Two Paths to Peace | Living Fully

I just spent 8 days in complete silence.

No phone. No talking. No music. No eye contact. No external input. No distractions. Just sitting with my own mind, 24/7, for 8 days.

It was my second Vipassana Satipaṭṭhāna course. And I want to tell you what I found there.

What It Was Like

All courses land differently. It’s not good or bad, just different.

I’ve never had a problem being quiet or spending time close to nature. That’s what I truly love. When you remove all the noise, you start to hear your mind. And in the first few days, that mind is really busy. Call it monkey mind if you like. Just sitting with that is surprisingly hard.

I do know the benefits from earlier experiences, so I let that part be. It’s not easy, but it’s incredibly valuable.

One thing that felt different this time was how short my focus seemed, how jumpy the mind still was even after those first few days. And then, slowly, how different things began to surface.

This part feels very personal, and I’m choosing not to share it out of respect for myself. But I will say this: I’ve never reflected this deeply about my life as I have done since I came back. I was able to release and work through so much during my 8 days of silence. Absolutely no prepared agenda. It just happened.

Moments of deep peace. Moments of intense inner work. On and off, the whole time.

And now, coming back online today, I realise I haven’t missed it at all. There is a whole world inside and outside of this constant online state we live in, and it’s something I want to stay in contact with on a daily basis.

Because right now I feel happier. More peaceful. Clearer in my mind.

When you remove external input, what is you becomes more visible. And for me, that brings a deep sense of stillness in my gut and heart.

It is my responsibility to take care of myself in a way that puts me in a position where I can give from an honest place and support my clients in ways I would never have been able to otherwise. This work is important, and Vipassana happens to be my way of grounding myself and taking on that responsibility. I wouldn’t recommend this path for everyone, but for me it has been deeply valuable both personally and professionally.

What I Was Sharing With You

What I shared with you last week, about impermanence, about equanimity, about learning to see things as they really are, those weren’t abstract ideas for me. I was sitting in them. Living them. Practising them for 8 days.

I wanted to share the philosophy with you first, before telling you where I was, so you could meet these ideas on their own terms. Not as something exotic or extreme, but as what they are. Practical, human wisdom about how to be with life as it is.

Two Paths

People sometimes ask me: if Vipassana is so powerful for you personally, why do you create guided meditations?

It’s a very good question.

There are many paths to peace.

Vipassana goes to the roots. It requires real commitment, daily practice, ideally twice a day, every day. It includes periodic longer courses where you step away from everything. The benefits are profound, because you’re not managing symptoms, you’re working with the deep patterns underneath them.

My guided meditations are different. You can get something meaningful from just 10 minutes. You don’t have to commit to a daily practice. You don’t have to attend a course. You just have to press play and be willing to show up.

These are not competing approaches. They are different depths of the same water.

Think of my guided meditations as the shore, accessible, welcoming, safe. Vipassana is the deep ocean. Some of you will find everything you need at the shore. Some of you will feel called to swim further. Both are real. Both matter.

And I want to be clear, my guided meditations are my own creation. They are not Vipassana meditation. They are inspired by some of the same principles, but expressed through my own voice and my own methodology. Vipassana can only be properly learned through an authorised 10 day course. I’m sharing my experience as a practitioner, not as a teacher of the technique. If Vipassana resonates, you can explore courses at dhamma.org. They are completely free.

What Comes Next

Every Vipassana course ends with mettā, a quiet offering of love and goodwill to all beings. A reminder that this inner work is never just for ourselves. When we soften within, when we find even a little more peace, it doesn’t stay contained. It moves. It touches. It ripples outward in ways we may never fully see.

That’s what Life by Love means to me. It has always been that simple, and that profound. Every person I support on their journey creates a ripple far beyond themselves. What begins as one person feeling better becomes something shared, carried forward into families, relationships, and lives I may never know.

It always starts with one.

But it has to begin.

And that choice, that first step, has never been mine to take. It is yours.

Next week, we begin exploring something I’m deeply passionate about, the wisdom of your body. Everything we’ve covered these past 11 weeks has been leading here. Your body has been listening. Now it’s time to listen back.

Practice This

I created a new meditation right after my retreat. It’s called Sitting with What Is, and it takes one of the most powerful skills I practise, the ability to be with whatever arises without needing to fix, change, or run from it, and makes it accessible. No prior experience needed. Just a willingness to be with what’s here.

20 MIN

Sitting with What Is

A Practice in Non-Reactive Awareness

And if you’re newer to meditation, my full library is always here for you. Start wherever you are. There’s no wrong door.

[Access the Guided Meditation Library]

With love,

Johanna