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Vipassana Excercises

Stretching and bending are very common Vipassana exercises.

But I like, yoga asana during the vipassana retreat. Because that balance the vital energy through out the meditation period. In Vipassana exercise you have to keep your spinal cord flexible. During vipassana meditation you can place both thumbs on the navel and during thumbs on the navel, observe the movement of the breaths. You can also fold the tongue upward and bring to the meeting point of all uper doors (both eyes, both ears, both nostril and mouth) and try to suck the Melatonin Hormon. Sidha Asana, Dhanur Asana and Gomukh Asana are effective.

Many Paths one Goal: Yoga and Vipassana

Vipasana means observing the movements of body and mind in a systematic manner as they are in the present moment.  It is one of India’s most ancient techniques of meditation. It was taught in India before the birth of Goutama Buddha. Goutama Buddha re-established its importance of this path to get freedom from human suffering. The three foundations of vipassana are sila, samadhi and panna. Which means:

Sila :  Moral conduct

Samadhi: Observation and Witnessing

Panna: Wisdom of the ultimate.

Vipassana Meditation as taught by S.N. Goenka in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin, is well known. There are one hundred and twelve methods in Vijgana bhairaba, vipassana is one of them. Theravāda vipassana teachers like Mahasi Sayadaw emphasize the importance of examining the kalapas as a means to gaining insight.

Great Vipassana master Sri Amit Ray who wrote,  “Yoga and Vipassana: An Integrated Life Style” , combined the vipassana and the eight limbs of  Patanjali’s yoga as follows:

  1. Yama and Niyama: Self Discipline and morality
  2. Asanas :  Observation of the movement of the body postures
  3. Pranayama : Observation of  the breaths
  4. PratyaharaObservation of the senses
  5. Dharana : Observation of the thoughts, the movements of the mind.
  6. Dhyana : Witnessing the feelings of the pain and pleasure
  7. Samadhi : Union with the ultimate

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Frank Boccio, in his book  Mindfulness Yoga, agrees. “Patanjali talks about asana as stability and ease,” he mentioned, “and when that happens, there is the dissolution of the sense of separation, an overcoming of the pairs of opposites. That’s the whole practice right there: People feel more able to sit with whatever is arising.”

Click here to know more about the essence of yoga and vipassana.

Steps to Integrate Yoga and Vipassana

Virtue, Morality, Compassion, Loving kindness is foundation of both yoga and vipassana.

You must give due attention to these aspect always.

Some of the simple initial steps for integrating yoga and vipassana are as follows:

  • Do free hand exercises (Asana) for one hour in the morning every day.
  • Do simple pranayam ( Vital energy channel purification process) for 30 minutes ever day after Asana.
  • Observe your breathing patterns from your nostrils
  • Put awareness on different componentss of your body from head to toe. For example, start from your eyebrow then come to forehead, then nose, ears, hands and in this way carry on till you reach your toes.
  • Observe sensation of each part of  your body. Avoid reaction to the sensations.
  • Do not pay attention to any one part of your body for a longer time
  • Do this observation activity daily at least  for 30 minutes.

Integration of Yoga and Vipassana

Vipassana: the art of mindfulness was practiced in ancient India before the birth of Goutama Buddha. Buddha re-established the importance of Vipassana.  Patanjali’s in his famous book “Yoga Sutra” described the art of integration of body, mind and soul in eight systematic steps. Compassion, joy and loving kindness are common ground for both the practices. When insight meditation (vipassana) and yoga practices like Asana (postures) and pranayama (breath and vital energy channel purification practices) are combined together, it provides tremendous benefits.

For details about Integration of Yoga and Vipassana click here.