It’s been about three years since I’ve been doing any Vipassana-related activities. Although I’ve relocated to DC, I still consider NY in many respects to be where I call home. I still have property here, my family still remains here, my grandfather is buried here. When I saw that the local NY Vipassana Association (NYVA) needed volunteers to assist when I was in town, I enthusiastically signed up. I have done two other 10-day silent meditation retreats before, but it wasn’t until last weekend that I realized how much effort goes into setting up one of these courses. We started Saturday morning and did not finish until the next day. Bear in mind this was with several dozen volunteers. One of the NYVA coordinators, Janice, helped communicate between the prep teams and servers (volunteers during the 10-day course) well. I got to know several of the volunteers including Eric, who runs his own furniture business, Don, a retiree who lives and breathes Indian culture, and Liqian, a travel vlogger.
It was a shame it was overcast Saturday evening since you never get this kind of darkness and therefore visible stars where I Iive.
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