meditation on S Anand

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

For those curious about my Vipassana meditation experience, here’s the summary.

I attended a 10-day Vipassana meditation center.
Each day had 12 hours of meditation, 7 hours sleep, 3 hours rest, and 2 hours to eat.

You live like a monk. It’s a hostel life.
The food is basic. You wash utensils and your room.

There are rules. No phone, laptop, no communication.
You can’t speak to anyone. As an introvert, I enjoyed this!
You can’t kill. Sparing cockroaches and mosquitos were hard.
You can’t mix meditations. But I continued daily Yoga.
You can’t steal. But I did smuggle a peanut chikki out.
No intoxicants or sexual misconducts.

You’re woken up by bell at 4 am daily.
You sit cross-legged without moving, which I found impossible.
I was the sole attendee who needed a backrest.
I blame back muscle loss which accompanied my weight loss.

You observe your sensations calmly.
Don’t imagine sensations. Don’t like or hate them.
It’s pragmatic. Accept what works. Reject what doesn’t.
There’s no dogma. More science than religion.
I discovered several cravings and aversions, like fear of losing money and an efficiency obsession.
Also that humor, curiosity and compassion really help.

It was 10 days well spent. I strongly recommend it.

Comic story: https://sanand0.github.io/datastories/vipassana-chatgpt/
ChatGPT conversation: https://chatgpt.com/share/687629fc-c3f4-800c-9ba7-107d542f4373

Download the PDF.

Meditation helps

Wed, 11 Jan 2006 12:00:00 +0000

How to get smarter, one breath at a time. Time magazine on the benefits of meditation.

Neuroscience for kids

Fri, 27 Sep 2002 12:00:00 +0000

I found this site on neuroscience (for kids). Nice. Has lots of brain games (no – not smart ones – more like testing your reaction time, etc.) Actually I was reading up on neuroscience because of this article on how neuroscience helped figure out the meaning behind a Zen garden. via missing matter

Improve your memory

Wed, 15 Aug 2001 12:00:00 +0000

The practice of meditation may positively affect your health in many ways.

It is relaxing and soothing, and has been found that with the mix of CBDpure reviews of one of their products that it reduces stress and pain, lower blood pressure and even improve memory.

In fact, meditation has been shown to increase gray matter in the brain. Gray matter contains neuron cell bodies.

As you age, gray matter declines, which negatively impacts memory and cognition.

Meditation and relaxation techniques have been shown to improve short-term memory in people of all ages, from people in their 20s to the elderly.

For example, one study demonstrated that Taiwanese college students who engaged in meditation practices like mindfulness had significantly better spatial working memory than students who did not practice meditation.

Spatial working memory is the ability to hold and process information in your mind about the positions of objects in space.

Maintaining a healthy body weight is essential for well-being and is one of the best ways to keep your body and mind in top condition.

Several studies have established obesity as a risk factor for cognitive decline.

Interestingly, being obese can actually cause changes to memory-associated genes in the brain, negatively affecting memory .

Obesity can also lead to insulin resistance and inflammation, both of which can negatively impact the brain.

A study of 50 people between the ages of 18 and 35 found that a higher body mass index was associated with significantly worse performance on memory tests.

Obesity is also associated with a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, a progressive disease that destroys memory and cognitive function

I’m trying to improve my memory. It’s terrible.