Personal view of Vipassna course

I completed the 10 day Vipassna retreat in 2010 whilst dealing with major depression. It really is a gruelling process to face all of your inner demons and the team made it as comfortable as possible. I stayed for ten days with free food and free accommodation, did not have to cook or clean and all I had to concentrate on was myself! No mobile phones, no TV or radio, no talking, no email, no looking at another person's face, eyes, no gestures, no external communication of any kind.

The brain (the inner child) that is so used to being constantly distracted by channel surfing, news, TV, gossip, media, and an endless stream of information all of a sudden finds itself in complete silence and all alone...

My inner child threw an absolute tantrum on day four and I wanted to leave at midnight but persevered to the next day. The next few days I could stand back silently and watch as an observer as my inner child did everything that it could to distract me from the internal silence.

My brain replayed every memory I had ever had in my life (yes, my whole life flashed before my eyes, not instantly, even in fast-forward, it took hours!). Then it tried to imagine every possible future outcome that I could have.

Knowing that the inner child was starving for new information and becoming exhausted at distracting itself with bringing up old information, I persevered and watched as an external observer to my own "virtual reality".

Some may have reached their moment of Enlightenment before me (or even after me), but mine came in on the evening of day 9 of the ten day course.

My mind finally just ran out of ideas and actually SHUT THE HELL UP for a few minutes. I felt an amazing feeling of complete and utter peace (the same feeling that the parent of a bratty toddler feels when the child falls asleep).

This Zen state of complete peace was now not just a fanciful idealistic concept but an experiential possibility for me.

I now meditate every day (and if I go for 2 days without meditation I can really feel the difference!). The peace that I get in my mind and the feeling it brings in my body are almost inexpressible (how do you write a book on riding a bicycle or swimming?) -- you just have to follow Nike's advice and "just do it".

My depression vanished, my anxiety vanished, any daily stresses are now tiny, fleeting and transient. It was an arduous process to get through ten days of silence, but given the choice between an easy road that ends in illness, depression or suicide and a hard road that ends in eternal bliss, which would you choose?

There are Vipassna locations in around 80 countries and courses run year-round on a purely donation basis. The course as taught by S. N. Goenke is non-denominational and suitable for anyone of any religious (or non-religious) background.

Don't read about sex, bicycling, swimming, meditation, nirvana or Vipassna: just get in there & DO IT! :-)