I hear a gong echoing in my sleep and I am quickly pulled awake by the sheer depth of the sound made by this huge instrument. It penetrates my sleep and forces me to wake up, even though it is only 4 am. The sound of the gong is quickly forgotten as I get up, pour a bucket of cold water over myself, and head towards the meditation hall. It’s still pitch black outside, and it will continue to be that way until halfway through our first-morning meditation, which lasts one and a half hours every morning, during the 10 day Vipassana meditation retreat. I sit still and try to focus on the sensations on my body by scanning it from head to toe and from toe to head, over and over. My mind quickly thrifts, but I patiently bring it back to the bodily sensations, over and over.
This article will include:
- What is Vipassana meditation & my experience
- Vipassana and mindfulness
- Benefits of Vipassana
- Benefits of mindfulness more generally
This is how all of my mornings started at the silent Vipassana meditation retreat in Cambodia for ten days straight. In this article, we will dive into the Vipassana meditation style and its benefits.
What is Vipassana meditation?
Vipassana meditation is a specific kind of meditation style, which focuses on the observation of physical sensations in the body in order to practice mindfulness. As explained by Jonathan et al.:
“Vipassana is a widespread technique of mindfulness meditation, derived from Buddhist practice, based on objective observation of physical sensations in the body. Awareness of the breath is also used as an aid to concentration” [1].
Vipassana is based on the assumption that human behaviour is a result of reacting to bodily sensations. More specifically, avoiding adverse sensations and aiming to prolong pleasant sensations. Therefore, avoiding negative sensations and craving for positive sensations are seen as the base cause for human unhappiness [1].
My experience
I joined a 10-day residential silent Vipassana retreat in Cambodia in 2018. The schedule of the retreat was rather intense with over 10 hours of meditation per day. No speaking was allowed throughout these ten days, with the exception of a voluntary question hour with the teacher. And as I described at the very start, the mornings started at 4 am. An important disclaimer is that even if you have never heard about Vipassana meditation and have no intention of joining a ten-day silent retreat, reading this article will be relevant for anyone interested in mindfulness, as it will recap scientific findings of the benefits of mindfulness and meditation in general, not only in relation to this specific meditation style.
Vipassana and mindfulness
Mindfulness involves accepting feelings, events, sensations and thoughts as they are in the present moment and this is what Vipassana utilizes. It encourages a neutral observation of bodily sensations through the practice of non-reactivity [1]. In other words, Vipassana meditation is about looking at what happens in the body and in the mind, without reacting to it. Moreover, mindfulness has been seen to reduce stress and enhance well-being through acceptance of the present moment, and Vipassana focuses exactly on this: exposing oneself to the present moment and fully accepting it [1]. Moreover, another goal of mindfulness is to allow thoughts to freely come and go and observe them objectively without judging them, or identifying with them. This is yet another fundamental aspect of the Vipassana practice [2].
Marshall Glickman dives deep into the practice of Vipassana in his book Beyond the Breath. He states that learning about this meditation style has completely transformed his inner world. He explains that the strength of his repetitive and unhelpful thought patterns has significantly decreased after starting to practise Vipassana. He also describes that he feels more at ease, and even when he is experiencing difficulties he feels “a measure of freedom” which he didn’t feel before practising Vipassana [3]. And he is not alone in feeling like meditation has helped him, as mindfulness and meditation are reported to have benefits like stress and anxiety reduction, promotion of emotional health and kindness, lengthened attention span and improved sleep [4].
What does research say more specifically about the benefits results of practising Vipassana meditation?
Unfortunately, there has not been a lot of research conducted on the Vipassana meditation technique, in specific. Still, some studies have associated practising Vipassana with increased psychological well-being [5]. Studies have also recorded an increase in heart rate variability (HRV), the time between heartbeats, in Vipassana practitioners in comparison to non-practitioners. HRV is seen as an important marker of psychological and physiological well-being [5]. Yet, the lack of research calls for more detailed attention to this specific meditation technique.
More generally, the physiological benefits associated with meditation, include for example: “increases in immune system activity and left-sided anterior activation, a pattern associated with positive affect, decreased amygdale response to emotional stimuli, and increased brain connectivity” [5]. There has also been evidence that meditators, in comparison to a control group, had higher left-sided anterior activation which has been associated with positive affect [6].
Moreover, there is also evidence that mindfulness can reduce anxiety. A study was conducted with 22 participants who suffered from an anxiety disorder to see if a meditation-based stress reduction program would help them. The methods used were self-ratings as well as therapists’ ratings, which were acquired every week before and during the meditation program as well as monthly during a three month follow up period. The results showed that 20 of the subjects experienced a decrease in anxiety and depression after the treatment, and these results persisted at follow up [7]. As elaborated before, Vipassana meditation has an emphasis on noting sensations and thoughts as they appear in the mind without viewing them as negative or catastrophic. Curating this sort of mindfulness can then be related to reduced anxiety [7].
Furthermore, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy has been seen to mediate relapse/recurrence of depression in a study which found that the patients who had reoccurring depression (and had experienced three or more episodes) were able to reduce their relapse rates by half using mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, in comparison to the control group who had their depression treatment continued as usual [8].
In general, we can conclude that mindfulness-based meditation (vipassana included) has scientifically proven benefits on mental and physical health. However, the specific style of Vipassana meditation has not received enough scientific attention for us to conclude definitive conclusions at this moment. As the attention to the general benefits of mindfulness increases, it is hopeful that the Vipassana meditation style will also be researched in more detail.
The main takeaway from this article should be that the Vipassana meditation style is linked to an increase in general well being and an increase in HRV, but this is mostly through individual accounts or non-representative samples and therefore needs more scientific attention. However, other mindfulness cultivating practices have been researched in more detail and many benefits have been found. To conclude, for those contemplating if they should try meditation, the evidence points to benefits like decreased anxiety and depression, increased attention span and increased sleep [7, 8, 4].
It is clear that you don’t need to join a ten-day silent retreat, if that is not your cup of tea, in order to start your mindfulness journey. You can start by simply paying more attention to the sensations on your body as well as observing your breath, right now.
Additional resources:
Vipassana Meditation and Body Sensation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixu4Kd5R1DI&ab_channel=TEDxTalks
Experience on Vipassana mediatation retreat:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kmdc6Xm7LK0&ab_channel=JeffreyMarr
A guardian article about Vipassana retreat experience:
References:
- Szekeres, R. A., & Wertheim, E. H. (2015). Evaluation of Vipassana meditation course
effects on subjective stress, well‐being, self‐kindness and mindfulness in a community sample: Post‐course and 6‐month outcomes. Stress and Health, 31(5), 373-381.
2. Krygier, J. R., Heathers, J. A., Shahrestani, S., Abbott, M., Gross, J. J., & Kemp, A. H. (2013).
Mindfulness meditation, well-being, and heart rate variability: a preliminary investigation into the impact of intensive Vipassana meditation. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 89(3), 305-313.
3. Glickman, M. (2002). Beyond the breath: extraordinary mindfulness through whole-body
Vipassana meditation. Tuttle Publishing.
4. Thorpe, M., MD PhD. (2020, October 27). 12 Science-Based Benefits of Meditation.
Healthline. Retrieved January 17, 2022, from https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/12-benefits-of-meditation#9.-Improves-sleep
5. Krygier, J. R., Heathers, J. A., Shahrestani, S., Abbott, M., Gross, J. J., & Kemp, A. H. (2013).
Mindfulness meditation, well-being, and heart rate variability: a preliminary investigation into the impact of intensive Vipassana meditation. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 89(3), 305-313.
6. Davidson, R. J., Kabat-Zinn, J., Schumacher, J., Rosenkranz, M., Muller, D., Santorelli, S. F.,
... & Sheridan, J. F. (2003). Alterations in brain and immune function produced by
mindfulness meditation. Psychosomatic medicine, 65(4), 564-570.
7. Peterson, L. G., & Pbert, L. (1992). Effectiveness of a meditation-based stress
reduction program in the treatment of anxiety disorders. Am J Psychiatry, 149(7), 936-943.
8. Teasdale, J. D., Segal, Z. V., Williams, J. M. G., Ridgeway, V. A., Soulsby, J. M., & Lau, M. A.
(2000). Prevention of relapse/recurrence in major depression by mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. Journal of consulting and clinical psychology, 68(4), 615.