Ontario Vipassana Centre

02/11/2022

We continue to adjust our operations at the Centre to meet the daily challenges of the pandemic.
Beginning in March, all students and servers must complete a Covid-19 rapid antigen test on Day 0 of their course.
Students are asked to administer their test at home before coming to the Centre. Servers may self-administer a test at home or complete it on arrival.

Please check the OVC course schedule page for updates to our Covid Safety Protocols.
👉🏽 https://www.dhamma.org/en/schedules/schtorana

11/16/2021

We're happy to share that the new Long-Term Server Residence is now 99.99% complete with only a couple of touch-ups needed.

The building is 14’ x 50’, with a small apartment at each end, and a laundry/mechanical room in the middle. Each apartment has a bedroom, a bathroom and a living-space/kitchenette.
The kitchenettes have electric range and a mid-size refrigerator.
We decided to go with electric heating in order to reduce our carbon footprint.
One of the apartments is already occupied, while the other awaits its occupant.

08/23/2021

We are happy to say that we are holding courses again.
The first 10-day course since November 2020 just concluded on August 15. We have a full slate of courses and service periods scheduled, however we are still in pandemic mode and restricted to only 30 students per course.

07/04/2021

Finally, we have good news about re-opening the centre.

As of June 30th, Ontario entered Step 2 of a Three-Step Roadmap to Reopen , the province’s plan to safely and gradually lift public health measures based on ongoing progress of province-wide vaccination rates and improvement of key public health indicators. If vaccinations continue as projected, Ontario is poised to enter Step 3 of the Roadmap around July 21, 2021. Therefore, we are cautiously optimistic that we will be permitted to conduct courses in August, albeit at reduced capacity.

Due to Public Health uncertainties, the August 4th 10-Day course will be open to old students only and subsequent 10-Day courses will be open to both old and new students. Registration will open four weeks prior to the scheduled start of a course. Please check the Course Schedule page on our website for more information.

05/04/2021

This has been a year of tremendous transition in the world and in people’s lifestyles and work habits. Life at Ontario Vipassana Centre has been affected along with everything else.

We have had to shut down our program for most of the last year, and when we could hold courses at the end of last summer, we had to use highly restrictive protocols to protect all those present. A full year has now passed since the pandemic started and we are again without a clear view forward.

This will also change...

04/06/2021

We are still closed until the first week of June (tentatively). Our re-opening date depends entirely on the course of the COVID pandemic in the province. We are moving forward month by month, waiting for the right moment.
Please be patient. This pandemic will end, and we will open again... when it's safe.

03/03/2021

📢 All events at the Ontario Vipassana Centre continue to be cancelled until the first week of June. At that time decisions about opening courses and service periods, as usual, will depend on the Ontario Government and the local Health Unit.

12/08/2020

🔔 Regretfully, we must again cancel courses and service periods at the centre until further notice.

After a shutdown of six months, we cautiously started to offer Vipassana courses back in September. This was done with a vigilant eye on the pandemic.

With careful planning, we were able to provide four small courses with only old students before we opened our doors to new students. We have since held three 10-day courses for both old and new students with 30 students and 10 staff in each. This is the maximum number we can take within the rules set out by the Province.

We understand the decision to cancel the upcoming courses is disappointing. We share in that disappointment and look forward to being able to offer courses again. Please monitor the course schedule page for updates.

03/30/2020

At this time, due to COVID-19, we have suspended all group activities at the Ontario Vipassana Centre and will re-evaluate our schedules as the situation evolves. All retreats and one-day courses have been cancelled until the end of April.

Please contact the Centre by telephone instead of coming in person.

08/15/2019

04/03/2019

“Develop purity in yourself if you wish to encourage others to follow the path of purity,” Goenka told a group of his students in 1989. “Discover real peace and harmony within yourself, and naturally this will overflow to benefit others.”

He gave up life as a successful Burmese businessman to teach meditation in India, and played a significant role in the explosion of interest in meditation as we know it today.