Group Sittings

Group sittings are valuable opportunities to strengthen your practice of Vipassana. By sitting with fellow students who are following the same technique, you can meditate more seriously and gain support which will help you keep practicing on your own.

Guidelines

Goenkaji has established the following guidelines to ensure that group sittings will be most beneficial to the students attending them:

• Group sittings are open only to those who have taken at least one ten-day course with S. N. Goenka or one of his assistant teachers.
• The five precepts of wholesome conduct are to be observed in the place where group sittings are held. These precepts include abstention from the following: killing any living creature, stealing, wrong speech, sexual misconduct, and the use of intoxicating drugs or alcohol. Observation of wholesome conduct is a necessary foundation for the practice of Vipassana.
• Participants at group sittings should practice only the meditation technique taught by Goenkaji.

If you know of a group sitting that you would like to see listed, please email the webmaster. You can download the group sitting audio sessions at the International Old Student Site.

One Day Courses and Intermittent Group Sittings

Please view the Group Sitting News Page for group sittings and one-day courses that aren’t on a regular schedule.

Host Group Sittings

To be listed as a contact or group sitting host, please review the following information:

• Guidelines & Application for World Contacts and Group Sitting Hosts
• Sign for posting at the place of a group sitting
• Guidelines for collecting Dāna at group sittings

Virtual Group Sittings

The New York City Dhamma House has started a program of virtual group sittings. These virtual sittings provide a helpful option for meditators to maintain and strengthen their practices with the support of a group when physical group sittings are impractical due to distance or tight schedules. As with official in-person group sittings, there is an application process to be a host as well as guidelines for meditators. Meditators throughout the Northeast and beyond can access virtual group sittings. If you wish to participate, click here to register (offsite link, requires old-student login). Once we receive your information, all the necessary details about the program will be sent to you including timings and various ways of connecting to the virtual daily group sittings. May group sittings help your practice of Dhamma.

Weekly Group Sittings in the Dhamma Modana Region