How to Organize you own Vipassana Self-Course Meditation 15-day

Vipassana Self-Course
Recently, I was asked to take another 10-day Vipassana course by a teacher. I felt it was also the right time. However, no courses were to be offered for another 2 months. So I decided to undertake a self-guided self-course of 15 days.

Hopefully I can offer guidance on how to go about hosting your own self-course in the event you are in the same place as i.

First of all, decide how long you would like to sit for. Hosting your own self-course allows you to make up any number you want, provided you do Anapana Meditation for 1/3rd of the total time. Some nice meditation time frames would be 6 days, 10 days, 12 days, 15 days, 18 days, or longer. Keep to the timetable of waking up at 4am and going to bed by 9:30pm. If you need a copy of the timetable, you may contact a Vipassana Assistant Teacher or email me.

home's vipassana "dhamma hall"


Next, call up your area's "Acharya", or teacher who oversees a given region of old students. Tell them the days you'll be doing the course, and ask them if you can text or call them in case you have any major challenges during the course. After this, it's time to get your place ready to Meditate Vipassana!

Start by making 5 signs to get you through the course. This sets your intention firmly on completing the course with the highest of morality and discipline.


One sign to post on the door for visitors. Note the 5 precepts written on the doorway as well as any messages for visitors. This provides 'protection' for your home under Dhamma energy.

Next make a sign that you'll carry around with you. You need to get out of the house or apartment now and again for exercise; walking, jogging, yoga, any movement during set times of the day. And whenever you leave the house, you may encounter others who aren't plugged in to the meditation energy as you are. So kindly take out this notice and show it to them if you bump into someone who wishes to chat.

Post this sign on the property outside the doors. I have a raised 2nd floor office where I completed the course, so I posted this sign on the rails of the walkway for all onlookers who wanted to chat with me while I'd sit on the porch during break times.


This sign is extremely important: a Calendar of events. List the daily schedule you'll adhere to. List the eating times. List workouts or walks. Anything that would cause you to have to think during the course, list it. And most importantly is to list which day you give yourself the Anapana, Vipassana, and the Metta instructions.

Ideal: You will want to get a hold of the booklet, "The Gem Set in Gold", by SN Goenka, from Pariyatti Publishing, in order to read along the instructions for yourself. It's also a fantastic manual to read for openings of meditations, closing chantings of meditation, morning chanting, and 'prayers' or wishes of metta on others.


And the last sign you would make is a list of goals you have for yourself for this course. Post it in a visible place, so it gives you motivation during your darkest hours of Release. In the end, the only line on the goal sheet that helped me the most was, "Maintain Awareness of Breath & Sensations."


Very Important: Your Meditation Hall or area. I have a room dedicated for meditation that is available for meditation Group Sittings in Houston, but something so elaborate is not necessary. All you need is a small corner with a few pillows, dedicated as a Vipassana spot. Nothing else will take place there except for meditation of Vipassana, Anapana, and Metta. So have maybe 3 pillows handy and a mat to delineate your meditation area. I also completed a few meditations on one side of my bed when my system needed a change of scenery.

In your meditation area, it's also Very important to have an mp3 player, speakers, and recordings of Group Sittings, metta, morning chantings, 10-day discourses, Satipatthana Sutta discourses, or anything else you have aquired. I also placed Vipassana books there to give a stronger vibration (though this wouldn't be considered allowed). Again, before you do any of this, contact an area teacher so they can guide you.

Each morning, I played the morning chantings, sometimes during the lunch hour I'd play suttas, sometimes I'd play discourses from Goenka or other organizations who I felt taught a sutta rather well. The mp3 player was a godsend.



Next came the Food Issue. How do I feed myself with a minimum of mind input, so others don't have to come over and feed me and clean up after me??
Well it can be done. You can prepare meals in minutes that last days.

Breakfast:
Oatmeal, corn polenta grains, walnuts, apple, applesauce, peant butter. I'd cook the oatmeal/ polenta for 10 minutes while showering the morning, and let it cool off up to 1.5 hours till breakfast time. Clean up during the 7am to 8am break. Or a raw shake with banana, apple, spinach, honey, nuts, etc.

Lunch:
I'd make a pot of 1 cup brown rice and 1 cup fancy lentils with 4 cups water, cooked for 40 minutes with oil and spices. This could last me 3 days. I'd supplement with spinach, apples, and peanut butter. Or a veggie soup with few spices or additions.

Dinner:
Instead of lemon water, I blended an apple with spinach and water. It helped on days I released a lot of old habit patterns of the mind.

I only had to call my mom twice to give her a short list of groceries for me. But this simple diet was extremely fast to prepare and nourishing.

Exercise:
I have a leg and foot that stiffens due to a car injury, so I borrowed a bicycle and would ride each morning 30 minutes to keep the joint lubricated and happy. I have steps outside the office I would walk up and down a few times during breaks. And there's a small field down the road I'd walk to and sit in during the evening break.

Last things you may need:

  • Alarm clock!! I bought a simple digital one (no clicking of the second hands) for use during each meditation. Get one with batteries, so it's portable. It rediculous how much I was glued to this thing.

  • Set the "Away Message" on your cell phone so people calling you know why you aren't answering.

  • Set an "Auto-Responder" on your email if you have one.

And that's it! You're ready to get grooving on your mental Liberation! Be ready for the Release. I had mine at Day 12 and Day 14 for this 15-day self-course, but it's completely different for everyone. This is such a gentle, effective, and intense meditation system.

Also, when you come out of meditation the day after your last day, go to the Beach! It helps so much. It was a ritual over at Dhamma Sindhu in India during their long courses. It has a lot to do with the salt water and the vastness of the ocean helping to draw you out of introversion. It also draws out any unsettled negative energy.

May you be happy, peaceful, and liberated. If you would like to schedule a Vipassana Meditation Retreat for your group, contact Vipassana New World or John Positive in the links of this sentence.

Bhavatu Sabba Mangalam.

By John Positive
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