Vipassana The art of letting go.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011 at 12:14PM 
After entering the dreaded age of 30 and with memorable triggers of a miserably failed marriage, a two times broken heart and a career in a coma, I began walking the necessary path of self- reflection.
During my twenties, I never paid much attention to spiritualism; like any 20 something year old, I firmly believed I knew everything necessary about the world and went on making all the mistakes in the book; going from ecstatic happiness to deep strong depressions on a monthly basis while rejecting any suggestions that only I was responsible for these moments of happiness or misery.
My 30's came, followed by what I would like to call "the dark ages" and I suddenly found myself looking inside and hearing a desperate and terrifying cry for help. I began going to therapy, reading books, meeting people who gave me that much needed help and insight into how easy it is to be happy by simply choosing that path.
During my search, I found one of the most ancient forms of sitting meditations, firmly believed to be created by the Buddha: Vipassana. After a quick Google search, I found one definition, a "practice of self-transformation through self-observation and introspection to the extent that sitting with a steadfast mind becomes an active experience of change and impermanence”, or simply: "insight meditation".
These words came to me with the strength of a beautiful hurricane and within two weeks I was registered in the next course and had taken holidays from work to attend. The dates: Christmas day 2009 until January 5th, 2010; days I usually spend partying and always ending with sadness and tears. These ten days were now scheduled to be spent in a small town without contact from the outside world, with a strict vegetarian diet, no celebrations and in absolute and utter silence. All these rules didn't scare me, affect me or change my mind in any way... I was ready.
The experience altered my life. Within those ten days, with moments of frustration, anger, joy and peace, the simple practice of focusing on your breath erased every wrongful belief from my past. While every thought I ever had went through my head, I simply meditated, observed the pain or thought and let it go as it came; this, I learned, is the basic practice of Vipassana.
After the retreat I went out into the world with a smile! I now understood and accepted my responsibility in my own happiness; anything that comes from outside, an insult, pain, a fight, a smile, only you can allow it to enter and only you can allow it to hurt. In life just as during the mediation if you only watch the outside factor and let it go with high spirits, you will remain, always, at peace with yourself.
Vipassana[1] taught me to let go with the most beautiful consequence: true happiness.
Yahaira
[1] If you are interested and ready to give this practice a try, please go to http://www.dhamma.org/
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