Mindfulness

What exactly is Mindfulness, anyway?

Mindfulness has been gaining attention over recent years as a scientifically tried-and-tested method of reducing stress, anxiety, and pain management. It’s been around for some 2,600 years as a means to free us from our conditioning and habits. By helping us to focus our attention on the present moment and not get swept up in worrying or in negative thought patterns about past or future, we learn to respond more calmly and skilfully to life.

A regular practice can help us cope better with the pressures we're under, recognise the thoughts and judgements that cause stress, and find balance and a sense of calm

VipassanA 

Vipassana is often translated as ‘insight’. Vipassana is mindfulness. It’s often now also used interchangeably with 10-day silent meditation retreats that have been popularised by teachers such as S. N. Goenka and Mahasi Sayadaw.

Vipassana comes from the Theravadan Buddhist tradition and emphasises experiential understanding (insight) of the true nature of existence through meditation practice.

We may know a truism or aphorism such as, ‘everything changes’ or, ‘nothing is permanent’ on an intellectual level; but to experience this deeply through the practice of meditation offers a quite different understanding. It becomes something we feel in our bones, and as such, insight can free us from the repetitive loops and unskillful mental habits that so often ensnare us.