Vipassana on Two Wheels

It sounds bizarre, really, but long-distance biking is no less an insightful journey of the soul as it is of the body.

Vipassana is a form of meditation that allows you to see the reality as it is. As you go deeper into Vipassana, you erase the duality of your existence – mind and body; till, in the end, you learn the concept of impermanence – the ultimate truth that nothing is permanent in this life.

While most people practice Vipassana in a quiet surrounding, sitting at a spot for hours, it can be achieved, albeit partially, amidst the constant rumble of your bike as you whiz past electric poles and houses and fields and hills.

The Quietness of Thought

When the air sings in your ears and the machine roars like a beast, silence seems like a misplaced phenomenon. But the truth is that, while riding miles after miles, amidst all the din and clatter, your mind finds a luxurious quietness. As if, the rumble of the machine, shrill honks of the heavy vehicles and the cry of the wind, as you cut through it, all form a background for the resonating silence. With the current thoughts turning silent, you suddenly feel truly mindful of your surroundings. You see the reality as it is!

The Stillness of Being

Yes, you race from town to town, chasing your destination on two wheels and a will so resolute, yet, your body remains almost still. Just like practising Vipassana under a verdant tree, you experience the stillness of your being. Soon, you feel the individual existence of body and mind blurring, giving way to a single entity – you could be a well-functioning body or a formless idea.

The Journey Through Memories

As the duality of being ends, the quietness of thoughts and stillness of the being gives way to a flurry of long forgotten memories and half-formed thoughts. In this stage of seeing things as they are, you see past incidents and wandering thoughts in a new light.

‘Eureka!’ You might hear yourself screaming while riding past a herd of cattle, into a calm, orangish sunset, finding the solution to a problem you had been struggling to solve for a long time.

For me, it is not just the adventure or the opportunity to explore my manifested world that attracts me to long-distance biking. It is the possibility of looking within and connecting with the cosmos to find new ideas, solutions and inspirations that drive me to undertake journeys, which many find wasteful.