Practicing Satipatthana Vipassana
Wat Sopharam Thailand, 2023
Satipatthana Course
In this course, you will learn to practice Vipassana meditation over 8 weeks, following the Buddha’s instructions.
Vipassana means to see clearly — and to develop insight — and it brings about a profound transformation in how we experience ourselves and the world.
The Satipatthana Sutta is the foundational text on which this practice is based. It outlines a systematic cultivation of mindfulness and the development of faculties that lead to awakening.
The Course
This course runs over 8 weeks. You are encouraged to practice 30–90 minutes of daily meditation. We meet live every Thursday at 4pm WEST (UTC+1, London) for two hours, and you will be assigned to a small practice group that meets independently once a week.
Each week also includes short video lessons and a WhatsApp group where you can share a weekly meditation report.
The guiding principles of the course are:
Practice
This is your own practice of mindfulness, both formal and informal (off the cushion). Your direct experience is the foundation for developing insight. Applying yourself and putting in the time is essential for progress.
Learning
By engaging with the material — reading, listening, reflecting, asking questions, and discussing — we develop a clear understanding of how to practice. This helps us practice intelligently, not just intensively.
Feedback
Reporting on your practice and receiving feedback — from the teacher, other practitioners, and your own reflections — allows you to iterate, learn quickly, and refine your approach. This supports greater precision, clarity, and motivation.
A week during the course
Live Sessions
Live meetings with the teacher and the full group.
Q&A, new topic introductions, practice instructions, and meditating together.
9 sessions in total, from April 30 to June 25
Every Thursday, 4–6pm WEST (UTC+1, London)
Berlin: 5 PM
New York: 11 AM
California: 8 AM
India: 8:30 PM
Video Lessons
Each week includes two to three short (10-minute) lessons.
They introduce the Satipatthana Sutta, key principles, and how to apply them in your practice.
Practice Pod
A weekly meeting in a small group of 3–4 participants in a similar time zone.
A space to share how your practice is going, reflect together, and support each other.
A smaller feedback loop to help you see your practice more clearly, learn from others, and stay engaged with the challenges and joys of daily meditation.
Meditation Report
A short report shared every Sunday in a WhatsApp group.
An opportunity to receive feedback from the teacher, clarify your own practice through writing, and learn from others’ experience.
Weekly Topics
We begin with a re-introduction to Vipassana meditation and the core skills of Samadhi (concentration) and Sati Sampajanna (mindfulness with clear comprehension). From there, we move step by step through the four foundations of mindfulness as outlined in the Satipatthana Sutta — Body, Feeling Tone, Mind, and Dhammas.
In the final part of the course, we apply mindfulness more directly to the three characteristics of experience: Impermanence, Non-Self, and Suffering.
Orientation & Mindfulness of Breathing
Two Ways of Developing Samadhi (concentration)
Posture & Sensation
The foundation for Insight - developing Sati (mindfulness)
Body Foundation
Mindfulness of the Body and what it does and doesn't include
Feeling (Vedanā)
Feelings and Emotions. What the Buddha meant by Vedana and how to apply it in working with difficult emoitns
Mind (Citta)
The Contents and States of Mind. Meta-consciousness
Is mind just the way we talk to ourselves in our heads?
Dhammas & Impermanence (Anicca)
Mindfulness of the fluxing, flowing nature of experience
Mindfulness of Visual thought
Dhammas & Dissatisfaction (Dukkha)
Mindfulness of incongruence and resistance in experience
Non-symbolic thought and the energy of thinking
Dhammas & Non-Self (Anattā)
What is the self and non-self
The Witness & the Do-er
Review & Integration
Putting the practice into context
Course Requirements
Daily Practice
Create the space and time for your daily meditation (30–90 minutes).
In this longer course, you will be guided less than in the 10-day course. Weekly instructions explain the technique, but you are expected to practice independently, using a timer rather than guided meditations.
This is crucial for developing your own “internal guide” and becoming a self-reliant meditator.
Weekly Live Sessions (2h)
Attend live or watch the recording.
These sessions help you understand why and how we practice. Right understanding is the foundation of good practice, supporting you in adjusting it based on its principles.
Practice Pod (1h weekly)
Meet with your small group to share and reflect on your practice.
Weekly Meditation Report (Sunday)
Share a short report in the WhatsApp group (~10 minutes).
5 questions on your practice, challenges, and insights.
What is not required
You don’t need a specific meditation posture or to sit cross-legged — a chair is completely fine.
You don’t need to maintain Noble Silence. This course is designed to fit into daily life. The value is learning to practice Vipassana within your life, not outside of it.
More about the Technique & Lineage
This course introduces the basics of the “noting” technique, as popularised by Mahasi Sayadaw.
It is one of the two main contemporary Vipassana approaches, alongside the body-scanning method popularised by S. N. Goenka.
The noting technique was brought to the West through teachers such as Sayadaw U Pandita, Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, Daniel Ingram, and Shinzen Young.
In this course, we work with a variant of the noting technique that gradually becomes lighter and more continuous. Over time, the emphasis shifts toward a more open awareness of experience, eventually deepening into a non-dual way of practicing Vipassana.
In noting, simple mental labels are used to recognise what is arising in experience — such as breathing, hearing, sitting, thinking, or remembering.
There are no distractions. Whatever arises, when seen clearly, becomes part of the practice.
The technique is a direct and effective way to establish mindfulness and clear awareness in the present moment.
It includes the full range of experience: body sensations, sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and thoughts.
The Progress of Insight
The Progress of Insight is a traditional Buddhist map describing the unfolding of insight in Vipassana meditation. It points to a shift from a more gross, conceptual sense of solidity to a fine-grained, direct knowing of experience — and ultimately, to the first awakening.
We use this model as a gentle map to support your process as insight deepens. While simply “being present” is central to the practice, this framework can help you orient, recognise patterns, and understand how to continue.
The original model describes 16 stages (ñāṇas, or “knowledges”).
In this course, we use a simplified version based on a contemporary model, The Insight Development Process (Grabovac et al., 2026). This model draws on the traditional stages and integrates perspectives from cognitive science, psychiatry, and neuroscience.
The 8-stage model describes the unfolding of insight as practice begins to deconstruct sensory experience. It moves through stages such as the knowledge of arising and passing (4th ñāṇa) and into deeper equanimity (11th ñāṇa).
A diagrammatic representation of momentary insights associated with each Insight Stage (Grabovac et al., 2026)
The full paper can be accessed below:
Grabovac, A. D., Grabovac, N., Yang, W. F. Z., Haggerty, M., Wright, M. J., & Sacchet, M. D. (2026).
The Insight Development Process: A Theoretical Framework for Stages of Advanced Insight Meditation
Your Facilitator
Reimar is a meditation teacher, dance facilitator, and father, currently based in Portugal, with over five years of teaching experience.
He began practicing meditation during his studies at Melbourne University, where he discovered Vipassana as a way to transform his relationship to stress, anxiety, and a lifelong struggle with eczema.
Experiencing its benefits early on, he committed to daily practice and intensive silent retreats in the tradition of S. N. Goenka, while working full-time at Vanguard.
He later moved to Thailand to deepen his practice, training in the Ajahn Tong-style Mahasi method. During this time, he completed multiple 12- and 16-day retreats, including intensive day-and-night meditation periods.
Reimar trained for four months under Ajahn Puttar at Wat Sopharam monastery in Northern Thailand, where he was authorised to teach. In total, he has spent over 30 weeks in intensive silent retreat.
His work is grounded in meditation, somatic, and artistic practice, including dance improvisation and martial arts.
He continues to refine his understanding, currently studying non-dual Vipashyana with Michael Taft.
In 2021, he founded vipassanathome.org, where he offers online courses and in-person retreats, sharing a balanced and integrated approach to meditation and life.