Vipassana meditation: Your questions answered

With reported benefits including reduced stress and anxiety, clearer thinking, and a greater ability to live in the moment, let’s explore what is Vipassana meditation in greater detail.

What is Vipassana meditation?

Vipassana meditation is a mental technique with the aim of acknowledging your own thoughts and feelings without passing judgment. Some people claim Vipassana meditation has allowed them to experience profound enlightenment.

Vipassana is most commonly taught during a 10-day course which comes with strict rules that must be observed. Some of these rules include:

• No talking, communication, or eye contact
• No reading, writing, or other entertainment
• No food or drink, besides what is provided
• No forms of prayer or worship

Following the course, as you continue to practice Vipassana in your everyday life, these rules are relaxed. They aim to focus your attention inwardly, reducing the potential for distraction.

During the course, you will become fully immersed in the meditation practice. People often report profound experiences of inner peace while learning Vipassana meditation.

Vipassana meditation practice typically consists of the following stages:

• Warm-up: an exercise such as anapana where you focus your attention on your nostrils and the sensation of breath moving through them.
• Body scan
  : start by focusing your attention on the top of your scalp, and slowly move down the body. If you cannot feel any sensation in a particular area, pay particular attention before moving on.
• If and when the mind wanders, bring your attention back to the body and resume scanning.
• Advanced Vipassana practitioners can change the direction of the body scan and can scan the inside of the body, rather than just the surface level.

What are the benefits of Vipassana?

The benefits of Vipassana meditation span both the mind and body. As with most other forms of meditation, a positive feeling may be felt immediately after the practice, but the more profound benefits will come with regular practice.

Some of the key benefits of Vipassana include:

• Development of a calmer mind: reduced stress and anxiety are two secondary effects of a calmer and clearer mind.
• Greater mindfulness: Vipassana can help you be more aware of the present moment, and less reactive in day-to-day situations.
• Reduced negativity: the negativity that we often direct toward ourselves can be lessened as Vipassana teaches patience, neutral observation, and calmness.
• Improved physical health: research is limited in this area, especially in comparison to other forms of meditation, but experts believe the reduction in stress caused by Vipassana can lead to various physical health benefits.
• Assistance treating addiction: one study found that Vipassana meditation may help with substance abuse.¹ This was strengthened by a more recent review that found that Vipassana may strengthen skills needed to overcome addiction, including decision-making, self-worth, and response inhibition.

What is the Transcendental Meditation technique?

Unlike Vipassana, the TM technique is an effortless meditation practice. It originates in the Vedic tradition and has since been learned by millions of people worldwide.

The TM technique is taught during a

Following your course, the TM technique can be practiced anywhere, sitting comfortably with the eyes closed, for 20 minutes twice a day.

Better sleep

TM practice naturally increases serotonin, a neurotransmitter that is important for regulating sleep-wake cycles.³

In addition, by reducing stress, the TM technique can result in better sleep thanks to having a calmer, quieter mind.⁴

Improved heart health

A meta-analysis from 2008 suggests that regular TM practice is more effective at reducing blood pressure than stress management training and muscle relaxation.⁵

Another study⁶ with African American adolescents found TM practice leads to measurable improvements in:

• Stress levels
• Blood pressure
• Vascular function
• Respiration rate
• Serum cholesterol levels

How is TM practice different from Vipassana?

The TM technique is distinct from Vipassana meditation in several key areas.

Effortlessness vs. focus

During the TM technique, a special mantra provided by your certified teacher is effortlessly repeated in your head. It’s a simple, natural practice that anyone can do, no matter their previous experience of meditation.

Meanwhile, Vipassana meditation requires intense focus as you monitor the sensation of your breath flowing, and concentrate on different areas of your body during the scan.  

Flexible vs. residential courses

There are more than 170 TM Centers across the US. The first session of the four-day course is always in person with your teacher, but the following days can be done in person or via online learning, according to your preference. 

Your local TM teacher will be happy to accommodate your needs if you can’t make the dates and times offered online.

However, Vipassana meditation courses take place over 10 days, and there are 20 locations in the US. While the 10-day course is free of charge, according to the Vipassana tradition, the 10-day residential course might not be convenient for everyone.

Hundreds of peer-reviewed studies vs. limited research

More than 370 peer-reviewed studies have been carried out on the TM technique. It is among the most researched meditation practices, and the only technique found to reduce blood pressure according to the American Heart Association.⁸

On the other hand, more limited research has been conducted on the effectiveness of Vipassana meditation. Often, conclusions drawn on Vipassana are extrapolated from research done on mindfulness, which can consist of similar exercises to Vipassana.

By Chloe Bonfield, April 24 2025 References:

1. APA Pyscnet,
   https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2006-10832-015
   (accessed 9 April 2025)
2. Lang R, Dehof K, Meurer KA, Kaufmann W. Sympathetic activity and Transcendental Meditation. Journal of Neural Transmission 1979 44(1/2):117-135
3. Abrams AI, Siegel LM. The Transcendental Meditation program and rehabilitation at Folsom State Prison: a cross-validation study. Criminal Justice and Behavior 1978 5(1):3-20
4. Bujatti M, Riederer P. Journal of Neural Transmission Vol 39, 1976, pp257-267
5. Rainforth MV, Schneider RH, Nidich SI, Gaylord-King C, Salerno JW, Anderson JW. Stress reduction programs in patients with elevated blood pressure: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Current Hypertension Reports 2007 9(6):520-528
6. Barnes VA, Kapuku GK, Treiber FA. Impact of Transcendental Meditation on left ventricular mass in African American adolescents. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2012 923153. doi:10.1155/2012/92315
7. Beyond Medications and Diet: Alternative Approaches to Lowering Blood Pressure, Robert D. Brook, MD, et al, and on behalf of the American Heart Association Professional Education Committee and others, 22 Apr 2013, Hypertension. 2013;61:1360–1383
8. Travis, F., Haaga, D. A. F., Hagelin, J., Tanner, M., Arenander, A., Nidich, S., Gaylord-King, C., Grosswald, S., Rainforth, M., & Schneider, R. H. (2010). A self-referential default brain state: Patterns of coherence, power, and eLORETA sources during eyes-closed rest and transcendental meditation practice. Cognitive Processing, 11(1), 21–30.