Vipassana Meditation Group

I belong to a meditation group that practices in the form of Vipassana and meets every Monday at 7:30pm - 9:00pm at the Unitarian Universalist Church in University Park. The address is 70 Sycamore Drive, Park Forest, IL. 60466

I have been attending this group now for 6 years and have found it to be extremely helpful for my sense of general wellbeing. Vipassana means "To see things as they really are" which gives you an idea of the value of the practice. We sit in silence for a total of 40 minutes, most often I focus on my breath, and allow whatever is, to be. When thoughts arise (not IF but WHEN)... the idea is to be aware. Not to manipulate or do anything with them (like try to get rid of them) but to just be aware. Although this sounds fairly simple, it's not easy. What's easy is to keep doing what we have always done: worrying, harboring grudges, making judgments, thinking about the past, thinking about the future, wondering if we're doing this correctly...etc. With that "space" of witnessing my thoughts and feelings comes the freedom to create some distance from either grasping or aversion. Suffering comes from holding on to something or pushing away something.

The first night I came to this group I wasn't convinced that I was doing ANYTHING! It was quite interesting because I was so used to "guided" meditations, which are quite nice and very helpful in their own way as well. But my "thoughts" were something like "why am I doing this? why am I here? this is silly! what am I accomplishing? I have no clue, just sitting here, shouldn't I be concentrating on opening my chakras?, bringing in light? praying? doing SOMETHING???" I kept coming anyway. And I started to watch these thoughts. And little by little my practice grew. At times when I feel physical pain I sit in silence and listen. At times of emotional pain, I sit in silence and listen. With practice, Vipassana has filtered into my everyday life and has made it possible for me to watch my thoughts more often. It is a priceless gift to witness my "monkey mind" when I have the consciousness to do so. The results have been freedom from much of the suffering that I experienced without practicing conscious awareness of my thoughts.

There is no fee involved in Vipassana. The "structure" of the gathering I attend currently looks like this:

7:30 - Arrive and settle in
7:40 - 5 minute group chant
7:45 - 20 minute silent meditation
8:05 - 1 minute stretch
8:06 - 20 minute silent meditation (you may choose to do a walking meditation)
8:26 - Stretch and prepare for dharma talk
8:30 - 15 minute dharma talk
8:45 - Sharing time with group

While we do not have a "leader" we have been allowing one volunteer per week who would like to share a CD or tape to do so during the 15 minute dharma talk. The chosen material has been appropriate to the group focus. For example, Pema Chodron, Michael McAllister, Sharon Salzburg, Jack Cornfield, etc.

All are welcome!
To learn more about Vipassana Meditation, CLICK HERE