Quite a lot of you over the years have asked me about Vipassana and my daily meditation practice. I’ve never been good at explaining meditation in general, as for me it is an experience that transcends words, and Vipassana in particular is a tricky nut to crack. But most of the questions come not from people who are trying to understand Vipassana, but rather those who just want to begin a daily practice of some sort and are looking for a place to begin.
The Chopra Centre are currently offering a 21-day online meditation challenge, free of charge. It’s a series of downloadable audio files, all quite short, that lead you through the basics of different types of meditation, focusing on one aspect per day. I’ve listened to a couple of the audio files out of curiosity, and they’re certainly suitable for any beginner, even if you’ve never meditated before, and Davidji (the man who guides the meditations) has a pleasant voice and is even humourous at times.
I’ll admit I don’t know a lot about Deepak Chopra, though I’ve heard plenty of reports both positive and negative, so I can’t really vouch for the overall quality of the material his organisation puts out. I certainly don’t think you should go into this 21-day challenge expecting to come out enlightened, or even an expert meditator, but that’s hardly the point. The point is to create the habit of daily meditation while exposing yourself to the different techniques that are available to you. I suppose the hope is that after you’re finished with the course, you’ll want to pursue meditation further, either on your own, or by seeking more formal instruction. So if you’ve always wanted to meditate but never managed to get the momentum up, now’s your chance. Link
“Quite a lot of you…”
I am not part of a collective. There isn’t Quite a Lot of Me. Just me.
Good luck explaining that logic to the 3,600 other readers!
But each of us who reads this is not reading on behalf of 3,600 people – just themselves.
Indeed, but obviously I’m not going to write 3,600 posts to address each of you separately. If I address you as a group, I’m sure each of you is smart enough to work out that the word “you” can be either singular or plural in English. Or at least that’s what I thought – perhaps I assume too readily.
Is there anything about the meditation you’d like to discuss, or have you just come here to troll because you have nothing better to do? I’m kind of done with it.