Dhamma Dipa Vipassana Meditation Center

Great place to learn Vipassana meditation. Got the chance to serve (volunteer) here for many courses. The centre is beautiful and nice to walk around. Not to far from a few towns. The surrounding area is always nice to walk around.

This confirms the legitimacy of the Goenka experience for me; you can't donate or volunteer until you've been on a course and the place runs on donations and volunteers... I'm grateful for my experience here. The course itself is a difficult and personal journey but the facilities at the centre are great. This is a purpose built complex for meditation. Make sure you know what you're getting yourself into as the course is a difficult process. However, the staff and the centre do everything they can to give you the space you need to do your work.

An amazing place for 10 day course. I'd suggest 1. Go to course without expectation and be brave to accept the reality about yourself. 2. Real benefit of the course comes with the sustained daily practice post return. Overall the place is amazing All facilities are nicely maintained and suit the purpose. The staff and volunteers are amazing. My heartfelt gratitude and appreciations for all of them. Very good food and wonderful service. Systems are very streamlined to avoid any disruption to the practices. We'll oiled mechanism for onboarding and off boarding activities. The atmosphere in the center helps in sustaining meditation practice and vibes are helpful for you to focus your mind, overcoming mental distractions. Good luck and best wishes to all those who intend to visit dhamma dipa for a course.

This centre is such an oasis, it is so calm and tranquil. The servers are happy to help , the food is delicious and everything is taken care of. I just had to show up! Now coming home, not only do I feel deeply refreshed, I have a technique that will help me every moment of my life, not just while I am there. I can think on no greater gift to be given. Try for yourself, it's sensational!

Vipassana is very hard, very demanding. All your issues will bubble up and it can be very disconcerting to sit with this stuff in silence and ever increasing self awareness as this process takes place. It's hard to understand just how much hard work it is to sit still in silence all day. You will want to leave on your first course. You just will. But don't. The rewards of this process are immense and grow and prosper with daily practice. This is genuinely life changing stuff. You will need to be in reasonable mental health to do this - it's not designed or suitable for those with serious mental health conditions. As for exploitation by an Indian businessman - firstly, there is no charge (you can donate if you want - but only after completing a 10 day course). Secondly, he's dead so fail to see how he could benefit. Not in any way a relaxing break, but the best thing you can do for yourself. I've done 2 courses, practice daily and plan to go back every year.

A wonderful place to visit for Vipassana meditation courses. The centre is in a quiet, rural farming area just outside Hereford. Very peaceful. Really well organised centre ran by experienced meditators. I've visited several times so far and hope to visit many times more. Metta.

Know thyself. It is no holiday and no small thing to delve into your infinite self. Make yourself the gift of your life, make the connection. I have been going here since 1999 has grown massively, as we all begin to awaken a place such as this is a safe place to explore your inner space. The is technique amazing, and it works. You will be taken good care of here, leave a donation as you feel is befitting for the blessings you will undoubtedly receive.

about yourself and ultimately, the nature of reality. Don't expect a holiday- it's a place to do work. That work, however, if taken seriously, leads directly to lasting happiness. Oh & it's donation based, so the teaching & the food & accommodation is free at the point of learning. The only reason for its survival is that the people who sit a course find it beneficial & wish to donate back. Enjoy!

Ten days that can change your life - if your ego can let go - and you put in your full effort. Although this course had been recommended to me by three different people, all of whom I know well and trust, I was somewhat unconvinced before embarking on this path that Vipassana Meditation could affect my life. I thought I was simply going to be instructed how to meditate. But in fact, it is so much more than that. It has become a state of being, a philosophy, a way to focus and rise above all the detail of daily life. Not only are you taught a very practical meditation technique, in a very well-devised and well-paced programme, but you are also given all the background and philosophy that will enable you to apply that technique and put it into motion in your daily living. The centre itself is stunning, the people who run are doing a splendid job, and the food and facilities leave nothing to be desired. I will not tell you that living like a Buddhist monk for ten days was easy, or that having ten days of silence to look deep inside yourself was not unsettling. But it was a humbling experience, and even now after months of having completed my first course I am feeling the benefits of my hard work. I am finally meditating regularly and as a consequence I am calmer, happier more focused and more aware.

Incredible! Absolutely Free. I've attended five 10 day courses here. Vipassana has changed my life in such a positive way. I am calmer, more resilient and focused in life. I highly recommend trying Vipassana at least once in your life. It's not easy, but nothing in life of value is.

Absolutely wonderful place. I am so glad I found Vipassana and this center. I was simply blown away with my first experience almost a year back. Now going back for second retreat in a days time. What you learn is not just another meditation technique, but a practice which if followed diligently can help you find ultimate freedom.

Had gone for the 10 day Vipasana meditation course.Very organised and smoothly run course. The center was clean, with good management. Food was fresh and meditators can feel comfortable and safe. This is NOT a normal, everyday light meditation course though. Have to live like a true monk/ nun for 10 full days. It’s a strict, rule based ,rigorous ( almost 8 hours per day of sitting on the ground, no back support with only a pillow) meditation where one is asked to only concentrate on respiration and sensations on the body. Have to take an oath in the beginning of the course where we were told that we can’t quit midway and strictly abide by rules as told by the Buddha and also follow the time table ( waking up 4 am and lights out at 10 pm). Men and women are kept separate throughout the entire duration of the course and everyone has to observe complete silence ( so no talking with language or even gestures with fellow meditators) Only pure Vegetarian breakfast and lunch buffet style.No dinner ( only fruit and tea at 5 pm, fasting thereafter) No electronic gadgets or any form of entertainment whatsoever . No exercise other than walking is allowed. No music/ visualisations/ verbalisation or any of the usual things associated with meditation. It’s a Buddhist technique, which is about trying and understanding the impermanence of everything in life and law of nature. The living quarters is a dorm with shared bathrooms/ common dining hall. Sermons are given on video tape every evening for 1 hour by the teacher, Goenka ji in English ( translations are available in different parts of the world). He insists it’s not religious but the practice involved can go completely opposite to the rituals/ worshiping techniques and beliefs of most organised religions of the world. So one Will have to choose to either follow this path laid down by the Buddha or not. There is no place for any middle ground. This camp has been one of the toughest things I have ever done. Required full will power to stay the entire duration. But has been very helpful and much needed. I am glad to have done it. Taught me a lot about myself and helped me think about the universal truth. Have met some wonderful people as well. An experience that everyone should try once atleast to actually dig deep in our own minds and to really know yourself without Any distractions. The answers lie truly within us, if we only stop trying to supress it with distractions of the society. Can be very healing if done with an open mind and full determination and dedication.

Great facilities and very looked after for my 10 day retreat over new years. Spoke to many Vipassana mediators that that been to other centres and they said that this was the best. Look forward to returning ??

An amazing technique and potentially life changing experience. There is a very disciplined regime and it is hard work, but from my personal experience that is the minimum required to begin to get an insight into the benefits that can be gained from practising the technique.

To benefit from 10 days retreat doing vipassana it is necessary to learn to observe what we ordinarily call "ourself" in a way we may not be used to... Objectively Not subjectively .... The method given is so as to learn how to do this . Freedom can be tasted through this path. Those willing to surrender their views and opinions I'm sure will truly taste some freedom . May wisdom arise to all beings?? Be happy

I ended up hear in 2014 my life has changed drastically it's what I'd been searching for .I experience what I first touched apone most day's now. This will help you accept your self, and see life in a new way .

Immensely challenging, like a bootcamp for the mind. Definitely the hardest thing I've done in my life including marathons & having a 12 hour awake brain surgery. Who'd think that just sitting and breathing could be so difficult! Immensely rewarding in all aspects of my life. My relationship with my own mental wellbeing and those around me

Have been to dhamma padhana twice for short 3 day courses and the facilities are brilliant (e.g.private room with a shower!). Haven't been to dhamma dipa but will be going to serve a 10 course there. Vipassana is not a sect and the person who gave this centre 1 star simply didn't get the point...4,7/5 is still pretty good!