How Vipassana Changed My Life

<p>Six years ago, a turning point happened in my life. It had already been six months since I moved to San Francisco and was working on my first startup. Nothing was working out in business, my friends were far away in Moscow, and my personal life was falling apart. I stopped being able to sleep and just stared at the ceiling until 4-5 AM, trying to figure out how to solve all these problems. I started drinking alcohol to fall asleep. After three months, I realized that I couldn't sleep without being drunk and fell into a negative spiral — I had no strength to get out.</p>
<p>Then, almost by accident, I signed up for a ten-day meditation retreat — Vipassana, even though I had never meditated a minute in my life. I just wanted to hide from everyone for ten days without access to alcohol, sit under a tree, and come up with a rescue plan, but I found an amazing tool that “radically changed my life” (I borrowed this quote from Herbalife sellers 🤠).</p>
<p>For example, before Vipassana, I would immediately react to all external stimuli. Conflict with a loved one? Anger, resentment, aggression — my brain eagerly clings to them and spins the spiral, inventing additional fears, pulling out memories from the past, and suddenly the problem is ten times bigger. You start acting on emotions, saying thoughtless things that you feel ashamed of just a few hours later.</p>
<p>Vipassana helps catch that very first moment and not spin the flywheel, but stop and observe. The intensity of emotions decreases, sober thinking returns much faster, and there is energy to act constructively.</p>
<p>I stopped drinking alcohol, reflected on my mistakes, and decided to leave the company. Thus, my first regular mindfulness practice appeared in my life.</p>
<p>The essence of meditation is observing sensations, thoughts, and states. When we switch to the observer state, we have a choice of how to act in a given situation. The effectiveness of meditation is scientifically proven, and structural changes in the brain are noticeable on MRI just eight weeks after starting the practice. Stress decreases, and the quality of decisions improves.</p>
<p>And lastly — the more shit hits the fan, the more important it is to rely on practices and allocate time. “If you don’t have 20 minutes a day to meditate, then you should allocate an hour and a half.”</p>
<p><strong>More theory:</strong><br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-moW9jvvMr4">1. A simple way to break a bad habit</a>, 10 min — TED Talk that explains the essence of meditation and what happens in our brain.<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nwwKbM_vJc">2. Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction</a>, 1 hour — a lecture on meditation for Google employees.<br />
3. Meetup on meditation at Profi.ru, 2.5 hours with Egor Rudi, Sasha Memus, and Egor Azanov.</p>
<p><strong>Practice:</strong> do Vipassana hardcore right away, but it’s better to start with just 5 minutes a day using apps like <a href="https://www.headspace.com/">HeadSpace</a>; or <a href="https://www.calm.com/">Calm</a>.</p>;
<p>P.S. Come visit us at the Chatfuel office, we have a meditation room 🙏</p>