Journey to the soul
December 29, 2002 | 12:00am
Looking back at the year 2002, I ask myself which among my travels was the most significant. Without batting an eyelash, I would have to say it was my year-ending retreat in Bangkok because it wasn’t just a relaxing and gastronomic festivity but more importantly, a journey of self-discovery and reinvention. Through the suggestion of our good friend Rev. Fr Corsie Legaspi, my buddy Bum Tenorio and I attended the Vipassana Insight Meditation course. Fr. Corsie, a divine healer, has a full-time healing ministry administering to the sick for the last 26 years. One day he asked himself what he could do to reach out to those who were not sick. He was inspired to take this meditation seminar in Thailand and now shares this apostolate through his ministry.
Just 12 minutes from Bangkok International Airport, we proceeded to the elegant Sofitel Central Plaza and Bangkok Convention Center on Vibhavadee Rangsit Highway. "Located just across the famous Chatuchak weekend market which features everything under the sun, this cozy home-away-from-home has quick access to downtown areas via the sky train station at nearby Mor Chit," said charming GM Martin Reed. The Chatuchak weekend market is as big as five football fields where every ware is for sale at the lowest prices in the whole of Thailand. The fruit stores in the market offer the sweetest fruits you can taste on earth. Bangkok lanzones and sampaloc are tops.
Later that night, we sampled the services of the hotel’s Centara Spa. This exotic experience at the Spa began with an aromatherapy full body massage, followed by Thai herbal mud wrap where the body is covered in secret blend of dead sea mud and Thai herbs. The treatment ended with the refreshing aromatherapy facial.
The following day, we proceeded to the House of Dhamma Meditation and Healing Centre about one kilometer from our hotel. The House of Dhamma is a blue cave in bustling Bangkok. We had our seminar in the shrine room, a sacred space where groups have been meditating together for almost 30 years. Here you can find individual or small group instruction in Insight Meditation, Metta Meditation, Reiki and Magnified Healing plus Inner Guidance and manifestation workshops. We met our gracious teacher, Helen Jandamit, whom we call Acharn Helen. A visionary artist, healing master and cosmic adventurer, she was given an award as the Foremost Western-Woman Meditation Master in South-East Asia.
What is Vipassana Insight Meditation? This is meditation that allows the meditator to cleanse his mind of the deepest tendencies which have been subconsciously controlling his perception of the world since birth. Meditation is the key to freedom. Meditation is independent of body-position. Whether you are lying down, standing, sitting, walking or working, whatever you are doing – meditation can happen. To come to a state of meditation, you need only focus your attention inside and observe. It is an exercise in breathing wherein one focuses on keeping still. Try sitting on the floor with your hands placed on your knees or lay down on your bed with hands placed on top of belly. When you inhale deeply, feel your chest contracting and say "rising." When you exhale deeply, feel your chest expanding and say "falling." Do this for 10-20 minutes each day as often as you wish. By doing this, we achieve a deeper inner knowing and become one with the universe. Just a few minutes of insight meditation will increase our level of concentration, productivity and inner happiness.
After our two-week meditation class, we discovered the fruits of meditation: loving kindness, a wish that all living things be happy and free from suffering; compassionate understanding of the situation and suffering of other living things; genuine and spontaneous joy at other’s success and happiness; equanimity in facing difficult situations without increasing the difficulty through anxiety and useless activity.
We learned that there are five causes of suffering: craving, greed, delusion, egotistic desire, and attachment. To free us from these, we need to meditate. Through constant meditation we become more relaxed. Stress-related illnesses like high blood, ulcer, and muscle tensions are mended. The body corrects itself and rejects what is bad for it. We also develop the ability to concentrate where our energy level rises significantly. We were told that 15 minutes of meditation is equivalent to five hours of sleep. Through meditation, we increase our ability to work with day to day problems where in we find ourselves in greater control of the situation. There are no impossible situations because we see them in a more positive perspective. With meditation, we also learn to let go or to be detached from things, thoughts, emotions, situations that bring suffering.
Bum enthused our meditation class had a dramatic effect on his total wellness. "I was able to forgive the people who hurt me. I was also able to forgive myself from the pains I caused myself," he said.
We were taught that we should send thoughts of love, kindness, and compassion to our loved ones and even our enemies. Try it for yourself. You will be amazed at how these kind thoughts can melt even the fiercest foe. There are times, however, that we need to send the same thoughts of love, kindness, and compassion to ourselves because at some point in our life, we hurt ourselves intentionally or unintentionally.
After our intensive meditation class, we felt invigorated and felt we had re-invented ourselves. We went back to our usual routine of shopping, eating and chatting away but something inside had been touched – we felt connected to ourselves and to the universe.
BrandSpace Articles
<
>
