How to Do Vipassana Meditation Properly (At Home)
Do you feel like you’re constantly juggling too many things and don’t have time for yourself?
Vipassana meditation is a great way to take a break from the world and focus on your inner peace. This form of mindfulness meditation helps to relax the mind and body and can be done in just 10-20 minutes per day.
You don’t need any special equipment or clothing to do this form of meditation. All you need is a quiet place to recline. That’s the key, though. A quiet place.
To get the full benefits of this type of meditation, you must be in a completely silent environment.
This is exactly why it is always best to practice Vipassana meditation at home.
Why do Vipassana meditation at home (and not outside)?
There are several advantages to doing meditation at home as opposed to outside.
First, it can be more comfortable to do meditation in your own space where you can control the temperature and lighting. This is especially important if you are doing long periods of meditation.
Second, you won’t be distracted by external noise and activity when you’re trying to focus inward. This can help you go deeper into your meditation and get more out of it.
Finally, it can be easier to establish a regular meditation practice at home since you don’t have to work around someone else’s schedule or deal with potential weather issues.
I have been practicing meditation for years now. Whenever I do insight meditation (another name for Vipassana meditation), I have always felt that it serves me better to do it alone. Without getting distracted by anything or anyone else.
This is all the more because Vipassana meditation is a passive form of meditation where you are an observer and not an actor. That means the more stimuli present around you, the harder for you to concentrate on one idea, sensation, or object.
This is usually not the case with active forms of meditation like Tai Chi or mantra meditation, where you are in an active state. You are doing something and you focus on your act itself.
If you are not sure what Vipassana meditation entails, read on.
What Vipassana meditation means…
is “seeing things as they are,” or gaining clarity about the true nature of your thoughts, emotions, and sensations.
Vipassana is one of the oldest forms of meditation, and was taught by the Buddha himself in the Satipatthana Sutta [Foundations of Mindfulness]. It’s considered the mother of all mindfulness practices.
The word “Vipassana”, or vipassanā (Pāli) or vipaśyanā (Sanskrit), is derived from two Pali words: “vi“, which means “special” and “passanā” which means “seeing” but is translated to “insight.”
Vipassana meditation is pretty much like other meditation practices, the only difference is that in Vipassana you need to focus more on your breath and sensations.
Vipassana meditation is the practice of gaining insight through mindfulness. The goal is to see things as they really are, without judgment or attachment.
This allows you to live in the present moment and respond to situations based on reality, instead of worry or preconceived notions.
That means training your mind to be more aware of the present moment.
To do this, you focus your attention on your breath and body sensations.
You observe your thoughts and emotions without judgment, letting them come and go as they please.
Vipassana meditation helps you quiet your monkey mind, focus more on the present, and be more aware of your thoughts and emotions. It helps you not to keep tied to the past and not to worry about the future.
That allows you to see things more clearly and objectively. This can help you break free from unhealthy patterns of thinking and behaving.
Vipassana meditation has many benefits, including:
– reducing stress (read more)
– increasing focus and concentration
– boosting self-awareness
– improving sleep quality
– enhancing emotional stability
– reducing anxiety and depression
How to do Vipassana meditation properly at home
The right way to practice Vipassana meditation at home is as follows:
1. Get into a comfortable position. You can sit on the floor with your legs crossed or in a chair with your feet flat on the ground. The back must be erect, as Sayadaw U Pandita instructed. Your hands and fingers should be in the Gyan mudra position (thumb and index finger touching).
2. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Lord Buddha mentions it in the Satipatthana Sutta. Taking a few deep breaths helps to calm the mind and grounds you back to reality. The breath is called the “anchor” of the mind by Thich Nhat Hanh, hailed as the Father of Mindfulness.
3. Focus your attention on your breath. Try not to differentiate between the incoming and the outgoing breath. Focus on the middle, the pause, as Lord Shiva suggested in the Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra. Gradually, try to take your attention towards the abdomen and feel it rising and falling as you breathe in and out. If your mind wanders off, guide it back to your breath.
4. Expand your focus to include the whole body. Once you have mastered the art of keeping your attention on the breath, you can expand your focus to include the whole body. Start from the toes and work your way up to the crown of the head. Notice any sensations that arise in the body and label them accordingly.
5. Be aware of thoughts and emotions. Thoughts and emotions will inevitably arise while meditating. Don’t suppress them. Instead, observe them mindfully and label them accordingly. Say you imagine hearing someone calling your name. You label that as an “imagined sound”. You feel warmth around your forehead. You label it as an “imagined feeling”. Likewise, if you heard a cuckoo cooing outside, you label it as such. Thus, you make a mental note of everything that is happening around and inside you.
6. When you are done, take a few deep breaths, gently open your eyes and end the session. Tell yourself, “I am opening my eyes”. When you are ready to begin your day, say “I intend to…”.
This is how you can do Vipassana meditation properly at home. Just follow the instructions and be mindful of your thoughts, emotions, and sensations. If you want, you can do it all day while doing your chores at home.
While the essence of Vipassana cannot be condensed into a single breath, there is a very simple technique that lies at the heart of this style.
The core Vipassana breath technique is simply to inhale and exhale through the nostril, becoming aware of the point at which the air enters and leaves your body.
It is important to understand that the main focus here is not the breath itself, but rather the awareness of the breath. The common Vipassana exercise of focusing on the entry and exit point of your breath is designed to help you develop a strong sense of convergent focus, or a focus restricted to a specific action and reaction in the body.
This practice underlies many different forms of breath. The point of practicing it in the Vipassana tradition is to use the nostril as a gateway to a higher sense of concentration, which will, in turn, allow you to begin to release your attachment to your thoughts and ego. As you expand your practice, you can then use other breath techniques to raise your energy and experience more enlightened states of being.
Vipassana meditation at home: essential tips for beginners
While the idea of Vipassana meditation is beyond words, the practice is actually quite simple. The core idea is to watch your breath as it enters and exits your nostrils. It is not the breath per se, but the awareness of it. The point is to develop a strong sense of convergent focus on one action and one reaction in your body.
The main challenge for beginners is to maintain this focus for more than a few seconds. Since you are doing it at home and no one’s guiding you, it might be a little tricky to get started with this. Here are some tips for you, beginners:
1) Use a timer: start with 3 minutes and work your way up to 11 minutes.
2) Put a drop of essential oil on your shirt collar or pillow: the smell will help you stay present.
3) Focus on the sensations in your nostrils: the temperature, the movement of air, etc.
4) Stay with the breath: if you get lost in thought, simply return to the observation of your breath.
5) Be patient: it takes time to develop the concentration required for Vipassana.
6) Be kind to yourself: this is a practice of self-love and compassion.
7) Make it a daily practice: the more you do it, the deeper you will go.
The above tips are just a few suggestions to help you get started with Vipassana. The most important thing is to be patient and kind to yourself. The practice will deepen with time.
Finally, you are home!
And once you get good at doing the Vipassana meditation, you feel inner peace like you never did before. You let go of all the tension and the stress that you may have been holding on to for years.
You are finally at one with your surroundings, with your family and friends, and with your thoughts and feelings, and your life.
You finally reach a place where you feel like… you are at home!
Namaste.
