Today I’d like to talk about something that could appear far from the graphic designer world: meditation and its positive effect into creative process.
I’ve heard about Vipassana several months ago and I was immediately intrigued. The word “meditation” in this particular case is pretty restrictive… It’s more of a stylelife, and it’s based on living in touch with your inner-self (24/7).
Being used to always give our entire attention to the outside, we generally forget to take a look inside of us. It may sound like a trivial and new-age concept, but Vipassana is deeply connect with your body’s and mind’s wellness. That’s where our creativity comes from.
What is Vipassana?
The term “Vipassana” means “to see things as they really are“. It’s one of India’s most ancient techniques of meditation, and it was taught more than 2500 years ago as a universal treatment for every mind-illness. Thus, Vipassana may sound like a ridiculous and absurd practice, made for naive people… But let’s try to get into it before drawing any conclusion.
This ancient technique derives from the following concept: all of men’s suffering come from the wrong use of their own mind.
It’s a common belief that the mind is completely unrelated to man’s will. Whenever it decides to wander among thoughts, there is nothing you can do to stop it. That is its nature and it can’t be changed.
On the contrary, Vipassana states that the mind can be controlled, and that all the compulsive wandering between past and hypothetical future can be prevented. You can only become free from sufferings, by being aware of the present.
This technique also teaches us to not be overwhelmed by our body’s sensations, whether they’re positive or not.
How to learn it
The “here and now” concept is considered positive by everyone, but why is it so hard to follow then? Because we had a wrong approach during our entire life, and that approach became an habit.
We must rethink our lifestyle and follow different rules.
Vipassana is usually taught in 10 days of intensive courses, and the “intensive” term isn’t a coincidence. The rules that are learnt and followed are strict and “monastic”.
The course consists in living 10 days in a solitary area without the possibility to talk to the other participants, or the outside world. Moreover, you won’t be able to write, read or watch TV… In few words, they’ll be 10 days of intense silence and meditation.
The rigid discipline of this course will give you the best conditions to learn the technique and use it in your day-to-day life.
The entire course is for free, because funded by ex-students. You’ll have vegan food and people serving you without spending anything. In the end, you can leave an offer in case the course helped you, so other people will have your same possibility to participate.
Contacts
Registrations are open on Vipassana website. It also contains detailed info and video. It’s usual to find partecipation queues, so you could wait some months.
It’s important to mention that you’re free to go away from the course whenever you want. Nobody will lock you inside!