Insight Meditation Center Newburyport

I have been attending courses and retreats here, as well as enjoying the potluck gatherings for the last 6 yrs or so. This center is SUCH a beautiful refuge, really well run and friendly. I have found the teachers to be so dedicated and compassionate, they are extremely experienced, and have a nice range of teaching styles between them. We are so lucky to have them here! I’m always amazed at all of the offerings, meeting where I am in my practice, and how much time I can give to it. Plus you can always talk one on one with the teachers, which can be life-​changing.
Can’t say enough! It’s a jewel in the woods…

I took the course The Mindful Moment taught by Matthew Daniell. I had done reading and practiced basic Insight Meditation on my own but I found this program to be a large step in my knowledge to improve my meditation. I felt it was a great mix of instruction, guided meditation, and time for questions. Matthew was a great instructor and made things very clear. IMCN also is a great facility in a beautiful location. I went in with mixed emotions on meditating with a group and found it to be a very good experience. I will go here in the future taking classes from both Matthew and other visiting instructors.

Beautiful facility and location. They also offer many ongoing programs for different levels.

I am relatively new to meditation and I thought I’d take a course/​session at this center. It’s the first time I meditated with a group.
The retreat/​session I went to was called «Waking up to your Life». It was 2.5 hours long and cost $ 37. It was for beginners and newer students.
The setting is beautiful and the people are really nice. We touched upon some powerful meditation methods such as walking meditation and the body scan. However, I think these things really require a much more in-​depth approach. I felt we went through them kind of quickly and it was difficult to grasp the meaning and effectiveness of the exercises.
If you ever have a chance you might want to read and listen to Jon Kabat-Zinn’s «Living the Full Catastrophe». He goes into these practices with considerable detail.
One thing I think is really important to mention is that if you are an absolute beginner I don’t think this beginner course is right for you. We meditated silently for a considerable amount of time on a couple of occasions and I think this would be very frustrating for someone new.
As a beginner I didn’t leave the Insight Meditation Center session with an idea on how I could successfully create and maintain a meditation practice. There were no handouts and, although we were told there would be a Q&A session at the end of our meeting, there wasn’t time for the class to ask any questions.
It is such a nice center and the people were very pleasant. I may visit the website again to check for other offerings.