It's something _everybody_ can learn and do, there is nothing mystical or religious or secret about it.
You usually start with samadhi (or concentration), where you simply observe your breath - either as air movement through your nostrils or as movements of the abdomen.
In the beginning you can count your breaths 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, and 1 again.
Most people lose track at 4 or 5 and get distracted by thoughts in the beginning. If that happens just start at 1. No blaming, just start again.
You can do this for a very long time without getting bored.
After a while you can stop counting, and naturally drift into the vipassana (insight/wisdom) part. Just observe your breath and start noticing whatever else is going on. Sounds, your thoughts, feelings, fears, joys, etc, etc.
I practiced more traditional methods of Vipassana (U Ba Khin and Mahasi Sayadaw) for years, but have actually found a combined metta/insight practice [1] to be more effective, both in terms of mental/emotional wellbeing and progress of insight.
It's something _everybody_ can learn and do, there is nothing mystical or religious or secret about it.
You usually start with samadhi (or concentration), where you simply observe your breath - either as air movement through your nostrils or as movements of the abdomen. In the beginning you can count your breaths 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, and 1 again. Most people lose track at 4 or 5 and get distracted by thoughts in the beginning. If that happens just start at 1. No blaming, just start again.
You can do this for a very long time without getting bored.
After a while you can stop counting, and naturally drift into the vipassana (insight/wisdom) part. Just observe your breath and start noticing whatever else is going on. Sounds, your thoughts, feelings, fears, joys, etc, etc.