Vipassana

[gazmanic]

New to the blog and would like to just say thankyou to everyone for taking the time to share your experiences with others.   I am not FI yet but on the way both financially and mentally.  God I love the term FU money.

The Ecuador adventure prompts me to ask whether others have heard about Vipassana meditation course and the other being "The Mankind Project".
Both are non-sectarian and may be of interest.

For me I had the opportunity to do the 10 day vipassana meditation course recently and what an eye opener it was.  The meditation has helped me since.  Vipassana runs soley on gratis and is a huge organisation.  This write-up explains it clearly and concisely

The other course, I would like to do but time and money is a factor,  is the New Warrior training weekend.  A wanky title and this one does cost money, about $1k.  Again no religious affiliations from what I can tell it sounds like they have their hearts in the right place with what they are achieving. 
 
When talking about these courses to others you get the feeling that they think that such courses are "soft options" or retreats.  The Vipassana course was far from a retreat experience and was a real challenge.  Maybe others can post similar experiences (non-religious, cheap and enlightening) that would be of interest to fellow Mustachians.

Cheers
Gaz

[Miss Stachio]

I think there are already a few threads related to and quite a few people here that practice insight meditation/vipassana.  Having done some retreats at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, I'd agree that meditation retreats are not like spa retreats where you lounge around being catered to.  Listening and paying attention to your thoughts/feelings/emotions/physical senses for 12 hours a day is no easy feat but also extremely rewarding.

Being more aware in general helps one to recognize the habit cycle (http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/03/19/a-lifetime-of-riches-is-it-as-simple-as-a-few-habits/) that MMM talked about recently.  I feel that while organized retreats are powerful experiences (and has the 'being held accountable publicly' aspect), the even more powerful aspect is to use it daily in all your activities.  A mustachian could easily practice at home or organize local 'retreats' where the retreat rotates around friend's homes or while waiting in line or while riding the bike or when spending time with a friend.  That's the badass thing about vipassana - you can practice it whenever you're present.

Random question - could someone tell me how to use the "insert hyperlink" button?  I tried using that and html and keep getting the entire link in the message instead of a nice hyperlinked phrase.

[arebelspy]

Random question - could someone tell me how to use the "insert hyperlink" button?  I tried using that and html and keep getting the entire link in the message instead of a nice hyperlinked phrase.

Code: [Select]

[url=http://www.websitehere.com]Words you want here[/url]

[Use it up, wear it out...]

I've studied Vipassana, but never had a chance to take the 10-day retreat. I haven't meditated regularly in awhile, but found it very helpful when I was doing it.

[gazmanic]

I think there are already a few threads related to and quite a few people here that practice insight meditation/vipassana. 

Yes, I didnt search on 'meditation' on the forum, I only looked for 'vipassana' and found no hits; hence the new post.
Hey (to both previous posters), How can you have studied Vipassana without doing the Intro 10 day course?

Another life-changing yet virtually cost-free thing to do is toastmasters. 

[mobilisinmobili]

I've done Vipassana style meditation as taught by Shinzen Young for quite a few years now. Not quite as active as I once was.. still haven't had enough time off to make it to a retreat.. but I do his remote 'phone retreats' from time to time.

[Miss Stachio]

I think there are already a few threads related to and quite a few people here that practice insight meditation/vipassana. 

Yes, I didnt search on 'meditation' on the forum, I only looked for 'vipassana' and found no hits; hence the new post.
Hey (to both previous posters), How can you have studied Vipassana without doing the Intro 10 day course?

Another life-changing yet virtually cost-free thing to do is toastmasters.

Vipassana is a (Pali/Sanskrit) term for insight meditation, which is a foundational practice for many Buddhists.  There are many teachers of insight meditation who are very helpful for getting into and maintaining a meditation practice and understanding the theoretical/historical concepts.  When it comes to practicing, it seems to me that insight meditation can only be truly done by one person - yourself.  As tempting as it is at times, I think it would be hard to outsource your insight meditation practice...

Since this is in the "Throw Down..." board and I've been inspired by the MMM post on habits, would anyone like to join me for a month of meditating just 10 minutes a day?  April mindfulness month!

[mobilisinmobili]

I'm down.

[boy_bye]

yes! meditation is one of the keystone habits that, if i make sure to do it, make the rest of my life way better / more badass.

i'm with you, friends! 10 minutes a day.

[arebelspy]

April mindfulness month!

Sorry, doesn't have a great "ring" to it, and if it doesn't sound catchy, I don't do it!

How about we push it back a month and do May Meditation?  April can be Awareness, or something like that.


;)

[Miss Stachio]

Awesome! It seems like a small group for this month but I'll put together a spreadsheet tomorrow where we can log our meditation sessions.

I'm off to pregame for Awareness April by sitting very quietly for 10 mins (thanks for the catchy name arebelspy).

[mobilisinmobili]

I just started a thread about Fitocracy.. it's an exercise tracking social network website.. but you can also track meditation there.. might be easier than using a spreadsheet.. it's your challenge so I'll leave it up to you. But if you'd like I could make a group challenge in the Fitocracy group. Whatever's easiest.

[Miss Stachio]

I just started a thread about Fitocracy.. it's an exercise tracking social network website.. but you can also track meditation there.. might be easier than using a spreadsheet.. it's your challenge so I'll leave it up to you. But if you'd like I could make a group challenge in the Fitocracy group. Whatever's easiest.

Neat!  I signed up and am learning how to use it.  It's a bit facebook-y so I made a beeline for the MMM group and signed up for the April Bike Challenge, which looks well organized.  Let's give it a whirl for the meditation challenge too.  Could you set up a challenge in the MMM group or let me know how to set one up?

I'll start another thread under "April Meditation Challenge" for the challenge since 'meditation' may be more accessible than 'vipassana' for some MMMers.

Also, have done 10 mins of meditation the past 2 days.  Feels good!

[mobilisinmobili]

Apparently we can only do one challenge at a time, and cycling is one of the 'challenge' options and meditation isn't. (didn't know this until I tried setting up a challenge for myself) So I'll leave you to the spreadsheet tracking then. You can still track Meditation on Fitocracy and compare with friends, but it won't be able to track us as a group, apparently.