How to find time to practice Meditation for 2 hours a day

The question came up from a young man over smoothies at Ganesh, and the recipient of the question was Jen, who has up-kept her one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon Vipassana meditation hour.  Yes, you heard that right: Hour!

Vipassana means seeing things as they are and it is a free organization that has a starter ten-day course completely free of charge, where you live pretty much as a monk, meditate all day long and come out with laser sharp concentration, no kidding.

Martina, who has also maintained a two hour per day meditation routine for two years excitedly chipped in, and I was in awe to hear the answer that these women were about to provide.  Now, some are benefits, some are reasons, this is the list as I jotted it down:

1. You schedule it, the same way you schedule your yoga practice, and eventually people around you learn (they are trained by default) that you meditate twice a day and begin to ask you things like: Do you want to eat dinner now, or do you need to sit? (Isn't that lovely?)
2. You become a lot more efficient.  Carving out two hours of your day means that lots of the time we loose in silly things (i.e.: excessive Facebook, Twitter, stat counting, etc) has to be reduced.
3. Meditating in the Vipassana form is a "physical" form of meditation, remember that after quieting the mind by focusing just on the breath, you start to scan the body and this has an enormous effect on the practice (of yoga asana).  This comes from Jen, who has been able to drop back and come back up to standing within two years. I am sold people!
4. You become a lot less reactive to the challenges of the world.  The mind does calm down and when difficult things present themselves you have a pause that pretty much 90% of the time results in issues being solved without you having to do anything.
5. It is part of the upper limbs (branches) of yoga, those limbs that no school really teaches.
6. In the beginning is very hard, but eventually it becomes your refuge, you almost cannot live without it, it is what keeps you healthy, sane.
7. Your eating choices improve because you become so in-tune with your body that you know what is appropriate to eat.  Nothing like sitting and observing your body for two hours a day to notice exactly what each food does to you.
8. You start to listen a lot more than you speak.
9. Martina has a full time job and a relationship and she swears by her practice, so there is no excuse on the account of work, and she loves it.
10. Yes many times before sitting the thought pops up: "Why am I doing this"?  then the first breath, by the end of the hour the "why" is so clear. The benefits must be experienced just to see the clarity it brings, he laser focus, the peace.

As a society now more than ever we need to find time to sit in solitude and let the silence in, otherwise we are constantly reacting, breathing fast, rushing towards our death (remember that our life is counted in breaths the faster we breathe... well, you get the picture).

I have done two Vipassana meditation retreats and will be going to one with HB soon and I wish everyone could hear Martina and Jen directly so that they would feel the benefits, the way in which all the goodness that comes out of it reverberates in the sound of their voices, in their poise, their friendliness, their b/s detector, their truthfulness.

Here is why I think that Vipassana is the best meditation technique out there these days (including the fact that it is free!).  Mostly I think there is absolutely no other school that teaches the four advanced and upper limbs (branches) of yoga, which are "sense withdrawal", "concentration", "meditation" and "samadhi" or eternal peace and love and enlightenment.  

I confessed to both Jen and Martina that it was easy for me to sit with them while I was in Mysore but that it would be hard for me to do the two hours a day, even though that is what was suggested after each of my Vipassana courses.  Jen very wisely suggested I start with one hour a day for 30 days, and see what happens.  HB is joining in and I am very grateful for that.

So far I am loving it.  Jen, we are on!

Do you have any other insights on this? How do you maintain your practice? please tell me in the comments.

Related Posts:

The four things you do at a Vipassana: Eat, Sleep, Meditate and Poo

3 Reasons why I am completely sold on Vipassana

9 Reasons why Vipassana is the best meditation technique out there

See www.Dhamma.org to find courses near you, they are all over the world.