What is Vipassana meditation? 🧘‍♀️

One of my daily habits

Vipassana aka Insight Meditation is rooted in the idea that we as humans have the capacity to overcome our most base impulses, our pain, and personal conflicts. Vipassana meditation practitioners swear by its mind-body benefits, citing not only a sense of freedom and awakening but also a sense of security. Vipassana teaches us to simply focus on the breath and/or physical sensations and, as the mind feels calmer and more focused, we learn to start observing our physical sensations as well as our thought patterns, therefore bringing a whole new understanding to why we think the way we do.

Like other types of meditation, Vipassana insight meditation starts with finding a quiet place. The goal is to use the breath as an anchor. The focus of breathing exercises is on the rising and falling of the belly along with silently counting each in-breath and out-breath. We use our breathing to center ourselves and to calm and compose ourselves as we go deeper into a meditative state. In spite of our best efforts, distractions will happen. These are natural; simply note them as they arise for what they really are: a sound, a memory, planning, a smell, etc. Then shift back to your focus on the breath.