How does one learn to meditate?
I wish I knew. : ) I read different books, listened to different podcasts, solicited different opinions – and I just never felt like I really knew what I was doing. I worried that I just wasn’t doing it “right”. So I put a request out there (into the universe, cosmos, realm of divinity, however you choose to view that beautiful space where inspiration and creativity and invention are born), and then tried to be open to receiving an answer – whenever and however it was to appear.
And in comes Vipassana…
I have a guiding principle for my life: If something comes to my attention three different times, from three unrelated sources, that is my “hint” to try whatever the new thing is. I don’t have to do the thing forever, but I do need to try it just once, just to see what it’s all about.
And that is how Vipassana came to me. I first heard about it via a podcast; I then saw an article on it in a completely unrelated magazine; and finally an acquaintance mentioned it to me in the course of a phone conversation. These three events occurred within the span of about a week – so I Googled “vipassana”, and immediately found this website.
While the Vipassana instruction sounded incredibly intense, even slightly cult-ish, the only thing it would really cost me is time. No fees, no pre-requisites, no future obligations – just the cost of a tank of gas, and two weeks of vacation from work. I had a car, I could afford the gas, and gratefully I had the vacation days available to me at work – so I guess I didn’t have any barriers in my way.
Three mentions, no obstacles, and an opportunity to learn a solid form of meditation… and so began my trip to Illinois, to learn how to meditate.
So what is this site?
As I began to tell people about my plans (which honestly, I wasn’t overly excited to do – the whole concept of Vipassana sounds kind of crazy, even to my own ears; but I can’t just up-and-vanish from work [and life] for two weeks without a few folks noticing), many of them expressed sincere interest in hearing about the trip, and what I got out of it. Instead of repeating the same story to lots of different people many times over, I decided to start this blog as a way of sharing what I experienced during the 10 (12) days at the meditation center.
So, this site is the way for me to share my meditation journey with those who are interested in learning about it, at whatever level of detail they want.
Feel free to poke around, read as much or as little as you’d like, and even try some things described here if you want to. You can always contact me if you want me to expand on anything I post here, or to just tell me how YOU are doing. I like mail. : )
(A contact form is at the end of this post; feel free to use it to reach out to me if you don’t already know my email address.)
Thanks for checking this site out! I appreciate it.
Stef
[FYI - The box immediately below is the contact form.]
