Ten days of noble silence and bare attention to breath and sensation, an unbroken Theravada technique taught exactly as it was 2,500 years ago.
The world headquarters of Goenka Vipassana and one of the largest meditation centres on Earth, where the modern revival was born and the gold-standard 10-day course is taught at the source.
BirthplaceLiving sceneMeccaGold credentialUnbroken lineageVerified schoolsThe Burmese soil where the technique was preserved and re-ignited for the modern world, the original training ground of the Mahasi and U Ba Khin lineages.
BirthplaceUnbroken lineageHeritageNamed mastersA temple-dense valley where Mahasi-tradition monasteries run rigorous 26-day insight retreats and a deep cohort of travelling meditators gathers year-round.
Living sceneUnbroken lineageHeritageThe Western cradle of insight meditation, where the founders of the modern mindfulness movement built a serious silent-retreat campus and a real teacher-training pipeline.
Living sceneVerified schoolsNamed mastersI'm Arnaud. I cook for a living, and I've spent fifteen years on the water — so I know the difference between a real school and a good-looking website. I built the Atlas because I got tired of the second kind. Here is what a place has to clear before it goes on here, and what I'll tell you straight when it doesn't.
If a place dodges these, that's your answer. It costs you nothing to ask, and it tells you everything.
This is the short version. The full method is here — the six questions, in order, for any craft anywhere.