How Vipassana Actually Works

The purpose of this article is to demystify a practice that I have found profoundly beneficial for almost 12 years now. The views I express are based on my current understanding, which will no doubt continue to evolve.

Vipassana, while rooted in 2,500-year-old Buddhist teachings, can be explained and practiced in entirely secular terms. My introduction to it came through S.N. Goenka, a Burmese-Indian businessman turned Vipassana teacher, who popularized a non-religious approach. Though there are various interpretations of this ancient practice, I'll be sharing my experience with Goenka's method, which begins with an initial 10-day silent meditation course.

Let's first break down what these 10 days involve:

The first 3 days are focused on mental concentration, achieved through the observation of natural breath. By observing our breath as it flows, the mind calms and concentrates further on the subtleties of its natural, uncontrolled, autonomic flow.

Then comes the essential teaching of Vipassana: sensation observation through a structured approach. Students are guided to observe very subtle sensations on their body—the very mundane sensations that most of us take for granted and don't notice regularly. This is where the magic happens, or the psychological de-conditioning begins.

The Psychology of Conditioning

I remember recalling this concept during my very first course. During high school and college courses in psychology, I became acquainted with the concept of conditioning. Essentially, our minds, like other animals, are ruled by positive and negative stimuli—we crave the positive and reject and attempt to avoid the negative. We fall into continuous conditioning since birth towards habits and behaviors. Consciously and unconsciously, we direct our minds to do what makes us feel good and avoid what makes us feel bad. It seems hopeless to be free of these push and pull strings that are activated in all our interactions, social conventions, food, drink, drugs, relationships, family, and more.

The Practice of De-Conditioning

Step by step, students are taught to watch the sensations on their body as they are present, arise, and change—just watching and noticing. The pleasant sensations vanish just as the unpleasant do, and in this continuous neutral observation something happens: the core built cognitive reactions begin to dissolve. And so do things we had heavily desired, relentlessly avoided, and feared—just by observing the sensations, our entrapment to the intertwined mental complexes weakens. At the end of those 10 days, we are different. Parts of us that had been defined by entrenched wants and fears have passed, and the world is a little brighter, as though we are seeing more of it.

Unfortunately, this is not the end—only the beginning. Our old habit of reaction remains, but now we have a tool, a practice, that can slowly shift the tide in our cognitive pattern. Our growing neutral response to conditioning begin to erode more and more of our conditioned habit patterns that once steered our minds beyond a dream of free will.

From my view, this is a true de-conditioning of the mind, and I hope one day it will be studied as such and will gain even greater popularity than it already has. It is a remarkable path to free our minds of the fears and desires that drive us unconsciously towards destructive action.

As it is a truly secular method, I do believe it is possible to practice even outside of the structured 10-day meditation centers that now exist. However, the current centers are free, and they provide incredibly valuable safe and supportive environments for this truly delicate process. So, as teachers in this practice do, I would recommend attending a course to learn in a fitting environment if possible.

I hope you found this read helpful. I am planning a video on this topic, and so if there are any points you think are in need of clarification or if you have any questions, please reply or comment, and I'll be sure to respond and include needed details in the video.

You can learn more about Vipassana and the centers at dhamma.org.

Take care,

Naser