The above original paper published in ‘Mindfulness’ online journal dated 26 April 2014 is important to both the practitioners of Secular Mindfulness meditation and Vipassana meditation. It is specifically valuable to teachers of Secular Mindfulness meditation, Psychiatrists and Counsellors. The paper is important due to the following reasons;

1.  Some Western teachers and Clinicians have observed remarkable new developments in association with the 8 Weeks Secular Mindfulness training courses. They have noted that some of the participants at these courses appear to progress through the initial stages of Insight Development. These stages are described by the Masters of Buddhist Vipassana meditation practice.
2. What is noteworthy is that these participants were practicing as little as just 20-30 minutes a day during their 8 weeks non-religious Mindfulness meditation courses! The paper describes as to how this could happen to some of the participants.
3. The author of this original paper, Dr. Andrea Grabovac appears to be both a teacher of 8 Weeks mindfulness courses in Clinical settings and also as a teacher influencing the course curriculums of the new generations of ‘Mindfulness Meditation Teachers’ proliferating in the Western world.
4. The author mentions that within the Theravada Buddhist tradition, it is understood that meditators progressing through the stages of Insight may undergo experiences that are extremely psychologically challenging, and that these may become clinically significant as a result of associated functional impairments. As such she mentions that it is important to impart this knowledge to the teachers of Secular Mindfulness Meditation. Currently attempts are being made to include this into the curriculum of some of such teacher training courses. One example is the current 2 year MBA program at Bangor University, U.K. to develop and train Mindfulness Meditation teachers.
5. The paper provides a clear, easy to understand descriptive explanation about the Stages of Insight. This will be useful to both the practitioners of Vipassana and the 8 Weeks Secular mindfulness course participants.

damsara.org is unable to provide the complete paper due to copyright issues. We have provided below a link to the paper from the publishers. Two pages of the paper are given to the public free of charge (Click on the ‘eye’ sign given at the top left side of the page). Those who want to read the full paper have to purchase it from the publishers. Please click the link given below to reach the web page of the publishers.

The Stages of Insight: Clinical Relevance for Mindfulness-Based Interventions