Vipassana with Ajahn Tawan
Three or seven days of silence with Ajahn Tawan, in December, January and February. Sitting and walking practice from before dawn, a short teaching each day, a daily interview with the teacher, and nothing else: no phones, no reading, no writing, no talking. Taught in the northern Thai tradition, with a bed and two meals a day. US$450 for the three days, US$1,050 for the seven.
- Intensity
- Pace
- Social
- Comfort
- Approach
Retreat highlights
- Silence from the first evening to the last afternoon, held by the whole group
- Sitting and walking meditation in alternating periods through the day, the way the tradition sets it
- A daily interview with Ajahn Tawan, ten minutes, where the practice is corrected to you
- A short teaching each evening, in plain words, on what the mind did that day
- Simple vegetarian food, two meals a day before noon and tea in the afternoon, as the practice asks
- A room of your own or shared, a bed, a shower, and a place to sit
- The three-day for people who have never sat; the seven for people who have and want to go further
- Twenty places
About this retreat
You have tried to meditate. An app, a class, ten minutes before the day starts, and it never became a practice because nothing around you was built for it. Here everything is. Nobody talks. Nobody is checking a phone. The day is sitting and walking from before dawn to after dark, and when it gets hard, which it will, there is a teacher to tell you what to do with it.
This is Vipassana as it is taught in the temples of northern Thailand: watching the breath and the body, moment by moment, until the mind stops running the show. Nothing is added to it. There is no breathwork, no music, no ceremony. The technique is the retreat.
The three-day is for people who have never sat and want to find out whether they can. The seven-day is for people who have sat and want to go further than three days allows. The seven starts the day the three ends, so you can do the three, the seven, or both.
The shape of the days
Before dawn
Up at four-thirty. The first sitting at five, then walking, then sitting again until breakfast.
Morning
Alternating sitting and walking, thirty to forty-five minutes each. Breakfast at seven, lunch at eleven, nothing after noon but tea.
Afternoon
The same alternation. Your interview with Ajahn Tawan happens somewhere in the afternoon, ten minutes, the only words you speak all day.
Evening
The teaching, half an hour. A last sitting. Bed by nine-thirty.
Schedule
The shape is fixed. The silence lifts on the last afternoon, in a circle.
Who this is for
- You have tried to meditate and never had the conditions for it
- You want a teacher, not an app, and a tradition that has been doing this for a very long time
- You want the silence more than you want the comfort
- You did the Deprogram or the Reset and want the stillness that holds them
Who it is not for
- You want a yoga retreat with some sitting. There is no yoga and no music
- You are in acute distress. Long silence can open things that need a clinician, and we will say so on the call
- You cannot be without a phone for three days. It goes in the office at the door
Accommodation and meals
A simple room, shared or your own, a bed and a shower. Two vegetarian meals a day, breakfast and lunch, cooked simply, and tea in the afternoon. Nothing after noon, which is the practice and not a hardship by day two. Venue to be confirmed: Insda or a meditation centre near Chiang Mai.
Shared room
A room to yourself
What is included
Included
- Two or six nights in a shared room
- Every sitting and walking period, led
- A daily interview with Ajahn Tawan
- The evening teaching
- Two meals a day and tea
- A cushion, a mat and a shawl to borrow
- Both airport transfers, Chiang Mai to the venue and back
- The call before you book
Not included
- Airfare into Chiang Mai
- Travel insurance, which is required
- Visa, where your passport needs one
- A room to yourself, which adds US$40 a night
Your guide
Ajahn Tawan
Getting here
Chiang Mai International Airport (CNX). Venue to be confirmed: Insda or a meditation centre near Chiang Mai. Both airport transfers are included, Chiang Mai to the venue and back.
Do not book flights until your place is confirmed. Once it is, you get every logistical detail in writing.
Every place is by application.
Nothing is charged until the call. After it, a US$300 deposit holds the place and the balance is due a fortnight before you arrive. The dates are held and the venue is to be confirmed.
A room to yourself adds US$40 a night.
Select your options
Twenty places per cohort, every one by application. The venue is to be confirmed.
Shared room
Change the dates or the room in the panel and this updates with them. Your selection travels with the enquiry, so the first reply already knows what you asked for.
Questions people actually ask
Is this Goenka Vipassana?
No. It is the practice as taught in the northern Thai temples, with a teacher you can speak to every day, a bed and two proper meals. The Goenka courses are free and ten days; this is three or seven, and it is paid.
Can I really not talk for seven days?
Yes. Everyone around you is doing the same, which makes it easier than it sounds.
What if I cannot sit cross-legged?
A chair is fine. The practice is in the attention, not the knees.
Is there a religious element?
It is a Buddhist practice taught by a Buddhist teacher. Nobody is asked to believe anything.
Can I leave early?
You can. We ask you to tell Ajahn Tawan first, because the moment you want to leave is usually the moment the practice is working.
