Meditation helps in changing habit pattern of mind i.e., CRAVING for anything pleasant & AVERSION towards, anything unpleasant. (craving & aversion make one react - not 'respond' to the situation). This Meditation leads the person towards observing the reality as it is.
This helps in calming down the mind & leads to changes in behaviour & attitude towards life. Meditation also helps to overcome the fears, blocks, dissolve the residual emotions & formed behavioral patterns thus helping one to feel empowered within oneself.
As a result, many psychosomatic & psychological illnesses like migraine, gastritis, arthritis & depression etc. are cured.
Thus meditation complements our training-leaving an impact on deeper layers of mind, (whatever our training does at the conscious level of mind, vipassana does at the sub-conscious level) thus making the changes & development more sustainable.
To learn Vipassana it is necessary to take a 10 day residential course under the guidance of a qualified teacher. For the duration of the retreat, learners remain in retreat, learners remain inside the course site, having no contact with the outside world. They refrain from reading and writing, and suspend any religious practices or other disciplines. They follow a demanding daily schedule which includes about ten hours of sitting meditation . They also observe absolute silence , not even communicating with fellow students ; however they are free to discuss meditation questions with the teacher and material problems with the management.
There are three steps to the training. First, learners practise abstinence from actions that cause harm. They undertake five moral precepts, practising abstention from killing, stealing, lying, sexual misconduct and the use of intoxicants. The observation of these precepts allows the mind to calm down sufficiently to proceed with the task at hand. Second, for the first three-and-a-half days, learners practice Anapana Meditation, focussing attention on the breaths. The practise helps to develop control over the unruly mind.
These first two steps of living a wholesome life and developing control of the mind are necessary and beneficial, but are incomplete unless the third step is taken : purifying the mind of underlying negativities. The third step, undertaken for the last six-and-a-half days, is the practice of Vipassana : one penetrates ones entire physical and mental structure with the clarity of insight.
Learners receive systematic meditation instructions several times a day, and each days progress is explained during a taped evening discourse by Sri Goenka. Complete silence is observed for the first nine days. On the tenth day, learners resume speaking, making the transition back to a more extroverted way of life. The course concludes on the morning of the eleventh day. The retreat closes with the practice of metta-bhavana (loving-kindness or good will towards all) in which the purity developed during the course is shared with all beings.
The focus of our training is on:
This reflects our approach to community development, organisation growth and conflict resolution. To fulfill these objectives we adopt various methodologies, which are centered around: