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I've done the course a few times now, and I would say the hardest part is integrating meditation into daily life. Goenka recommends meditating twice a day, one
by rohunati 12y ago
I've done the course a few times now, and I would say the hardest part is integrating meditation into daily life. Goenka recommends meditating twice a day, one hour each sitting. Sometimes this isn't possible, so I just try to meditate however much I can.
I have heard from others that serving a ten day course (as opposed to sitting a course, as the author here did) is more beneficial as you are able to talk with fellow servers, help prepare food, and can even read a newspaper. Although you can't go deeper into your mind, you learn to integrate meditation into daily life better. I have yet to serve a course.
- thinkling 12y agoI haven't served either, but my impression is that the servers are supposed to limit themselves to functionally necessary talk only. So serving a course will be less isolating, but I don't think you're supposed to discuss meditation, or your feelings, or the weather. Agreed that meditation in real life is hard to maintain. I find that I quickly lose the ability to do the body-scanning technique effectively, and with that I lose the motivation to put in the 2x 1 hour.
- rohunati 12y agoYup, I have trouble doing the body scanning technique also. I recently came across Sam Harris' interview with Joseph Goldstein, who I believe himself began with Vipassana. He has a guided meditation on youtube that I found very helpful, though different from my Vipassana experiences.