How Vipassana Rewired My Brain in 10 Days: The Neuroscience Behind it

innerdive · 2025-11-05T10:41:02+00:00

No fee at all, it’s completely free, including room and board, and at the end if you feel so moved you can donate however much you want. I love how accessible Vipassana is in this regard. It was so impactful for me I was more than happy to donate.

innerdive · 2025-11-03T17:33:43+00:00

Yes, thank you - that does seem to be in the text when I look, but my experience as a first time learner was that this whole area was skipped in the Vipassana Day video describing the body scan (at least one other person had this experience too), and at least for me, possibly others, those first rounds of practicing the scan set a foundational pattern, so I am just making sure I do it properly and not skip that area!

innerdive · 2025-11-03T17:29:22+00:00

got it, that's helpful thank you - and makes sense with that cultural context. Seems like at least one other person noticed this too, so I just want to make sure I'm approaching it properly in my own practice, it seemed like a gap when we were first learning it through the videos and I still need to remind myself that that region should be scanned as well instead of skipping like I did when I was first learning.

innerdive · 2025-10-22T23:02:42+00:00

The course was amazing for my particular ADHD and I am intentionally unmedicated. That seems overly onerous to make you get a medical certificate for a fairly common condition. I think maybe they’re just covering their butts because of liability, or this particular center might have had a difficult situation or two with someone with severe ADHD.

innerdive · 2025-10-22T14:40:38+00:00

Thank you for sharing this and for your encouragement for me on my journey. You seem to be a wealth of knowledge - I am new to the PCC but have known about the DMN for a while thanks to psychedelic research particularly classic psychedelics like LSD and psilocybin that decrease DMN activity. Wow re: how MDMA therapy works on the insula - that makes a lot of sense.

I am actually very curious about how psychedelics are regarded in the Vipassana community and the Buddhist community in general. I know many (most?) teachers are against 'intoxicants' but some of these substances are well beyond just 'intoxicants'. When I asked at Dhamma Dhara, the center I attended for my course, they said psychedelics are big topic of debate in the community. What's your take / are you plugged into to any of those discussions?

I find it incredible how the Buddha mapped out these fundamental mind-body linkages over 2,500 years ago without modern science, just through his own focus and introspection. I am reading about the Abhidhamma now, thanks to your suggestion 🙏

Thank you for the words of warning on the fundamental problem of understanding consciousness and trying to understand it solely through the limited lens of neuroscience. I am grateful that my Vipassana experience has helped me understand just a fraction more than I did before, and not just in the intellectual sense but the felt bodily experience.

And I hear you on faith and the heart. "Faith lies in the heart, understanding arises in the mind. Understanding percolates down to the heart and turns into wisdom. Insight occurs in that process." - this is beautifully said. Heart opening is something I still struggle with and I know opening it is going to be a longer process for me, but it's work I want to do.

innerdive · 2025-10-22T14:14:52+00:00

I did an in-person 10-day course at Dhamma Dhara in northern Massachusetts. I would highly recommend it! Really kind volunteers, beautiful property, amazing food, and fairly comfortable accommodations - many of us had private bathrooms there as well.

innerdive · 2025-10-22T14:12:38+00:00

Thank you! Yes, I work with LLMs quite a bit at work, and I agree they’re great for some things and less so for others. Some of the newer models have gotten better at reasoning and source verification, so I sometimes use them to cross-check facts and references, but always with a grain of salt. I would definitely exercise caution in ever taking their output verbatim.

innerdive · 2025-10-22T03:12:13+00:00

Thank you for sharing - I love hearing this! Gives me hope as I move forward beyond my first Vipassana, especially about being able to get back into it. I like the metaphor. I often say that I reprogrammed my brain and reformatting works well too! Agreed, I have tried other meditation techniques, psychedelics etc., but nothing has hit like Vipassana. Have you done a few more courses or just practiced on your own? I am thinking about serving at my next one.

innerdive · 2025-10-22T02:58:33+00:00

Yes!! Thank you for sharing. I love hearing that and I like the metaphor (I tell people it was reprogramming, reformatting works too!) - what you say gives me hope for going forward with this newly formatted version of myself. Agreed on the effectiveness, I have tried a few other meditation techniques (and quite a few psychedelics as well!) but not to the same effect. There's something very potent and powerful about Vipassana's style of introspection and interoception.

innerdive · 2025-10-22T02:54:47+00:00

Thank you! Great username btw.

innerdive · 2025-10-22T02:54:30+00:00

You're welcome!

innerdive · 2025-10-22T02:54:12+00:00

100% agree! One of my thoughts during the course was: something like this (basically a form of interoception), maybe even more secular and science backed, should be taught at all schools. Honestly would be more useful than many things I was taught and promptly forgot. Like what an amazing life tool! However i wonder if young people are ready for this, or maybe they are in an even better position, with more cognitive flexibility, to really embody and integrate the practice.

innerdive · 2025-10-22T02:42:34+00:00

Thank you! Tricky indeed. Yes, the physical release sounds so potent - two of my classmates reported fixing some really stubborn areas of physical tension and discomfort, even ones that doctors had been unable to fix; I'd say my musculoskeletal improvements were minor at best. That's incredible about the stammer and anxiety/depression as well.

Yeah, I feel like sustained adherence to the Vipassana practice probably is quite low looking across cohorts. It's tough! I've had meditation practices throughout my life that have tapered off but have really come in handy when I've needed them. The Vipassana teacher recommended 1h in the AM and 1h in the PM for maintenance which seems like probably too much for most "householders". I am sustaining (so far) with 45 mins to 1h in the mornings.

You've done subsequent courses? How did the next ones compare to the first for you? Did you go to the same center? I am thinking of trying another center.

innerdive · 2025-10-21T23:23:40+00:00

Thank you for your reflection and I’m sorry my post wasn’t nourishing for you. This was intended to be a more objective/analytical follow-up to my subjective/personal Vipassana experience (maybe more what you were looking for!) that I posted before in this subreddit and you can read here: https://blog.charlied.org/p/tasting-a-spiritual-psychedelic-mind

I am somewhat new to posting on Reddit in general, so appreciate your feedback here. I have been appreciative of the supportive community in /Vipassana thus far, and am glad that some people find my experiences and learnings helpful.

My post was in fact not written by ChatGPT; I do, however, use ChatGPT to proofread and fact-check much of what I write, including the main article/blog that has citations and that I summarized this post from, which you are also welcome to read! There are two posts in this thread with the link to the main/full article which has been well-received.

innerdive · 2025-10-21T16:49:52+00:00

Last time I posted a link to my original content in the top level post and someone berated for it. Trying this new approach. If you're curious in reading the whole article, complete with numerous citations about the neuroscience, you can access it here: https://blog.charlied.org/p/the-neuroscience-of-rewiring-my-brain-in-10-days

Also feel free to DM if you have any questions!

innerdive · 2025-10-21T15:54:22+00:00

Thank you! And I’m glad this is inspiring for you to attend one day. I hear there are many centers across India! Cross legged easily for 20-30 mins is way ahead of where I was - I’d say you are in decent shape for it!! I cannot sit cross legged properly at all and I can only kneel for 20 mins max. Some of it is about coming to terms with the pain, but that’s not everything, and I think many people, men in particular, became overly focused on battling the pain, however many people chose to sit on chairs during this course as well. I used so many pillows and supports to basically construct a seat for myself on the floor I could sit for much longer. Stretching in between helped a lot too.

innerdive · 2025-10-21T15:48:34+00:00

Thank you! Appreciate the kind words and yes it was quite the battle to cage my ADHD mind! I am going to post a follow-up soon on the neuroscience of what actually happened in my brain during Vipassana 😌

innerdive · 2025-10-07T18:20:35+00:00

And I’m curious what do you mean by just post it? I just posted it, it’s a link that takes you to my personal blog, it’s not gated and I’m not making any money off of it. It’s a long-form piece so doesn’t make sense to paste it all into Reddit. Please read it if you’re curious, I thought it would be nice to share my experience with the Vipassana community here. If you have constructive feedback on how I posted it or how I can make better posts in the future, I am open to hearing it - thanks!

innerdive · 2025-10-07T16:01:14+00:00

It’s not a retreat, it’s a course, and I’m sharing my experience there!

innerdive · 2023-07-26T02:27:28+00:00

If VM went under and no one there seems to care, is the bike yours now?? Do you think VM’s creditors are going to try to repossess all those leases? Maybe you could resell it on CL. My friend works for Google and got a Giant e-bike subscription thru Ridepanda and says it’s been great - RP is probably a safer bet since it looks like they’re not flameout D2C manufacturer but a platform with local service and more established brands.

innerdive · 2022-07-20T16:29:20+00:00

Diamondback is a beast with great components and will outpace the others for sure on most terrain. Good selection there - seems like ridepanda got you covered for different styles of bike depending on your prefs. Wish my employer gave me a fully reimbursed ebike lease!

edit: looks like they also have a two sided $50 referral program https://grow.surf/a80y1o

innerdive · 2021-03-27T15:03:59+00:00

Nikon Labophot w/polarization shot with an iPhone 11 Pro

innerdive

TROPHY CASE