Vipassana - meditation of inner insight

First, allow yourself a dance in which all your inner armor falls away. First, allow yourself to sing, to shout, to rejoice – so that your whole life turns into a dance, a song, a celebration. At first, you need to go through catharsis – to release all the suppressed, let go of all tension, cleanse your body of accumulated toxins, and your soul – of forgotten wounds and traumas. And only when this happens – when you are able to laugh, feel, love again – then comes the time for Vipassana.

BREATHING – THE DEEPEST MANTRA

Breathing in – let it touch your whole being.
Breathing out – let it be reflected in the depths of your consciousness.
Observe, just observe,
how inhale turns into exhale,
how exhale leads to inhale,
and you will begin to feel
how everything becomes silent inside.
Silence sets in,
soft, alive, transparent.

If you are able to see the breath –
to see how it comes and goes,
without interfering, without holding on,
then you are holding a mantra in your hands,
the simplest one,
and at the same time the deepest one
that exists.

Breathing always happens now.
You cannot breathe tomorrow.
You cannot breathe yesterday.
Only in this moment.
But the mind – it slips away:
into dreams, into memories, into worries.

The body lives in the present.
It is – here. It is – now.
But the mind wanders between the shadows of the past
and the phantoms of the future.
They do not meet.
Between body and mind – a gap.
From this gap arise all anxieties,
all tension,
all soul fatigue.

Bring the mind into the present moment.
Simply through the breath.
Gently. Consciously.
Because there is no other time.
There is only this breath.
There is only this moment.
And in it – everything.

An Enlightened Master Talks About Vipassana

Sitting in silence, start observing your breath. Just sit – calmly, without tension. Let your body be relaxed, and your attention – collected. The easiest way to start is to pay attention to the area of the nostrils. When you inhale – feel how the air touches the inner surface of the nostrils. The sensation is light, barely noticeable – just observe this touch. The breath itself can be too subtle, but the touch is tangible.

Let your attention stay there.
The air enters – you feel the touch. Just observe. Then follow the breath. Don’t control – just go with it. And you will notice that at some point the breath pauses. For a brief moment it stops. Then exhale begins again. Follow it, observe the touch of the air going out. And again, the breath pauses – just for a moment. And again the cycle: inhale – pause, exhale – pause, inhale – pause.

These pauses are the most mysterious moments inside you.
When the breath comes in and stops, and there is not the slightest movement – this is the point where contact with the Divine is possible.
Or when the breath goes out and stops – and again there is silence, stillness, nothingness.

Remember: you do not stop the breath. It stops by itself.
You do not change anything, you do not interfere. You do not make the inhale, you do not make the exhale – you simply allow the breath to be. You let it flow freely, naturally. When it goes out – you follow it. When it comes in – you follow again.

And one day you will see: in these two pauses – there is a door.
A door inward.
The breath is not life itself. It is food for life, like food, like water. But not Life itself. Because in the moment when the breath stops – you are. You are present. Consciousness is clear. Beautifully clear. The breath stops, but you do not disappear. You – remain.

Continue observing. Continue allowing the breath to be. This is the practice that Buddha called Vipassana.
And if you continue – again and again – you will see: the pause becomes longer. At first – a moment. Then – a few seconds. Then – minutes.

Inhale.
Pause.
Nothing.
Exhale.
Pause.
Silence.

The world stops.
Time stops.
Thoughts disappear.
You are!

This is Vipassana.
This is the gate to Truth.

Meditation of Inner Illumination – This Is Vipassana

Find a quiet place where you can simply sit – for 45 minutes, an hour, maybe more. It is better if you choose the same place and the same time every day – this creates an inner rhythm. And let this place not necessarily be perfectly silent. Life is sounding – and you learn to hear it. Experiment with the position of your body – find one in which you feel both stability and lightness at the same time. You can sit once or twice a day, but do not do it right after eating or before going to bed.

It is important to sit with a straight back and calmly hold your head. Eyes are closed. The body is still – as much as possible without force. Cushions, a bench, or just a chair can provide support – it does not matter how you sit, what matters is the quality of your presence.

Breathe as usual. There is no need for special breathing techniques here. All that is required is natural, ongoing breathing. Vipassana starts with awareness of the breath – just observe each inhale, each exhale. Find the spot where the breath feels the brightest – in the nostrils, in the belly, in the solar plexus area – and stay there, be aware.

But Vipassana is not concentration, not an effort to focus. And the breath is not an object you hold on to for the whole hour. When sounds, sensations, images, thoughts appear – just allow your attention to respond. Everything that comes can be seen like clouds slowly drifting across the sky – you do not grab them and you do not push them away. Everything moves. Everything passes. And if you have to choose – where to direct your attention, – simply return to the breath.

Remember: there is nothing to achieve here. Nothing to strive for. There is no right or wrong experience. No success and no failure. No growth, no decline. Everything is already here.
Thoughts may come – all sorts of them. Let them come. Let them go. Observe. Do not analyze.
Any question – not for an answer, but for silence. Any problem – not for solving, but as a riddle you can simply enjoy.

This is how inner illumination unfolds.
This is how you enter Vipassana.

Rise of Energy During Vipassana

Sometimes during Vipassana practice you may notice that you become unusually sensitive. This happens because you are in silence, and your energy stops dissipating. In ordinary life, most of your energy leaves – you become tired, exhausted. But when you just sit, not directing your actions anywhere, when you do nothing – you become like a calm lake of energy. And this lake gradually begins to fill. At some point it almost overflows – and you feel a surge of sensitivity. Everything becomes sharper. Sometimes there is a sense of sexuality – as if the senses are naked, alive, fresh, as if they have become younger. The dust is gone, and you seem to have just taken a shower. This is natural.

This is why Buddhist monks who have practiced Vipassana for centuries do not need much food. They eat only once a day – and even then modestly. You would call it a light breakfast. They also do not need a long sleep, but at the same time they are full of energy. And this does not mean that they avoid work – on the contrary, they work: they chop wood, till the land, take care of the garden. They work all day long. But something important has happened to them – energy no longer leaks out of them.

The sitting posture also plays a key role in preserving energy. The lotus posture, used by Buddhist monks, is arranged so that all the limbs are closed: one leg rests on the other, one hand – on the other. It is through open, extended forms that energy leaves the body. But when everything is closed, the energy remains inside. In nature, you will not find sharp shapes in stable sources of energy – all celestial bodies are round: planets, the sun, the moon, the stars. If they were angular, they would lose energy and be destroyed.

When you sit in such a pose, the body becomes almost round: one hand closes the energy on the other, one leg – on the other. The energy begins to circulate inside. It does not go outside. Gradually you become a vessel, a container. And you begin to feel this as fullness, especially in the belly area. Perhaps you have not eaten, the body is empty – but the feeling of fullness is there. And with it comes a heightened sense of aliveness, sensuality.

This is a wonderful sign. A very good sign.
Just be with it. Enjoy.