Please note there is no session on January 21, 2019.

Starting February 4, 2019, Insight Meditation Houston will move its weekly sitting group sessions to Covenant Church, 4949 Caroline, at 7 p.m.

The practice of Insight Meditation, or Vipassana, existent in Asia for more than 2,500 years, supports the development of concentration and awareness by focusing attention on the breath, thoughts, and emotions, allowing practitioners to understand the conditioning of the mind and to live more fully in the present moment.

In weekly sittings, held on Monday evenings at Asia Society Texas Center, the practice begins with a short series of exercises, followed by approximately 30 minutes of silent meditation. The meditation period opens with verbal instructions and guidance for those new to the practice. The meditation is followed by a dharma talk, in which principles of Buddhist philosophy are applied to everyday life. A period of discussion, or questions and answers about the practice, follows. The meditation and dharma talks are most frequently presented by Ginger Clarkson, Community Dharma Leader.

Both new and experienced meditators, as well as those of all faiths or none, are welcome in these weekly sessions. Chairs are provided to participants, while those who wish to sit on the floor are asked to bring their own cushions.

Based upon teachings that promote generosity, virtue, and both wisdom and compassion, Vipassana or Insight Meditation is associated with wellbeing and these individual benefits:

• Respite from the rapid pace of daily life
• Inner peace
• Mental clarity
• Experiencing for oneself the reality of how things truly are
• Compassion and forgiveness for self and others

Registration is not required and you may attend a session at any time. Sessions take place in the Asia Society Texas Center's Brown Foundation Performing Arts Theater. Parking is available on Southmore Street or in the Asia Society parking lot.

About Insight Meditation Houston

Insight Meditation Houston was founded in 1980 by Rodney Smith, who had ordained with Mahasi Sayadaw in Burma and then had practiced for three years with Ajahn Buddhadasa in Thailand. Returning to the West, Rodney worked in hospice care and taught Vipassana meditation throughout the U.S. Since he left Houston in 1983, IMH has continued to meet weekly in the city and to sponsor two or three retreats each year.

Since 2012, Community Dharma Leader Ginger Clarkson has led the IMH weekly meditations and dharma talks. The organization has grown, recently becoming a 501(c)(3) charitable educational organization.

In addition to its weekly meditation practice, IMH continues to hold several annual residential and non-residential retreats, often with nationally known Insight teachers. It sponsors quarterly book clubs that meet weekly for one month in casual surroundings to discuss and practice teachings from books related to meditation. It also sponsors a spiritual friends group that gathers monthly to practice and share meditation progress and challenges. Twice annually, IMH holds a social evening in place of the Monday night meeting so that members can become better acquainted, while celebrating gratitude in the fall and future leadership development in the spring.

For more information about Insight Meditation Houston: https://imhouston.wordpress.com/

For more information about Insight Meditation generally: https://www.spiritrock.org/intro-to-insight-2016

About the Instructor

Ginger Clarkson is a Community Dharma Leader, certified by Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California. She has practiced Vipassana meditation under the mentorship of Jack Kornfield and completed the Dedicated Dharma Practitioner program taught by Eugene Cash and other senior teachers at Spirit Rock. Ginger is author of A Silent Cure: Transforming Preverbal Trauma Through Meditation and Poems From the Heart of Silence, a compilation of poetry inspired by month-long silent meditation retreats. With her husband Mark Ryan, she founded the Cholula Vipassana Sangha, which she led for 12 years in the state of Puebla, Mexico, and since 2012 has led Insight Meditation Houston. She has completed the foundations course of the Buddhist Chaplaincy Training Program at the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care (NYZCCC), and is enrolled in a Contemplative Chaplaincy internship affiliated with NYZCCC, Omega House hospice, and the McGovern Center for Humanities and Ethics of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

Ginger is a Board Certified Music Therapist and a Fellow of the Association for Music and Imagery. In addition to her private practice, she has trained students internationally in the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music (GIM). She holds a B.A. degree in music from Wheaton College in Massachussetts, a M.A. in music therapy from New York University, and a M.S. in special education from Southern Connecticut State University. She has taught at Yale University and the Universidad de las Américas, Puebla, and currently lectures and gives workshops at the C.G.Jung Educational Center.

Program Sponsor