IMPACT OF VIPASANA
MEDITATION ON MENTAL HEALTH
ABSTRACT
In
the present competitive world, the human beings are leading their life as a
machine, engaged in their daily routine mechanical life, to fulfill the wants
and desires of man made earthy things round the clock, though they don’t have
proper mental health. Man himself has lost the peace of mind in search of
material things of earthly life. Under such stress of life he has forgotten
everything and became lonely. Accept running after name and fame in the fast
day to day modern life. For him all the relations of family and friends, have
disappeared and became blind in front of material world. Man is moving for away
from himself. As a result he lost the pages of his happiest movements of life,
by an increased pressure of work, environmental pollution, adulterated food,
polluted air all these things contributed to suffer from mental and physical
illness and ear by end of life.
In
a country like India, with a population of 120 crores every 82% of people for
100 in urban and 48% of people in rural, (MHA 2001) suffer from severe mental
stress. Continued
surrounding agglomeration busy – moving society, noise pollution and soon add
up to the causes of this illness, due to which people suffer from mental and
physical inactivity. Therefore, he/she regain his/her mental and physical
equilibrium, has to indulge himself/herself in yoga or meditation, only then
he/she can have a control over themselves. This was practically and preached by
Goutam Budha in the 4th BC and many saints are practiced and now
also it is continued. But how I have taken up Vipasana meditation in my
research. This was initially used and practiced by Lord Goutam Budha to
maintain his mental well being and to keep a healthy tack of his senses. This
Vipasana meditation till today is one of the most prevalent forms of meditation
in the India and around the world.
Keywords:
Mental health, meditations, vipasana.
IMPACT OF VIPASANA
MEDITATION ON MENTAL HEALTH
*Chandrakant Srimant and ** Prof. S. P.
Melkeri
The
word Vipasanameans, by derivation seeing in an extra ordinary way from the word
‘Passati’ to see, denoting, special, partiuarl, Vipasana, therefore means,
seeing beyond what is ordinary, clear vision.
It is not surface seeing or skimming, not seeing mere appearance, but
seeing things in their proper perspective, that is in terms of the three
characteristics or signs of all phenomenal existence, viz., impermanence or
change; suffering or unsatisfactoriness and non self or egolessness (anicca,
dukha and anatta). It is this insight meditation with calm concentration of
mind as its basis, that enables the yogi to purge his mind of all defilements,
to remove the ego-illusion and to see reality and experience Nibbana (Nirvana).
Totally
Vipasana means, to come and see, (Echee pissico) ‘to watch your breath with
awareness’.
Illustrations
for practicing vipasana
- Create a calm atmosphere of meditation around you it will help you to concentrate better.
- Wear loses clothes to be comfortable while practicing Vipasana.
- Avoid smoking, alcoholism and indulging in illicit behaviour while practicing vipasana.
- Concentrate on breathing from your nostrils
- Pay attention on different parts of your body from head to toe.
- Avoid reacting to the sensations of your body and just observe them.
- Avoid paying attention to any one part of your body for a longer time.
- Try practicing this activity daily for 45 to 60 minutes.
*
Research Scholar, Department of Psychology, Gulbarga University, Gulbarga.
**
Professor, Department of Psychology, Gulbarga University, Gulbarga.
Methods of
vipasana meditation
This
method main focus is breathing. What is different are the points on which we
should focus is on breathing. What is different are the points on which we
should focus our attention while breathing. Initially you will required to try
this method in a separate, silent room. However, as you practice them
regularly, we will able to use them at any place, anytime.
1) Watching
the belly
The
belly is considered as the location of the hara centre. Just behind and bellow
you navel lies the hara, which is a point of consciousness that is considered
as the center of your subtle body. By
focusing our attention on the hara centre, we can easily attain a meditative
state of mind. As you meditate upon hara, your thinking process starts slowing
down on its own. You achieve a
state of choice less awareness.
We
can use this movement to attain a meditative state. Practice the above
meditation daily. As you practice daily, 15-20 minutes you will start
recognizing the presence of hara centre – a sort of ball of consciousness
around the belly. That will help the person increase the awareness of meditatorsinner
self which is the main thing in meditation.
2) Watching
the coolness in the nostril
This
is the second method of Vipasana. If you observe your breathing closely, then
you will find that whenever the air enters inside our body through nostril, it
produces a little soothing coolness in the nostrils. Experience it right now. As you breath, see
the nostril. Though it is a very little almost unnoticeable coolness, but it
does exist. In this method focusing the
attention on this coolness during breathing. Our breathing is a continuous
process. It just goes on: and along with the breathing, the soothing coolness
is our nostrils also keep emanating itself as if it a by-product of inhalation.
If we focus our attention on this coolness we can achieve a meditative state.
3) Watching
the breathing like a river
Just
like the above two methods, find a comfortable, peaceful place, sit their
silently in a comfortable position. Now close your eyes and take some deep
breath. Now close your eyes and take some deep breath. Now start observing your
breathing. Focus your entire attention on the breathing and follow it as it
travels inside your body and comes out. Follow the breath in its entire route
of inhalation and exhalation. Watch the breath as if you are watching a river. Just watch your breath as it
moves in your body. Don’t be attached with it. When it comes – watch it. When
it goes watch it, be a watcher, be a witness. This is not easy. There will be
distractions as you watch. There will be floods of thoughts but don’t get discouraged.
If your attention is diverted 100 times, bring it back to breathing 100
times. Slowly all thoughts will start
setting down. As you watch your breath, soon you will realise the witness in
you. The one who is watching the watcher itself. Your true identity. You are
not body, you are not mind, you are not breathing you are self. The knower who
knows everything. Yet remains pure and unattached. Watch your breathing.
Keeping watching and you will be in meditation.
In
all the above three methods a little bit of perseverance is required. However,
if you practice them sincerely, then these three methods may be your best
friends in this highly demanding and stressful life. All the above three
meditation can be done anywhere, anytime in any posture.
Benefits of
vipasana:
- Practice of vipasana regularly helps control greed
- Helps face lesions and problems
- Increase awareness and helps make peace with yourself.
- Helps attain self control.
- Helps control or stop day dreaming.
- Helps face fear
- Helpful for stress management and anger management.
Mental health
The word “mental health” conjures up
the image of mentally ill persons in the public mind. The WHO (1978) has stated
quite clearly that mental health is not a state of absence from disease but as
state of well being encompassing our physical, social and emotional lives. This concept also implies that a
healthy person must actualize all the potentialities of growth and development
without being unduly tense or unhappy. This concept needs some reiteration, as
overburdened medical professionals, who are solely preoccupied with relief of
immediate human suffering, have dominated this field too long. It is only in
recent years that a consciousness is dawning on workers in this field, that
almost every form of community activity has direct bearing on the state of
health of its citizens.
Improving
mental health:
- Developing a sense of humour
- Becoming more and more aware of our emotions as and when they came.
- Introspecting an how we are managing our strong emotions on a day to day basis.
- Periodically getting rid of past baggage of deep hurts, spoilt relationships and unresolved issues, by resolving them within our minds.
- Consciously and progressively developing a positive daily routine balancing one’s own needs with those of other
- Rewarding ourselves on a regular basis with things we like and enjoy.
- Developing a positive mental attitude, doing positive affirmations and listing out the good events that are happening in our life.
All
the above are continuous process, as in physical health. There is no point in
just doing them causally at one odd time. Repeated introspection and continuous
efforts will ensure a balanced life with overall satisfaction and fulfillment
through vipasana meditation.
METHODOLOGY:
Problem
To
study the impact of vipasana meditation an mental health.
Variables
Vipasana
meditation, age, gender and mediator and non-meditators are independent
variable. Dependent variable is mental health.
OBJECTIVES:
1) To
assess and analyse the vipasana meditation on mental health.
2) To
find out the differences between men and women.
3) To
know the mental health of vipasan mediator and non mediators.
HYPOTHESIS:
1) There
is significant impact of vipasana meditation on mental health.
2) There
is significant difference between men and women.
3) There
is significant difference between mediator and non mediators.
SAMPLE
DESIGN:
Category
|
Male
|
Female
|
Total
|
Age group – I
20-30 years
|
30
|
30
|
60
|
Age group – II
31 – 40 years
|
30
|
30
|
60
|
Age group –
III
41-50
|
30
|
30
|
60
|
Total
|
90
|
90
|
180
|
TOOLS USED:
Mental
health inventory (Jagadish and Srivatsav) is used for purpose of study. This inventory consists of
56 items, with 6 dimension. There are four alternatives, always, after, rarely
and never the positive items are scored, 4, 3, 2 and 1 and vice verse negative.
Items the maximum scale state higher mental health and vice versa.
STATISTICAL
ANALYSIS:
Appropriate statistical measures like SD, t-test
is used for interpretation of data.
RESULTS AND
DISCUSSION
To
see through the mode of impermanence means to examine things to determine
whether they are permanent. To see through the mode of unsatisfactoriness means
to examine things to determine whether they are satisfactory or are embedded
with suffering. To see through the mode of non-self means to examine meditation
objects to see whether they are healthy. Positive attitude, through
vipasana, they got good mental health and physical health. They are
satisfactory in their life. The following tables depicts the mental health of
the people.
Table
No. 1
Showing
mean, SD and t-value of the mental health in categories of age
(N-180)
Category
|
Mean
|
SD
|
N
|
t-value
|
(20-30 years)
|
132.50
|
10.13
|
60
|
2.61*
|
Age group – II
(31-40 years)
|
137.73
|
11.62
|
60
|
2.18*
|
Age group-III
(40 and 50)
|
142.03
|
9.75
|
60
|
5.27**
|
* Significant at 0.05 level
** Significant at 0.01 level
Table
No. 1 showing the mean, SD and t-value on different age group of mental health.
Many research works reveal that during vipasana meditation higher age group 40
– 50 meditators are having good mental health. The present research has proved
the said hypothesis. In the present table the calculated t-value in all the
category respectively 0.05 and 0.01 level, which shows that there is
significant difference in age group in their mental health. So according to the
above mentioned Table No. 1 the age group of III category has been proved that
this age group is found better mental health than the cat-I and II. Thus age is
an influencing factor on mental health of vipasana meditation.
As
I have observed the three categories of meditations they differ each other in
consistency of doing meditation. The following are the reasons of each group of
age which varies accordingly.
1) In
the first category of age group i.e., 20 to 30 years, the meditators have so
many social pressures imposed on them by their family and the society as a
whole. That is why these person are concentrating less than the category II age
group.
2) Same
social pressure might have decreased or become less, because of their
achievements i.e., what they ought to be in the social status. That is why the
II age group meditators are having less mental stress than the Ist age group
(30 to 40 years).
3) It
is observed that the IIIrd age group of meditators are more better than the Ist
and IInd age groups. They don’t have any stress on them, neither of family nor
of a society. As they have
already achieved everything they wished in life, because of such reason they
are having better mental health, then the failed one.
Below
given graph depicts the same.
Graph
No. 1
Showing
mean, SD and t-value of the mental health in categories of age
Table
No. 2
Shows
the mean, SD and t-value of mental health in men and women
(N
– 180)
Sex
|
Mean
|
SD
|
N
|
t-value
|
Men
|
140.08
|
10.47
|
90
|
2.21*
|
Women
|
136.80
|
10.48
|
90
|
*Significant
at 0.05 level
Table
no. 2 reveals that men scored a mean of 140.08 and women scored 136.80. The
t-value is 2.21 is significant at 0.05 level.
This result predicts that there are gender differences in mental health
of samples.
Women
were having more social pressures or bonds then the men, both at home as well
as outside in the society. Thus the men may concentrate more freely. Then the
women, because the society is male dominated. That is why men have better
mental health then the women.
Graph
– 2 explains gender difference in mental health.
Graph
No. 2
Shows
the mean, SD and t-value of mental health in men and women
Table
No. 3
Shows
the mean, SD and t-value of mental health is categories of meditators and non meditators
Category
|
Mean
|
SD
|
N
|
t-value
|
Meditators
|
139.21
|
11.06
|
80
|
2.61*
|
Non-meditators
|
135.00
|
10.32
|
100
|
*Significant at
0.05 level
Table
no. 3 states that mean score of meditators have a mean of 139.21 and non meditators
have a mean of 135. The t-value of 2.61
is significant at 0.05 level. This
reveals that mental health of meditators group is the higher than the non-meditators. Thus, the meditation helps a more to develop
of meditators. The graph given below describes the same effect.
Graph
No. 3
Shows
the mean, SD and t-value of mental health is categories of meditators and non meditators
Conclusion:
·
Age group 40-50
is the good mental health than the age group i & ii
·
Men have good
mental health then the women.
·
Meditators have
better mental health then the non-meditators.
References:
·
U Maung Tha –Noe (1981) Fundamentals Of Vipasana Meditation , Buddha Educational Society,
Taiwan Pp19-22
·
Dr .B.R.
Ambedkar (1997) The Buddha & His Dhamma,
Buddha Educational Foundation Taiwan.
Pp510-512
·
Jose
Lorenzo-Fuentes (2004) Meditation Guide Book, Llewellyn Publication USA, Pp
42-44.
·
Ven.Piyadassi
Thera (2008) Buddhist Meditation Buddha Educational Foundation Taiwan. Pp
25-27.
·
William Hart
(1988) The Art Of Living Vipasana Research Institute Igatpuri , Robert Shubow
(Edited 1986) Pp.6-7
·
Robert Shubow
(edited 1986) Positive Health Prajapita Brahm Kumari’s Delhi Pp.66-68
Ven
Dr. Bhadant Anand .K. (1986) Essays On Buddhism, Forward Stationer Nagapur
Pp.93-
No comments:
Post a Comment