By Kyaw King
A week ago, my childhood friend who is now working in Yangon called me, said he was very bored as he stays at home for long-time.
He was asked to work from home. He doesn’t like to work from home. Some people prefer to work from home, while others don’t like. My friend is one of those who don’t like working from home.
Before COVID outbreak, he was rarely seen at home. Most of the time, he was outside. Now he said he sometimes felt bored and stressful due to staying at home for nearly three months, and don’t even know what to do in his free times.
He said during his previous days he spent his free times playing games, listening to music, watching movies and reading. His mind is dull now.
He asked me, “What should I do?”
I smiled and asked him back, “Do you do any workouts or meditation practice?” He replied, “No.”
I advised him to do workouts and meditation. I add it will protect you from the anxieties that come from coronavirus. I also shared him two news stories that I read recently.
Very recently, a news website writes “India’s Modi says yoga a ‘protective shield’ against coronavirus.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also says yoga is a ‘trusted friend in building immunity’.
Yoga, as much as I know, is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India. Yoga is one of the six Āstika (orthodox) schools of Hindu philosophical traditions.
Another story dated on 29 March was titled “Coronavirus: Spanish hospital workers meditate as virus ‘arriving at peak’”.
The news of even westerners practicing meditation made me feel amazed and happy, especially during the coronavirus period.
In our country, Yoga is not famous like Vippassana meditation (Insight Meditation). Most of us are only used to the Vipassana meditation.
Therefore, I shared with my friend how to practice the Vippasanna meditation during the COVID days.
I said my friend that Vippassana meditation is very helpful for us, sharing my 10-day experience at Dhamma Joti Meditation Centre, where not only locals but also foreigners come and take the meditation course.
The course trains us to see the things differently. Most of us see the things permanent, lovely, and have self or soul.
Vipassana is very different from these views. There are three characteristics in Vipassana. They are annica (impermanence), dukkha (suffering), and annata (non-self).
During the ten-day course, we have to take meditation the whole days, from early morning to till night.
After the course, the mediation teachers advised us to meditate at least two times of about an hour a day before going to bed, and after getting up in the morning.
I tried first, and then failed to continue. Now, I remember sometimes to meditate, and tried to meditate for about 10 or 15 minutes. Though it is very short moment, it made me feel calm. It can drive away my anxiety.
I know that meditation can drive away my worry and anxieties. Therefore, whenever negative or bad feelings come into my mind, I tried to meditate.
When I practiced, I tried to bear this attitude, which I got from a book: “Never mind what I have been taught. Forget about theories and prejudices and stereotypes. I want to understand the true nature of life. I want to know what this experience of being alive really is. I want to apprehend the true and deepest qualities of life, and I don’t want to just accept somebody else’s explanation. I want to see it for myself.”
The Buddha said, “The mind is everything, what you think you become”. Therefore, I believe that it is worthy to train our mind.
For me, Vippassana is the best method to train my mind. How about you? I would like to invite you to come and see the real nature of the things by practicing Vipassana meditation.
I wish you be happy and blissful by practicing Vipassana during the coronavirus days.
