Vipassana Centers
Penang has a temporary centre on a hillside with good views overlooking Georgetown. It has shared dormitories for up to 35 students. Usually two ten-day courses are held each month except during the mid-year harvest season.
We are currently running 3 days courses for returning students at a rented site on the Isle of Cumbrae.
Ten-day courses are usually held several times a year. They are mostly at St Johns Island which is located approximately 6.5km south of Singapore. Accommodation facilities are dormitories with shared common bathrooms and toilets. There are regular 1-day courses and weekly group sittings for old students.
Until 2010, the meditators of the Andalusia Area had to travel beyond the borders of this area to attend a course. Finally, after an intensive search, a centre for rent that fulfilled the necessary conditions was found. The Coordination of the Area of Andalusia organised its first 10-day course in Monte Mariposa, near Tavira (Portugal), from December 1 to 12, 2010.
Meditation groups, 1-day courses with and without teachers and 4-hour courses were also organised in the vicinities of Seville, Málaga, Huelva, Motril and Badajoz.
In 2010, Extremadura was included in the Area of Andalusia, and in 2011 the area was renamed the South Area.
Vipassana meditation courses in St. Petersburg are organized by a group of old students practicing vipassana in the tradition of Sayadji U Ba Khin, as taught by SN. Goenka.
Regularly the courses began to be held in the spring of 2009, and currently 4 ten-day courses are held every year - 2 in the spring and 2 in autumn, as well as three-day courses for "old" students. In St. Petersburg there is no own center, so a suitable camp is rented for the courses in the Leningrad region. Since 2009, the courses have been held in different pioneer camps, as well as in the retreat center of Zolotaya Gorka near the town of Lodeynoye Pole. As a rule, it was necessary to overcome both everyday problems, mainly connected with heating of premises, and financial. Starting from autumn 2015, it was decided to hold autumn and spring courses in Karelian Birch. The distance from St. Petersburg is 130 km, from Vyborg - 17 km.
The camp allows to place in 3 and 4-bed rooms about 120 students and 15 employees. Residential buildings are conveniently located next to the hall. The room is maintained at a temperature of not less than 18 degrees, which is especially important for the spring and autumn periods.
At the moment the buildings require cosmetic repairs, but the camp is actively modernized and, we hope, in the near future conditions will improve.