The practice

Silent meditation is done in silence—there is no chanting or mantra or music involved—but the mind is rarely quiet. One sits without distraction, attempting to release thoughts that arise.

Though I sat in silence many times following a yoga class and in other meditation circles, it wasn’t until I traveled to an ashram outside Bangalore that I learned a particular technique taught by S.N. Goenka on a rigorous ten-day course.

For three solid days, without distractions of food, Internet, books, or even journaling, students are directed to observe the breath as it enters and leaves the nose. On the fourth day, students are directed to observe sensations in the body—of which there are MANY thanks to the sheer pain of hours of sitting—until finally, the course concludes.

This practice forever changed my outlook on life, though I don’t recommend it without caution. I undertook the course in the throes of misery, and it may well have launched me on a lengthy path of prolonged grief in the wake of my divorce. This style is not recommended for people with anxiety issues, and I would urge anyone considering the practice to read up on the ongoing Brown University study that shows how the practice can be detrimental. Even deadly.

If you’re still interested, I highly recommend starting here, at the dhamma.org main website which gives access to centers all over the world offering this course.

The Tradition

S.N. Goenka, the man who most recently brought this practice into wide recognition, was taught Vipassana by a Burmese meditation teacher who claimed to follow the exact teachings set forth by Gautama Buddha. During his life he taught thousands across the globe, and began appointing teachers in 1982 to help with the growing demand. Long before he passed away in 2013, he created a taped course to deliver this technique to students. That course is still used today.

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MY STORY

If you’d like to know how this bottle blond out of Pittsburgh survived ten days at a silent meditation retreat, sign up to be on the Advance Reader Team for Blissful Thinking: A Memoir of Surviving the Wellness Revolution.