Vipassana

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YogiDO

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I am going to be starting residency in July and am psyched! I am planning on doing a long Vipassana retreat in May. I feel like it will be great preparation for my Psychiatry residency. I will be able to clear my mind and find peace. I think that will really help me develop a therapeutic alliance with my patients. I will be centered in my self. Does anyone have any experience with long Vipassana retreats and if they think they are beneficial? Thanks Psychiatrists and Future Psychiatrists!
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YogiDO said:
I am going to be starting residency in July and am psyched! I am planning on doing a long Vipassana retreat in May. I feel like it will be great preparation for my Psychiatry residency. I will be able to clear my mind and find peace. I think that will really help me develop a therapeutic alliance with my patients. I will be centered in my self. Does anyone have any experience with long Vipassana retreats and if they think they are beneficial? Thanks Psychiatrists and Future Psychiatrists!
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I think its more for you.
I agree it will probably clear your mind but I would be cautious about it helping with the therapeutic alliance. If your argument is that a centered you will be better able to make alliances then go for it.
 
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I really recommend it! There is no better way than meditating in silence for a couple of weeks to learn the basics (although I never learned any other way). You should leave with a skill that you can use for the rest of your life, and it does a remarkable job for me personally at decreasing stress and anxiety.
 
nitemagi said:
I teach basic vipassana techniques to patients all the time, especially those with anxiety + early insomnia d/t an overactive mind.
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How long does that take?
You should do some collating and publishing, especially on the sleep part of that. I would be interested in learning and maybe eventually teaching to my patients too.

CBT+Yoga groups...
 
Manicsleep said:
How long does that take?
You should do some collating and publishing, especially on the sleep part of that. I would be interested in learning and maybe eventually teaching to my patients too.

CBT+Yoga groups...
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It's a little underdocumented to be able to do a good chart review for a paper. The intervention is quite simple, and part of a relaxation techniques packet I put together going back to my intern year. Just handing them the packet though has little impact I suspect. Instead I take two minutes and guide them through the process for two minutes, with reinforcing statements such as the more they practice, the better they'll get, and that some people just drift off to sleep on it. I'd be open to putting together a study, if you want to talk.
 
I don't know much about yoga man. I have a desi wife who is really into it so I have learned that there are benefits. I do a little I want to learn more but I don't know if I am ready for that level of learning where I am doing studies. Plus, I haven't published since 2009 and I don't really plan on it until after I am well established and don't need to work...hopefully in the next few years.

But its always good to throw out ideas.
 
I created this meditation and used it for anxious patients at a Navy hospital in Okinawa.

Still Lake Meditation:
• You do not have to focus on breathing
• No specific posture is needed
• You do not have to focus on your thoughts
• You can even keep your eyes open
• It only takes a few minutes a day
• It is quick and easy

Find a picture of a still lake, pond, any body of water.

• Look at it for a moment
• Then, step into the picture.
• You can sit on the bank…on a rock…or stand in the water…or sit in a canoe…just get comfortable…and become the water….

That’s right…become the still water. I told you it was going to be easy.

You probably think there’s more to this meditation, but all you have to do is become the still water.

Really…try it.


I would have patients put a photo on their mobile phone so they could just pull over to the side of the road and do the meditation if needed.
 
There is this show that my wifes family always watches.
This dude from india, apparently he is like god (not literally) over there. From what she has translated, he says some pretty insightful things and none of the really oddball things I have always associated with yoga and ayurvedic medicine.
 
zenman said:
That's right…become the still water. I told you it was going to be easy.
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This is an important message for newbies to meditation --

The technique is usually quite simple. The difficult part is sticking with it, especially when that first wave of restlessness or that questioning mind comes on. Because it's after you get past those early doubts that you feel the breakthrough. Perseverance (or patience) is the main distinguishing feature of a successful meditator from an unsuccessful one, regardless of technique.
 
Keep in mind that VIPASSANA INTERNATIONAL is nothing more than a benign personality cult in service of the personality of Mr. Goenka.

If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck.....

http://www.greatwesternvehicle.org/criticism/goenka.htm

A hop skip and a jump away from T.M. where if you sit cross legged long enough repeating ummmmmm......the most powerful phrase in universe you can achieve not just levitation but directional flight.....of course these courses are not free but hey if you can learn to fly its got to be worth it!!

What ever blows your skirt up though......even the most wacky ideas have a grain of truth....
 
Ibid said:
Keep in mind that VIPASSANA INTERNATIONAL is nothing more than a benign personality cult in service of the personality of Mr. Goenka.

If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck.....

http://www.greatwesternvehicle.org/criticism/goenka.htm

A hop skip and a jump away from T.M. where if you sit cross legged long enough repeating ummmmmm......the most powerful phrase in universe you can achieve not just levitation but directional flight.....of course these courses are not free but hey if you can learn to fly its got to be worth it!!

What ever blows your skirt up though......even the most wacky ideas have a grain of truth....
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You might be onto something, I admittedly have not researched this organization. The OP requested retreat ideas, and I know of a few folks who have found Goenka's retreats helpful. After reading through the entry you just posted a link to, I would have to agree with you that is pretty harsh. I too would be kicked out of one of Goenka's retreats, as I def have the head bob from time to time. Don't know if it makes a difference and I doubt that it does, but the two individuals I know of that went to Goenka's retreats went to centers in the SE, not CA. Something tells me that it might not make a difference however. Myself, I have gone the Plum Village route, but that is not Vipassana. Just seems to me the OP is asking for a list of places to start looking. Lately I am into Sharon Salzberg.:love:
 
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DebDynamite said:
head bob from time to time. Don't know if it makes a difference and I doubt that it does, but the two individuals I know of that went to Goenka's retreats went to centers in the SE, not CA. Something tells me that it might not make a difference however. Myself, I have gone the Plum Village route, but that is not Vipassana. Just seems to me the OP is asking for a list of places to start looking.
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I would imagine the head bobing is about blood flow to the head naughty naughty you :), all of which reminds me of these chaps. I was in Kurdistan (the Turkish side near the Iran Iraq border) a few years ago now. The older dervishes wear black and some of them spin ever so slowly. Its quite moving to see the old ones. Prob a bit further than the OP was planning to travel, although the PKK is much less active now so its a bit safer these days.

[YOUTUBE]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2AI8r4q8V8
[/YOUTUBE]

Apologies if you know all about Sufi whirling but you reminded me of it.

From wiki
Sufi whirling (or Sufi spinning), (Persian: رقص سماع) is a physically active meditation which originated among Sufis, and which is still practiced by the Sufi Dervishes of the Mevlevi order. It is a customary dance performed within the Sema, or worship ceremony, through which dervishes (also called semazens) aim to reach the source of all perfection, or kemal. This is sought through abandoning one's nafs, egos or personal desires, by listening to the music, focusing on God, and spinning one's body in repetitive circles, which has been seen as a symbolic imitation of planets in the Solar System orbiting the sun.[1] As explained by Sufis:[2]
 
Is Swami Ramdev a big name in the western Yoga community.
 
Manicsleep said:
Is Swami Ramdev a big name in the western Yoga community.
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Another one not entirely untainted......I think he counts as a big name....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swami_Ramdev

Opposition to Homosexuality
In July 2009, in the wake of the Delhi High Court decriminalizing homosexuality in Delhi, Baba told the press "The verdict will encourage criminality and sick mentality. This kind of thing is shameful and insulting. We are blindly following the West in everything. This is breaking the family system in India. Homosexuals are sick people, they should be sent to hospitals for treatment. If the government brings this law, I will take to the streets of Delhi in protest."[16]

Claims of curing cancer
Other press reports quoted him as claiming to have a cure for cancer of the breast, liver, prostate, uterus, pituitary gland, brain tumors and leukemia by practicing the seven breathing exercises.
In a residential camp held in Yog Gram, Haridwar during 19–25 June 2008, several cancer patients stepped forward to recount first-hand stories of their successful bouts with blood, prostate and breast cancer using Pranayam or breathing exercises.[22]
Swami Ramdev has claimed having documented proof of his successes.

You pay your money and take your chances with these people....
 
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