In October 2017, I took a silent 10-day Vipassana meditation retreat, this time not to sit, but to serve. What I learned and gained from it, was far more surprising than I would have ever imagined.
My first retreat was in Malaysia in 2016 and it was a very transformative, healing and yet very challenging journey. Ever since the importance of daily sitting meditation has become much more relevant to me in my business and life.
Vipassana means "insight" and is a specific and powerful meditation technique. The 10-day training for students comprises of 10 hours of sitting meditation per day in total silence. Questions can though be asked to the teachers on specific times when needed.
This time I wanted to give it a try and serve. It is selfless service and giving loving kindness in its purest form, while being able to work on yourself and your meditation practice at the same time. In total I was helping and working for 12 days, and it was some of the most rewarding professional experiences. I was assigned the role of the kitchen manager, along with an older kitchen manager partner. I had been working on a festival as a team supervisor in a kitchen and had made several experiences in community cooking for 20 to 30 people in an organic farm community in New Zealand before. But here, the functioning of the course organisation and the kitchen were totally new to me. Luckily we had a manager to guide us in the first two set up days who was already familiar with the work.
Our days started as early as 5:30 am or earlier sometimes, and finished between 8 and 9 pm on most days. The only real official obligatory break was between 1 and 2:30 pm. So in total we counted over 13 hours of kitchen work per day, with a team of volunteers that were new, that I had never worked with before, and some had never even worked in a kitchen. And moreover, the team was constantly evolving, people were coming and going.
Our mission was to serve meals for 150 people, in the most loving way, while working on our own meditation, practising friendliness and loving kindness ("metta"), partial silence and noble speech within the team, gender separation when possible, and other Vipassana ethics (not harming/ not killing, not stealing, no sexual misbehaviour, no drugs, no alcohol…). We also had no distractions (no phones, no internet), were not allowed to leave the premises and we actually had barely time to take fresh air.
One could think that this is quite a challenge and very hard on the physical body and mind. And the first days were hard I must admit. However, here is where the benefits of meditation came into direct, felt experience. All the servers participated in 3 hours of group meditation per day, together with the students. From 8 to 9am, from 2:30 to 3:30pm, and from 6 to 7pm. We would sometimes have time to listen to the students’ questions and issues they were discussing with the teachers in the evenings, which would give us an insight into how the students were doing and which created a lot of empathy in our hearts, giving us a rewarding sense to our work.
With that in mind, all the servers finished together with a meditation on metta every evening - applying forgiveness for all those we may had been hurting during the day in our service, asking for forgiveness to all the people we might have hurt during our service on that day, sending love and kindness to all the students, people, creatures and ourselves. After that, a little group meeting took place to briefly give feedback about our day and discussing any issues with the teachers when needed.
This set up ensured that we delivered our work efficiently, that we did it well AND with loving kindness, while being motivated, happy and very creative, it ensured that we had no major issues or argues coming up, that we did not go crazy and that we came out not tired or exhausted, but actually greater, stronger, kinder and wiser. Without being paid for. Without expecting anything in return. With nor reason but to serve.
The Vipassana technique
The first meditation technique taught consisted of three full days of "Anapana" meditation, focusing the mind on the physical sensations under the nostrils, above the upper lip. The area below the nostrils stimulates the Medulla, one of the most important parts of the brain, as it carries out and regulates breathing, swallowing and heart rate. As a part of the brain stem, it also helps transfer neural messages from the brain to the spinal cord. We can see that especially breath and heart rate are regulated and balanced through this focused meditation. Apart from slowing down breath and heart rate, messages are send through our spinal chord more precisely and efficiently, so in brief we can say that we train our mind to be very sharp, precise, focused and concentrated.
Activating this part of the body is extremely beneficial for managers and employees, who will benefit from a sharper mind, a precise focus on tasks and objectives. Less distracted, they will achieve more in less time and with more joy and contentment.
The following 7 days, the actual Vipassana insight meditation was practiced, a technique consisting of scanning the body slowly from head to toes, and toes to head, noticing each part of the body with a sharp focus, over and over again, without stopping, without interruptions, with a pure, neutral and calm mind. Up and down, down and up.
The aim is to not hold on to any sensations that may arise, whether they are pleasant or unpleasant. Vipassana, inspired by the teachings of the Buddha, teaches two major concepts:
1. equanimity, the non-judging of a sensation or an experience, just taking it for what it is; and
2. impermanence – everything is change, never permanent, everything will pass, like a natural flow, pain and pleasure is constantly passing.
The Vipassana meditation - the scanning technique, hence actively reprogrammes the mind and cells to not hold on to unpleasant sensations nor to hold on to pleasant sensations. In this way, craving and aversion, hence suffering is eliminated and we learn to flow with the nature of the waves, without reacting, without working against them, just letting the different experiences pass by and noticing them without judgement. The nature of things and life is therefore restored just as it has to be.
This is crucial in our lives and in today’s leadership and business environment. Managers and executives have to constantly adapt and allow for change to happen.
This allowance of flow for things to unfold is often key to a successful, healthy and creative business. Many problems within an organisation can be avoided and much time can be saved when people learn to not react to certain situations that may arise in a company, and instead letting them pass by with trust, knowing that it will naturally and organically solve itself to the best of all.
Managers will greatly benefit from the sharpness and focus of the mind, which will facilitate the achievement of corporate and personal goals. They will experience less personal discomfort and resistance, but a more optimistic, balanced and joyful mindset which will have a radiating effect for the business and its employees.
For me personally, the experience of managing a new team of 12 to 14 people in an environment where I was not really professionally trained was a big one. It was quite stressful at the start, getting to know everything and everyone, including finding my role and responsibilities. Sometimes, no one even knew how things were supposed to be done. But I gave the best I could.
At the same time I really saw this as the perfect opportunity to practice the evolutionary leadership style I researched and learned about so much in my psychosynthesis leadership coaching training and final paper. So the challenge was doubled for me – listening to all the needs of each individual, hearing their talents, keeping everyone happy, allowing for creativity, building group cohesion, being a kind, compassionate, motivating and selfless leader, by setting the example through being, authenticity, making everyone the most independent as possible – eliminating the need to be led as much as possible... My model was Lao Tzu’s saying: "A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves."
The challenges were there, but they were actually easy and enjoyable thanks to meditation.
Every time I went to the meditations, the stress faded. The meditations provided a valuable reflection time for me, to digest the day, all that had happened and accumulated before. It was an inward reflection, seeing everything clearer and from a different, more positive angle. And this three times a day. So there was no space most of the time for things to accumulate so that they could get out of control. The little issues stayed little and personal or professional obstacles were removed almost as soon as they were created.
Also, the meditations were a powerful and important recharging time. Managers often have little time to rest and sleep and have physical or mental challenges. It is said that 20 minutes of meditation equals 3 hours of sleep. And indeed, I felt fully recharged after every meditation, as if I had a power nap. The physical strains were gone most of the time.
Moreover, the meditations increased my ability to listen better to the needs of my team. I could feel and see and sense much better. My sharp focused mind was able to prepare, plan ahead and visualise the work of the day, preparing meetings mentally - all was done in an hour of meditation.
It was magical. The team became more and more efficient, so was my management quality. I was able to relax more, let everything just flow without the need to control. I started trusting more and more. More things were getting done in less time. We were that efficient that some people could even have more breaks or participate in additional meditations during the day. We did more with less people. We became better with timing. We even had time to be more creative, or discuss improvements for future trainings. We created a loving, supportive community during those days, where each got the best out of themselves, and where every person would feel its value and purpose in the group.
I will always cherish that experience and time. It was so much effort, but we were so rewarded. The personal reward within my heart, the gratitude towards my team for their amazing work, providing nourishment to all the hard working meditation students to the best we could to support their learnings - this was all more important than any financial compensation. They were happy, content and enjoying the food we prepared – this was the biggest compliment.
To me, every manager should have the right and the time to reflect inward through meditation. There are only benefits to be gained.
Nonetheless, sitting meditation can be physically straining. I must emphasize the need for every person to work on their physical strength and flexibility first through a physical yoga practice. Physical yoga exercises are a preparation for meditation. Meditation is not supposed to be a torture, so it is important to first work on loosening up and strengthening the knees, hips and back, as well as strengthening the mind, so you can reap the full benefits of your meditation. The Yoga ethics, the 8 Limbs of Ashtanga Yoga must be understood so that the meditation and the evolutionary process can unfold in a healthy, positive and fruitful way. Each step at a time. Let us start slowly.
Get in touch if you need some guidance and advice! More information about the Vipassana retreats worldwide: www.dhamma.org
With thanks, love & happiness
Angelika
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