This evening I watched an incredible documentary: Doing Time, Doing Vipassana.

It took a look at what used to be one of India’s roughest jails. Harsh conditions, beatings, horrible living conditions … um yeah, no thanks.

Leave it to a woman to get $hit done.

Enter: Dr. Kiran Bedi.

My new girl crush.

When she was appointed as the new Inspector General of Indian Jails, she brought back an old method of rehabilitating inmates: Vipassana Meditation Courses.

The results were groundbreaking.

As someone who regularly practices meditation, I can assure you, this is one hardcore way of going about it, and for 10 days, no less.

The first three days you sit in silence.

Three days because this is the amount of time it takes for our minds to empty of thought and reach a more open place.

I realize this might not sound like a lot, or all that challenging. I assure you, it is.

72 hours of silence and nowhere to go can be the worst kind of torture for some.

There is no one or nothing. Just you. Your thoughts. Your self.

I’ve found that even 20 minutes in silence can be difficult – and that very few are even able to just sit and be for 10 minutes. Especially when feeling agitated or stressed. Which is, of course, when it’s most helpful to be able to meditate.

Vipassana teachings begin after the third day of sitting. Each day thereafter, adding a new dimension of what and how Vipassana is done.

When is the last time you sat quietly? It doesn’t have to be or had to have been for meditative purposes … it could be just for relaxation, or to refocus.

You should try it. Like when you were little and given a new food. Try it, you might like it.

Or is just me that remembers my parents saying this to me?

I was a foodie even then, and would eat anything and everything I was given. Or not given.

I had a habit of sneaking off to grab Little Debbie’s. No wonder I became a (temporary) fatty.

While I have yet to personally try Vipassana, my interests are peaked and I definitely am putting this request out unto The Universe . I think I can always use more:

“Insight into the true nature of reality.”

Who can’t?