Dhamma Sukhakari - Vipassana Meditation Centre

Feb 2023 took this life changing 10 day vipassana journey. As this review is for the center , following was summary of my experience. 1) connectivity : taxi in normal working hours are quite frequent at stowmarket station. 11 for a trip to center but often u get someone to share trip with. 2) center is very easy to find as its on forefront of a main road 3) Ambience very serene and center is covered on three sides by open fields and on one side theres main road. 4) bunk beds and toilet and in really good condition. 5)enough blanket and duvets are provided. 6) dinning hall is adequate and food was vegetarian , nutritious and yumm 7) plenty of walking area and spacious green area to relax 8) might have to walk often times to meditation hall (250 steps one way) for group sitting but i found it helpful physical exercise 9) Any lodging/food issue is immediately dealt with 10) on last/leaving day u will find plenty of lift options
Feb 25th, 2023

May 8th, 2022

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step", except the Dhamma journey doesnt quite lead you to a definitive end - I guess that makes each step taken an end in itself. Like each breath drawn and observed, each moment passing and observed, the exercise is to become more aware of the volition moment to moment. With urban life pushing for productivity, theres always a tendency to optimise and auto-pilot tasks to assuage the brain efforts, result: less mindfulness, stressed and not so productive afterall. With the fast pace of modern life, theres also the tendency to look for quick fixes. Worse still, we seek entertainment and intoxications to divert and numb the pains and aches, so they never get worked out. Having dipped my feet in meditation apps few years back, I find that while theyre intellectually sound, in practice rarely made a difference except helping me to nod off quicker. Whereas this, balls to the wall - No distractions, total silence for 10 days, a sure high-way to... hell, though not without some pretty nibbanic moments. It surely could have been a lot tougher with Covid practices still in place, but the amazing team here has absolutely pulled it out of the bag, helping other meditators and I better fighting our own individual demons. Particularly the Kitchen Staff - super-charging us with the most delicious foods imaginable - This certainly pulled me out of my individual hell from time to time. Thank you for the blissful course. Turbo Metta,
Apr 4th, 2022

Life changing in the most beautiful way possible.
Jan 10th, 2022

I initially didnt want to post a review although my experience has been very unpleasant and also the months to follow after retreat. I have asked from the first days to sit on a chair due to my leg pains during the hall meditations and I was refused based on the answer to the lady teacher questions: did you had a spine surgery, did you had a knee surgery which for all was No. Which obviously was not my case as I have blood circulation problems and a month and half before I had a procedure done on my heart. But that I couldnt say because that lady teacher does not listen to what you have to say but only of what she is expecting to hear from you or to the answers to their pre-learned pre-set questions. So I was said to continue to sit on mattress and to move during my meditations, which I did a lot and was distracting me, having to loose my focus. On day 4 I was called and questioned why I put on form that I do Reiki and that I am a healer and why I didnt put the same info as my original application form ( where I put my profession that I am an Engineer). Which were all true. Anyway again that lady assist teacher, who was shouting and shaking in anger, she didnt let me speak, to answer to her questions. Didnt allow me to ask any questions and she said if I dont stop moving I better go home. Honestly after that in the evening I tried not to move or shake and the next morning also, but my level of pain was so unbearable that tears start flowing on my face and I said I cannot take this anymore. I am not here to torture myself in year 2022. This are not Middle Ages times. So I decided to tell them that I cannot stay that I need to move so I better go home as I have been asked to a day before. Obviously having to leave in day 5 is a terrible idea because even as Goenkha says in his videos not to leave during the 10 day process as it will be very difficult afterwards. And indeed it was, as depression followed and I had to have a lot of support from different therapists who helped me to recover. My purification process during the retreat was left unfinished so it continued in a badly manner afterwards. Now I do not have strong issues as other people but I heard cases of people having committed suicides after Goenkha retreats. And now I understand why. Now the point that I am trying to highlight that is although Goenkhas teachings are amazing, unfortunately these places are having unqualified assistant teachers who have their own pre-conceived ideas and have no real understanding of the human mind and individual needs of each person. Most sadly is that they dont even bother to listen to you because they already have their own pre-judgements. Later I spoken with some other people who have done a Goenkha retreat and apparently they have some sort of aversion towards people who practice any form of healing. It is such a pitty that Goenkhas pure teachings have been lost or miscarried by unqualified teachers. Goenkhas was welcoming and treating equal everyone no matter from which background they were coming. I hope whoever reads this review will find it helpful. I defiantly should have done more research before coming to this retreat and find out how judgmental they can be and how an unfinished retreat can be so detrimental to mental health. What is more staggering is that the so called assistant teacher asked me to leave in the middle of the process of purification of my mind because I was not following her misunderstandings. It should be up to each individual to choose of how much pain to endure during a retreat. As I said we live in year 2022 not in year 1300 somewhere in a Burmese temple where rules have to be very strict.
Aug 12th, 2022