3. Four parts of the mind
• Vinyana- Conciousness
• Sanya- Recognition
• Vedana- Sensations
• Sankhara- Reaction/motivation
Ref- Mahasatipatthan sutta
4. How is the stimulus handled by mind?
Ref- Mahasatipatthan sutta
5. How does Vipassana work?
• Stimulus (on the sense doors)
• Consciousness (in response to stimulus)
• Recognition (good/bad)
• Sensation (pleasant/unpleasant)
• Reaction (love it/hate it)
• Habit pattern (craving/aversion)
• Stress- misery
8. How do we change mental reactions?
What does ancient literature tell us to observe?
• Something negative happens- anger, passion, anxiety,
depression, frustration,…
• Abstract anger, abstract passion, abstract depression
are difficult to observe in actual reality.
• Apparent vs actual truth
- elephant and a blind man story.
- moon- symbol of beauty.
9. सब्बे धम्मा वेदना समोसरणं
• Every mental phenomenon is always accompanied by
corresponding sensations on the body, and change in
the quality of the breath. So, observing the breath
and body sensations ‘as they are’ is the best way to
study the mind-body interaction at the deepest level.
-
13. Let us practice 10 minutes
Few rules-
Sit till end (challenge your mind!).
Eyes closed, glasses not needed.
Stay still if you can.
Sit relaxed.
Try focusing stress free.
14. Background
• Australian National Mental Health Survey of Doctors and Medical
Students, October 2013
• UK NHS survey by BMJ, March 2016- 600 professionals.
• North Wales survey of doctors, 2017.
16. Why be mindful?
• Our minds wander 47% of the time, mind wandering
predicts subsequent unhappiness
(Killingsworth& Gilbert 2010).
• The capacity to be mindful - higher well being in
daily life
(Brown & Ryan 2003).
18. Mindfulness based techniques
commonly offered..
• Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and
Related Interventions.
• Mindfulness Intervention Retreats
• The internet and smart phone mindfulness
interventions
• Various mindfulness based psychological
interventions
19. What vipassana isn’t?
• Mindfulness of outside objects
• Mindfulness of abstract stimulations like sound, light, color etc.
• Mindfulness of created actions/sensations
• Mindfulness of apparent truth- body parts.
• Mindfulness of external apparent stimuli
• Mindfulness of thoughts
• Mindful relaxation of body parts
• Mindfulness of manipulated breaths, pranayama, yoga.
• Visualisation, verbalisation, chanting.
• MBCT, ACT, DBT
20. If something is being sold
it is not a pure form of vipassana.
Vipassana- self-transformation through self-observation. Observation-based, self-exploratory journey to the common root of mind and body that dissolves mental impurity
Mind- conscious, subconscious
Normally-body sensation- reaction from subconscious mind- habit pattern- increase the stock of mental negativities- defilements.
When one starts observing these sensations- no reaction- peace-
One interesting phenomenon starts happening- once meditator is established in Vipassana- and starts observing sensations equanimously- the old stock of similar od defilements start coming up on the surface- which is quite difficult to observe to a new meditator, but with practice and persiverence mind gets trained in equanimity and is able to oberve sensations, sees the sensations come- go. And gets established in Vipassana. Whatever the nature of sensation- pleasant- unpleasant- mind can be kept in balanced peaceful state.
With practice when whole old stock of defilements is exhausted- you reach a stage known as –Buddha.
There has been a surge in incorporating mindfulness based interventions in various clinical and non-clinical settings, including randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of mindfulness interventions in recent years. These techniques have been claimed to have at least some degree of positive endpoints in symptoms in physical, psychological conditions and also in interpersonal relations.
>3-4 episodes of depression, MBCT reduces the recurrence rate over 12 months by 40–50% compared with usual care
-drug addiction- NICE recommendations.
-anxiety5.
-autism spectrum disorder6
-improving relationship functioning
-effective for children and young people, with school-based interventions having positive outcomes on wellbeing: reducing anxiety and distress as well as improving behavior, higher wellbeing and lower stress scores9
in prisons has been gathered mainly in the USA; a study based in Massachusetts found significant improvements in hostility, self-esteem, and mood disturbance following a course of mindfulness
- mindfulness in the workplace can have a number of positive effects
-Methodologically rigorous RCTs have demonstrated that mind-
fulness interventions improve outcomes in multiple domains (e.g., chronic
pain, depression relapse, addiction
promising effects on some immune markers
Fibromyalgia
-accelerate skin clearing in psoriasis patients
-can reduce smoking among heavy smokers
-alter dietary behaviors
-markers of sleep
-Pregnancy- depression relapse prevention benefits equivalent
with maintenance antidepressant medication treatments during 18–24-month follow-up periods
-PTSD symptomatology 2 months post-treatment
craving, addiction, and addictive disorders
Contemplative meditation- memorize an inspirational passage from spiritual/mystical literature.
-Prayers from holy Bible, Koran, Geeta, passages from Buddhist literature.
Absorption meditation- Focusing attention on a selected ‘object’ without distraction. Prolonged serious practice leads to complete absorption of the mind into the object of concentration/meditation. The object could be visual, auditory, tactile, and mental.
Insight meditation- Different from above two. There is an emphasis on developing insight/right view into the true nature of human existence. The Buddha-the progenitor of insight meditation practice has given a clear cut path for developing insight in his discourses called The Mahasatipatthana Sutta.
The 8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program, developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn
at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, is perhaps the most well-known mindfulness intervention in the scientific literature (Kabat-Zinn 1982).
Mindfulness meditation residential retreat programs
ranging from 3 days to 3 months are a powerful way to deliver intensive and well-controlled
Doses
Internet-mobile
easily implemented in harder-to-reach populations
no research on the efficacy of these programs compared to in-person group-based ap-
proaches (e.g., MBSR), initial studies suggest that these internet and smartphone mindfulness
interventions may have benefits
Teachings of vipassana is never to be utilised for name, fame or material gains.
