Yeah, meditation is a magnet for grand claims. I ignore that stuff too, except to the extent that I find Buddhist philosophy interesting.<p>The vipassana retreats are built on Buddhism (though the founder prefers to reformulate it in more secular terms) so it&#x27;s not surprising that they&#x27;re aimed towards some notion of nirvana.<p>At the very least, simple breathing exercises can be super obviously relaxing and mind-clearing. Lots of people do them for just ten breaths. Five minutes is quite a lot from that perspective, so I really think we shouldn&#x27;t dismiss that kind of duration.