Vipassana Meditation: 10 Days of Dhamma Service
I was first introduced to Vipassana Meditation in 2018, having spent three months in isolation in my flat in West London, working on a manuscript yet to be released. I entered the year off the back of publishing my first title, ‘Living Free’, and was looking forward to what could be next for me as an author. Yet, I knew that it would be a challenge, and also felt that, as an artist and writer, I had to commit to the path that I was on and needed to go through the challenge of creating what was next.
I’ve been meditative from a young age; following a near death experience from a severe asthma attack as a child, I noticed myself becoming hyper self aware. Starting with an awareness of my breath, this awareness grew as a result experiencing sinusitis as a child.
I began the practice of consciously meditating in 2015; one day, I sat by a beach and listened to the waves come in and out. I then moved on to being guided through a meditation app, then to meditation music and eventually, in 2018, I turned down the noise to simply sit with reality. When I began, I used meditation as a way to escape - then as a way to visualise and manifest.
I quit my job in 2014, and started to work as a freelance marketing strategist. Eventually, in 2018 I took a leap to live life as a multimedia artist. I welcomed anything that would help me to see the bright side of things during the initial pains of my artistic growth and commitment to my craft.
It helped. By May of 2018 I had survived a winter in isolation, written a 100,000 word manuscript and spring had arrived. At the time, I noticed that I couldn’t sit for a complete hour without eventually moving or adjusting my position from some pain in my body, and that my mind roamed around so much that I couldn’t sit in the moment for very long. I began sitting for 45 minutes a day for 4 months and it was great. I went through many challenges and changes during those months, and during this time I observed the changes that I was going through. I noticed that when I sat with my eyes closed, I observed the truth of life around me: I heard the birds, the sounds of people walking past my window and conversing; I heard the sounds of traffic and observed it all with no judgement: pure observation. This practice grew my perspective on life greatly. It was like seeing life with my eyes closed, from a bird's view.
I came out of that time in bliss, for many reasons. For one, I had completed my manuscript! It was my greatest accomplishment at the time, and I had a great vision for it. I was seeing life so differently; I began observing and appreciating the reality of every moment with my eyes open. During my isolation, outside my window I would observe a squirrel live its life, from winter to spring. I observed the weather change and the trees change along with it; I watched as the trees went from looking like dry, lifeless, cold stumps, metamorphosing into leaves and blooming flowers. I, as nature, had observed nature go through its process of change, and in doing so, I also observed myself go through change. When I came out of isolation in May 2018, I began to experience that every moment looked like a perfect scene from the film of life.
I was in love with life; people on the street noticed and commented on a set smile that was on my face at all times… It was because I was seeing every moment as perfectly changing to the next. Then, in the spring of 2018, someone close to me who had recently attended a Vipassana Meditation course in the UK suggested that I attend one as well: ‘You would love it,’ she said. I was greatly hesitant.
I had just found my own path and felt that I didn’t need anyone else to teach me about meditation - I was meditating. I eventually went, primarily because of the sheer hours of meditation over a ten-day span, I figured that simply having the space to grow my practice and perspective could only be a good thing. Ten days in silence, no contact with the world outside, separation from the opposite sex and a scheduled 10 hours of meditation a day would be challenging, but who would I be on the other side of it?
During the first couple of days I was resistant to this technique: I had my own after all. But after letting go and choosing to try it, everything clicked for me. The last 15 minutes of my meditations clicked, and by the end of the course, I could sit for one hour and eventually two hours of meditation and could remain in the moment for a substantial amount of that time.
I left my first 10 day course experience thankful to our teacher S. N. Goenka and this Vipassana technique, and instinctively knew that things had changed for me. Vipassana Meditation centres and courses as taught by S. N. Goenka run all over the world, and they are run with no charge to the students taking the course. This struck me as so gracious; the centres want us to come and simply meditate. Lodging and food - food in abundance may I add - are fully provided. It’s an ideal space to surrender to a technique and experience the truth for oneself. A big part of how these courses and centres are able to operate is by voluntary donation (Dāna), from old students only. The centres require that one should feel that they have gained something from the experience before choosing to give dāna. They also run by the service of old students during courses attended by both new and old students.
This year I served my first ten day course, and I must say that it was one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life. The entire experience of serving a course where others have come to carry out deep internal work by means of meditation is like no other. A sense of fulfilment starts from knowing that you have in fact gained from your own sitting-course experience, and the want to assist in providing a similar ample space for others to experience the same happiness, peace and liberation that you had experienced previously - if only for ten days. In the process of serving, you too work greatly on yourself. I worked in the kitchen, helping to prepare the food which would be served to the students each day. This put me in the position of also meditating a few hours a day, as well as working and interacting with others, as one might do in a ‘real world’ situation. Since you are meditating during service as well, one finds oneself dealing with the challenges of life in a meditative way - by observing oneself and acting from a palace of love and compassion, for yourself and others.
Over the course of ten days of service, you are faced with many challenges. These are a few of the lessons that I learned from my experience:
Take rest
In my want to do my best by serving the students and helping the other servers the best I could, I quite simply forgot to rest. I showed up several minutes early to every meditation sitting to ‘inspire’ other students on the benefits of the course. as I too was inspired by servers during my first course. After completing what were my tasks, I took on tasks in the kitchen that I did not have to, and I spent my rest hours reflecting. On day five, my body crashed from exhaustion and I was forced to take rest. I learnt a lot about my tendencies in the process, and how to best adapt them to not crash in the future; the underlying lesson was to take time to rest and recover in order to move forward again. It’s easy to think that ten days of meditation is a ‘retreat’, but the rigorous mental experience is deep work. When serving on a course, where the gongs wake students up at 4am and you get to bed at 10pm, all the while meditating and working in between those hours, taking advantage of rest gives one time to relax and process, in order to sharpen your body and mind, and be able to come back stronger for the next day.
2. Deal with interpersonal relationships
Being thrust into a work environment, such as a kitchen, or housekeeping, which may not be your day-to-day work experience is very challenging, especially when you are doing your best to serve. Sometimes you get frustrated with yourself and with others around you, and in life we sometimes let those things fester. It is stated in the Dhamma server’s handbook that any issues that arise with another person should be dealt with with the person in question - no gossiping or bringing others into the situation unless necessary. I was faced with this many times and made the choice to speak directly with the people that minor issues had arisen with. By taking someone aside and speaking from an honest place is vulnerable - it opens a space to be honest, to connect and to understand. Afterwards, you feel lighter and happy that your annoyance hasn't lingered or interfered with your peace, and as a result, hasn’t affected your service to others.
3. Saying ‘thank you’
Thanking others for their efforts, their time and their consideration is great. We would all like to be acknowledged for the efforts that we have put in, even when we don’t require thanks. It is nice to receive it. It is easy to say thank you when we receive, but being thankful for what we already have, although not what we want to receive, is powerful. It communicates gratitude for each moment - being thankful for the sunshine and the rain, for the joy and pain, forms the perfect environment to receive.
It is also important to be thankful without wanting to receive - not serving because we want to gain something from it, rather serving because we want to give something; and in the process, being thankful for the opportunity to give.
I greatly value my time as a student and server during these Vipassana Meditation courses and highly recommend it. Have your own experience and observe what the benefits are for you.
For further information on Vipassana Meditation as taught by S. N. Goenka visit www.dhamma.org
“May all beings be happy, peaceful and liberated”.
