Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Amanda Coggin's avatar

17 years ago I lost my partner to suicide and the Vipassana practice harmed him by, I believe, uprooting deep, unresolved early childhood trauma that he ruminated on and had never dealt with nor found support to heal with professionals. I didn't understand any of this at the time and it charted me on a long course to learn & understand how trauma manifests in the body and the brain and how adverse effects can happen from these courses. And while it has been one of the most effective tools for myself, due to this extreme loss and the effects that meditation can have on certain folks, I no longer recommend it to all. They began adding the mental health questions to their application process shortly after I shared my partner's suicide note that signaled psychosis connected to his Vipassana practice. I agree completely that the Goenka Vipassana community should adhere to some of the points you have mentioned, allow for more support with conversation among the assistant meditation teachers and new students, and also have professional mental health practitioners as advisors when adverse effects arise. I became a chaplain in response to what I learned in long-term Vipassana practice and what I experienced serving courses and offering support to new students. Cheetah House out of Brown University in the U.S. offers good support around adverse events. Thank you for this post. 🙏

Expand full comment
Christa Bohl's avatar

Having attended 10 Goenka-courses in the past 12 years I am very thankful for putting our attention on this theme, Christopher!

I completely agree with Christophers suggestions in point 1, 2, 9 and 10. Point 3: chairs are provided in the centers. A suggestion from me is to integrate a daily time for Yoga or physical exercises into the timetable.

I did my fist course after a daily meditation praxis of 30 minutes for one year . I felt ready for it. I would never recommand it to a beginner. The timetable and the length of the sitting are helping me to have the discipline. Otherwise I would never meditate for 11 hours per day. And the result after finishing the course is immense. The purity is very effectiv. Its the training of concentration, yes, but with this concentration and equanimity I experienced the upcoming of old samkharas in the body. And experienced how they left me. And never came back. I felt a big relief. This was a psychological insight for me which changed my life. As I had already experienced what Goenka told ia day later in his discourse I became his devoted follower!

But I am a follower of Chistopher as well. Thank you very much Christoper for introducing the topic here.

Expand full comment
11 more comments...

No posts