Movie Night at The Yoga Place!

On Friday, March 25th at 5:30pm, Jennie Williford will be hosting a movie night at The Yoga Place to show “Doing Time, Doing Vipassana”

Many of you know that Jennie has had a practice of Vipassana Meditation in the tradition of SN Goenka since 2005. She has been an active volunteer at centers in both IL and now in WI in many capacities and loves to introduce people to the practice whether they ever get to a course or not.

“Doing Time, Doing Vipassana” is a moving documentary made about the use of Vipassana Meditation in one of the most violent prisons in the world, Tihar jail, in India. With its success, this program also prompted other applications of Vipassana Meditation within prison systems in the US (The Dhamma Brothers and Changing from the Inside are two other videos). This movie was my first introduction to the practice of Vipassana from an Iyengar Yoga friend who invited Josh and I for dinner and a movie. I can’t think of a better way to introduce my local community to the practice than to invite you for dinner and a movie at The Yoga Place.

Vipassana Meditation in the tradition of SN Goenka is taught in 10-day residential courses all around the world. The 10 days are set up for the learning of this particular technique, plus gives you the space and time to practice before being thrown back out into “real life”. After other attempts at different meditation techniques that only were taught over a weekend or even in a series that met once per week for a while, it was the 10-days of Vipassana that finally gave me a sitting practice of meditation that has been highly effective in helping me “see things as they are” (the meaning and translation of the term ‘vipassana‘).

The full 10-day course teaches you “insight” into your Self through silence and the lack of distraction. To enter a course, you give up all outlets we may typically turn to for avoidance or processing – no phones, books, journals, writing utensils, etc…You are asked to follow the practice of “noble silence” throughout the course, meaning no verbal communication, and other forms of communication are diminished as much as possible. The whole course is taught by audio and video tapes of SN Goenka who passed away in 2013. Courses are completely run by volunteer servers who are there to care for you as you learn and Assistant Teachers who are there for questions about the technique and practice.

For our “movie night”, we will have yummy samosas and dal from Puja Mehta and Indian Meal Kit and Jennie will be there for any questions that may arise. Pamphlets and booklets will also be available for more information. I hope you take advantage of this fun opportunity! Space will be limited due to continued COVID restrictions, and studio regulations of fully vaccinated attendees will be in effect.

This is a free community gathering, but SIGN UP required to attend!