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« Last post by Dean on January 11, 2023 »
I was recently turned away from a 10-day vipassana retreat owing to my lifelong history of depression. I had intended to try vipassana as a complement or "in addition to" the EM clearing approach.
As a 10-day vipassana retreat is not available to me now, I feel the need to invest more into my EM clearing practice. As vehicles towards improvement on a psychological/spiritual continuum, perhaps vipassana is "good" and EM clearing is better.
This reminds me of guidance to do physical exercise. Questions arise, such as will I get more benefit if I do my exercise in the morning? Another question is what type of physical exercise is best: should I swim, should I jog, should I ride bike, should I run, etc? Experts advise that whatever exercise you yourself will do, at whatever time you yourself will do it, is the best exercise. In other words, yes there are varying degrees of benefit based on what time of day you exercise or what kind of exercise you do. However, the main thing is that you're doing exercise.
This analogy helps me make sense of vipassana vs EM clearing. Now let me extend the analogy further. I had hoped a vipassana retreat would afford me space for focused dedication, as well as specific teaching. John's books are great teaching, and sure I could set up a 10-day retreat on my own. But I had hoped to get things from a vipassana retreat that I don't get from John's books, CDs, or my daily practice. Said differently, sure I can run and lift weights on my own, but if my means allow it, hiring a personal fitness trainer to instruct me and keep me motivated helps.
It helps me to think of a 10-day vipassana retreat analogous to hiring a personal trainer to help me exercise. No personal trainer knows everything; they are usually trained in only specific aspects of exercise and may not even be aware of higher quality exercises you may do. I now think of vipassana retreat leaders, and even S.M. Goenka himself, in this way. There are different paths to spiritual enlightenment, and while not all paths are equal, perhaps the first and foremost thing is that a person is following a path.
So, this is how I personally make sense of vipassana and EM clearing. I offer it here in case someone reading this forum finds benefit in it. I know I find benefit in reading how others who have made their way to this forum are processing EM clearing for themselves.
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