cause of your addictions, and the building structure of your sense of separate self (Young 1). 

Vipassana is a method in which we focus on the sensations in our body without the interference of the mind. We move our attention to various parts of the body and identify the peak sensation arising in us. We concentrate without judgments, condemnation, criticism, justifications, storytelling, or any form of mental activity. We stay with the sensation without moving whether it is heat, vibrations, trickling, cramps, tension, pain, etc., until the dynamic subsides. Even though have a natural tendency to escape - think about a friend, open our eyes to text or answer emails, check our phones, listen to my partner’ talks, instruct others, ponder on life problems, think about others’ behaviors, tell stories, etc., we continue to browse. During the method of 'focusing' as mentioned by Eugene Gendlin, we enter into Kairos type of experience - we lose the sense of time altogether. In this state of Kairos or timelessness, the sensations will start revealing its stories to us in the form of memories, beliefs, thoughts, emotions, perceptions, ideas, etc. As we let them pass through us like clouds in the sky, we enter into a state of pure awareness. This is the experience of ‘Nirvana’ or liberation as said by Lord Buddha. The entry into the state of Nirvana happens in a particular moment and thereafter it sustains (Young 56). 

On the first day of the practice, I focused on contemplation on my brain-body integration. As I focused on various sensations in my body, I found that I feel fear in different areas. I had a fear of failure, fear of the loss of wealth, fear of loss of a job, fear of relations, fear of loss of time, fear of illness, etc. I found that these fears put me into a fight-flight-freeze mode and immobilize my system. It negatively affecting my heartbeats, breathing patterns, body temperature, etc. I found that my state of fear affected my wakefulness, sleep, hunger, sex life and eating habits which are functions of the brain stem region. I could sense tensions in my brain stem area behind my head.  I also found that in order to escape from the emotion of fear, I felt like engaging in sensory pleasures. As I became aware of all of these tendencies and stay focused, I entered into the state of Nirvana. 

On the second day of practice, I focused on my emotions through Vipassana practice. I could sense emotions pertaining to different sensations in the body. A recent incident came into my awareness when I became rageful with my life partner and my limbic lava had started flowing. As I applied the mindsight method and became aware of my reaction, a few emotions started surfacing. I went into my room, imploded, and allowed the emotions to rupture and release by itself. I allowed the emotions to be expressed until the energy explosion subsided. Once it subsided, I could become conscious of my own mistakes, see the inappropriate reactions, and choose to respond. Thus, there was a reduction in my cortisol level and adrenalin levels. As I continued with my contemplation, I could see sensations in my limbic area of my brain corresponding to the sensations in the body. My amygdala was on fire! As I continued with the sensations in my body several other emotions such as anger, hatred, hurt, vengeance, great, last, insecurity, worthlessness, loneliness, lovelessness, etc., started popping up. As I increased the intensity of my awareness, they dissipated. As I continued this practice for a few more minutes, I felt a release from the sensations, and I was completely set free from the clutches of my negative emotions. I felt a sudden detachment from everyone around me. In a particular moment, I declutched from the mammalian limbic region of my brain and I entered into the state of Nirvana. 

 On the third day, I focused on the cortex brain function as I contemplated my thoughts. The vertical integration between the brain and the body is not complete until the middle prefrontal cortex calms down the lower brain. During the vipassana practice, I focused on my eyebrow center and observed my thoughts. As the thoughts started flowing, I was feeling discomforts in my body. I found that my thoughts were more about people and their behaviors. During the observation process, different people started appearing along with their associated thoughts and emotions. I started declutching from the fears and various other emotions, and gradually disengage from each person. Thereafter, I started seeing more thoughts about my tasks. As I continued, I also saw creative thoughts on the solutions to various problems that I am facing in my life. As the brainstem calmed down, the functions of my heart, lungs, and digestive system restored along with the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. As I started disengaging from my Limbic brain, the emotional arousal started soothing down and I entered into a state of emotional balance. I experienced this as a deep calmness that descended into my whole body. As elevated emotions arose in me, I understood that my prefrontal cortex started functioning in coordination with the limbic system, which increased my response flexibility, fear modulation, insights, and intuition. I experienced a state of efficiency and intelligence. I moved into a space of empathy and compassion towards the end of the meditation which is a sign of ‘Nirvana’. In addition to the right brain functions such as sensing, non-verbal communications, it helps us in developing and performing our artistic abilities. I contemplated on my thoughts and feelings corresponding to the functioning of my left-brain-right-brain combination. 

On the fourth day, I focused on the cortex brain function; I focused on my artistic talents as I had a cultural program coming up in a couple of weeks. In singing, the left brain helps us to analyze, understand, think logically, and plan the performance while our right brain helps to generate related feelings. It's a long time since I sang before an audience and I was feeling that I'm running behind my musical skills and my emotions are not flowing with respective feelings during a performance. As I meditated, I browsed through the memories of the past where I felt anxiety on stage. In continuation, I saw the memories where I spoiled the performed and I got embarrassed in my college life. I realized that the left-brain functions of an engineer had been interfering with the creative parts of my brain. It had blocked the connection of the cortex brain to my limbic brain to the brainstem, effectively delinking from my nervous system to feel the tunes. In further contemplation, I reached the root memory, a childhood event when I had got embarrassed before my family - my first experience of its kind. As I experienced the emotion of pain completely, I felt a complete relaxation spreading through my body. I sensed my right brain function is becoming better. As I reached the state of trance, I understood that the corpus callosum that connected my left brain to the right brain started functioning again. In course, I fell into the groove of singing with the inherent emotional expression. I did perform at my best in the cultural function with the right modulation, rhythm, scale, dynamics and a deep-felt voice. Even more, mastering the left-brain-right-brain coordination helped me to develop my various other skills also in a similar fashion. 

On the fifth day of Vipassana practice, I focused on my 'false self'. Through contemplation on the sensations in the body, I saw the genesis of my personality. With the light of awareness from the hippocampus part of the brain, I saw that each personality rises and falls in a unique dynamic. I saw that I am not a single person but a bundle of personalities. Through emotional processing, I released the negative emotions that power these personalities from childhood. This was done through intense awareness brought into the areas where I felt the sensations with respect to the personalities. As I reached the predominant personality and I found it’s source in my childhood, I entered into a state of complete tranquility. I could not feel a sense of 'false self' anymore. As 'True Self' took the position, auspicious qualities such as love, intelligence, empathy, compassion, forgiveness, self-acceptance, and oneness started being expressed. I entered into a state of equanimity or Nirvana at a certain moment.

In conclusion, through the regular practice of vipassana, we can enter into the state of Nirvana through various pathways in our consciousness. Research shows that the mindfulness practice builds up the fibers in the middle prefrontal cortex making it powerful and functional. Mindfulness restores the prefrontal cortex’s ability to stabilize the emotions. Self-attunement leads to emotional equilibrium and mental resilience. Even though I drop down in my mind-state at times, I rapture by a few minutes of Vipassana. Vipassana, when combined with music, enhances my skills, creativity, and productivity. Vipassana causes a shift from the inner world of stress to a transcendental plane of ecstasy, bliss, and peace.  

 

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Works Cited

Siegel, Daniel J. Mindsight: the New Science of Personal Transformation. Bantam Books, 2011.

Young, Shinzen. “Purpose and Method of Vipassana Meditation.” The Humanistic Psychologist, vol. 22, no. 1, Jan. 1994, pp. 53–61. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib&db=edo&AN=ejs22009150&site=eds-live&scope=site.