If you told me two years ago that I’d spend 10 days doing 10 hours of meditation every day, without phone and talking, I would tell you “No way I will do it!”. But in September 2025, I actually did it, and it turned out to be one of the most life-changing experiences I’ve ever had. The tools and wisdom I walked away with are helping me live a happier life, and I can’t wait to share more about my Vipassana journey in Malaysia.
What Is Vipassana and Why Did I Join the 10-Day Course?
Vipassana is a meditation practice that teaches how to eradicate misery by observing reality as it is. It trains you to see beyond illusions and uncover the truth. This non-sectarian technique was rediscovered by Gotama Buddha more than 2,500 years ago and taught as a universal remedy for human suffering. Hence it is often called an Art of Living.
I first learned about Vipassana in 2024 through Red Note and Youtube, but I wasn’t able to attend it till I took a short career break in September 2025. I decided to join the 10-day course because I need a deep detox from traumas and bad emotions accumulated from the previous job.
Other than that, I wanted to work on my emotional and spiritual wellness so that I could live a happier and more harmonious life. I dislike seeing my relationships with closed ones get impacted when I’m stressed and anxious. Vipassana felt like the right step to heal and nurture myself.
Registration and Preparation for Vipassana Malaysia
I registered my course at Vipassana Malaysia (Johor Kulai). Although there are courses of different duration, it is compulsory for all beginners to take the 10-day course. Once you complete it, you can take the shorter course.
There are 264 Vipassana Centers worldwide, spread across countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, India, and many more. You may check out the center locations and their schedules here.
In terms of preparation, most essentials are already provided at the center thanks to donations. But if you have extra space in your luggage, here are a few things I found helpful to bring:
- Mosquito repellent
- Insect bite balms
- Watch and clock (my site allows smart watch)
- Tissues and wet tissues
- Blanket, bedsheet, pillowcase
- Jacket (the hall is usually air-conditioned)
Building Focus in the First Three Days
The first three days, we learned about Anapana technique, to observe natural respiration. If it is a deep breath, simply observe it as deep; if it is a shallow breath, remain it as how it is. The practice is not about controlling the breath, but about watching it as it is.
We began by focusing on the nose area on the first day, then gradually narrowed our attention to the triangular area below the nostrils and above the lips by the third day.
These practices aimed to build the foundation for vipassana through samadhi, which is a state of intense concentration achieved through meditation.
For your information, the daily routine looked like this which is similar at all Dhamma centres:
4:00am Wakeup Bell
4:30 – 6:30am Meditation
6:30 – 8:00am Breakfast
8:00 – 11:00am Mediation
11:00 – 1:00pm Lunch and teacher interviews
1:00 – 5:00pm Meditation
5:00 – 6:00pm Tea-break
6:00 – 7:00pm Meditation
7:00 – 8:15pm Discourse (teachings with Goenka)
8:15 – 9:00pm Meditation
9:30pm Lights out
I did not go through the schedule before arrival, so I was really shocked to find out I have to do meditation for 10 hours a day and there’s no dinner. My stomach always growled during the last meditation of the day.
The Real Vipassana Starting from Day 4
Starting from Day 4, we started practicing the Vipassana technique, the body-awareness type of meditation. It started by going through the sensation at the areas from head to feet and then from feet to head. The challenge is staying still and keeping our eyes closed for 1-hour sitting meditation without moving our posture.
Moving to Day 7, we learned how to scan the sensation throughout the body swiftly through a “free flow”. However, I still have blind areas that I couldn’t sense anything so I couldn’t embark on a free flow. I asked the assistant teacher the reason and she told me everyone has a different journey. Someone who are experienced in meditation or more spiritually awakened can experience free flow faster, whereas those who are beginners or have more emotional traumas unresolved will take a longer time to achieve that.
She told me not to worry about it because what matters is the improvement in my equanimity. That is the greatest tool that will impact the harmony and happiness in real life. This truly took out the stress of competition from me, directing my focus onto my own progress.
My Revelation on Day 9
The discourse on day 9 taught us about how to apply vipassana in real life and its significant of helping us eradicate Saṅkhāra. In Pali and Buddhist teachings, the word saṅkhāra refers to the mental habit patterns or subconscious reactions that condition our suffering. Every time we react with craving or aversion, we generate a new saṅkhāra.
In the past, when I met inconveniences or dealt with people who upset me, it was easy for me to blame them. The aversion that I generated became saṅkhāra which acts like a fuel to the fire of anger keeping it burning and torturing me mentally.
However, through vipassana we are taught to be aware of the negative emotions and observe them without reacting So, we avoid self-sabotaging actions, and over time the emotions naturally fade away. As we practice more vipassana, we gradually stop creating new saṅkhāras and allow old ones to dissolve.
The discourse made a lot of sense to me as I could relate it with neuroplasticity I’ve read about in many self-help books. Vipassana is a mental practice to help rewire our brain. It trains us to be aware of the reality (what’s happening within our bodies) and observe those unpleasant and pleasant sensation arise and pass away again and again equanimously. This constant reminder of impermanence helps us respond less aggressively to triggering people or situations, while gradually breaking free from deep-rooted patterns of misery.
Like what Teacher Goenka says, by practicing Vipassana, we align ourselves with Dhamma, living a life of awareness, compassion, and equanimity.
Day 10 When Everyone is Talking
Finally it came to 9am when noble silence ended. My roommates and I shared about our experiences and discussed our sleeping pattern. LOL
It’s interesting to enjoy dorm life again after my university time. Sharing room with other ladies have its pros and cons but overall it is a positive experience. In fact, I think I would have felt more afraid if I had stayed alone for 11 nights.
We also found out that every one of us wanted to quit at some point of time, one even admitted that she cried one night. Anyway, we all stayed. Together we admitted that we benefited a lot from this meditation course.
Keeping Vipassana Pure Through Donations
To preserve its purity and prevent it from becoming a commercial retreat, centres only accept monetary donations from students who have completed at least one 10-day course.
The idea is simple: if you feel you have benefited, you can pay it forward by sponsoring the next student through your donation. I find this spirit of dāna (generosity) deeply moving. It’s incredible how such a large, global organisation can grow and sustain itself purely through voluntary contributions, powered by gratitude and compassion.
Top 5 Things I learned from The 10-Day Vipassana course
- Awareness and Equanimity: These are the two main principles of Vipassana. Awareness refers to being mindful to reality (your body’s sensation) with an intense focus. Equanimity means calmness and mental balance; you don’t generate aversion or craving towards sensation. If you try to hold your posture for an hour of meditation, you will likely experience pain. I had a throat discomfort stemming from stress faced by my throat chakra. It will appear once in awhile throughout the past few years. In the course, I learned how to treat it and other discomfort equanimously and it helped! By not feeding them attention, the discomfort faded away as highlighted by impermanence.
- Impermanence: Everything is always changing. Nothing is permanent. All sensations are temporary. The pain I experienced was often temporary. Likewise, the pleasurable sensations I experienced were also temporary. By being aware and equanimous during vipassana meditation, you develop the firsthand understanding towards impermanence. It helps you avoid aversion and craving, which are the sources of all misery. This helps to put a lot of things into perspective.
- Compassion: Throughout the course, we’re taught to be compassionate and to live in the moment. We learned metta meditation which is to wish everyone true joy and harmony at the end of every meditation. I throughout the course, there were people farting made it difficult to concentrate during meditation, people keeping public items to themselves, and being slow causing a queue. At times, I felt angry that it kept happening. But then I made myself think of being in their shoes. Suddenly, my frustration was gone and I’m not bothered when it happened again. I find myself being more compassionate after the course and it is truly liberating to feel lighter and happier.
- Fictions vs Reality: After learning the lessons above, I realised I could differentiate the fictions and reality after the camp. My gut instinct gets better at assessing someone’s true intention. Teacher Goenka said we need to see people from their hearts instead of what they say and do. Also, with all the information obtained every seconds, it is very easy for us to get fooled. By observing what’s happening within my body during vipassana, I get grounded with truth and could easily identify and eradicate the fictions from my mind which consist of peer pressure, manipulation, competitiveness, greed and so on.
Would I Recommend Vipassana Meditation to Others?
Yes! But only when you’re ready.
I believe Vipassana meditation to be one of the best things I’ve ever encountered. After all, it’s the original form of meditation taught by Buddha. We all struggle in different ways and meditation can help anyone. For most, it’s a great way to stop creating self-sabotaging reactions and to eradicate the bad habits that we already have.
The 10-day camp is a good break from our overstimulated environment. The practices are simple enough for us to do it everyday. Although it is recommended to be two hours per day, I’m currently meditating 20 minutes per day in the morning. Even with a shorter practice, I experience drastic improvement in life. Now I could quickly notice when negative emotion arises and return to balance sooner. This has helped me become more efficient at work and improved my relationships.
That being said, the retreat requires strong commitment: no phone, no talking, 10 hours of meditation daily, and no dinner. That’s why I suggest you to register only when you’re truly ready. Or else it is gonna be a waste of time if you give up halfway.
🌙 Disclaimer
Every Vipassana journey is unique. Please don’t expect to experience exactly what I did. Comparison often creates unnecessary pressure and competition. What matters most is focusing on your own progress, embracing the lessons you discover along the way, and committing to continuous practice. The path is personal, and every step forward counts.
Interested?
Dhamma.org – The homepage of Vipassana Meditation, where you can find course locations, schedules, apply, and other infos.
Yuval Noah Harari on Vipassana Meditation – A five-minute interview clip of bestselling author of Sapiens on Vipassana Meditation (he’s taken a sixty-day course).
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