My busy summer included getting married, buying a home, and starting a new job as a high school science teacher. I live in a suburban neighborhood 10 minutes from Dhamma Delaware, a new Vipassana Meditation Center, and within 30 minutes of Philadelphia and Wilmington. Now I want to discover what Vipassana has to offer society, and figure out how I can help.
Goenka’s organization has perfected the 10-day introductory meditation course for individuals interested in seeking out that experience. What I wonder is if meditation has a place in transforming our society. Sitting 2-hours a day is powerful for serious meditators, but the general public is not going to reach that degree of commitment. Children’s courses encourage kids and teens to sit 10 minutes every morning and evening, and adults in various traditions have witnessed improvement in concentration, stress and anger management, and academics with regular observation of the breathe (see article).
Would introducing Anapana and encouraging groups to sit together for 10 minutes a day show significant results in neighborhoods, businesses, or families? What information or supports would these groups need to inspire their effort? What groups would be most open to exploring meditation. As I’ve reintegrated my life into society, these are the questions that are coming to my mind. I’m not sure exactly if or how I’ll pursue them, but they are intriguing. Time to meditate.
Living Vipassana 
Good to hear from you. I can only imagine that IF people can undo the negative habit patterns of the mind–the blind reactions etc… that meditation would certainly transform society. In a sense it already is, one meditator at a time.
Oops! I thought I was commenting on another friend’s blog whose name is also RYAN, and who also writes about Vipassana. Sorry.
Congratulations Ryan on getting married.
In the UK they are doing a big study on introducing mindfulness classes into a test group of schools over a 5 year period to get the data to help build the case to do it nationally.
Could you discuss with your principal introducing a mindfulness after school activity ?
Hi Tom, good to hear from you. Sounds like an interesting study. I’ll be talking to the principal soon, so we will see.