Self-Guided Vipassana Meditation Course Online
Vipassana.Life is a free, self-paced Vipassana meditation course in five parts, taught in the Theravada tradition and completed at home. There is no fee, no subscription, and no account is needed to begin. The course is given and sustained by dāna — voluntary generosity — and nothing is withheld from people who give nothing.
What the course is
- Ānāpānasati first. Training begins with awareness of natural breathing, the traditional foundation, before moving to whole-body sensation work and insight practice.
- Sīla, Samādhi, Paññā. Ethical grounding, concentration and insight — the threefold structure of the Theravada path — organise the whole arc of the course rather than sitting alongside it as theory.
- Self-paced. Missing a day does not reset your progress. Students resume where they left off, and parts unlock in sequence because the instructions genuinely build on one another.
- One sit at a time. Each day is one guided audio meditation plus a short written reflection. Sits begin around ten minutes and lengthen gradually across the five parts.
The five parts — 101 days in total
1. Ānāpānasati Essentials — 5
Five days of breath training with two daily sits, journaling and the five precepts. Day 0 assumes you have never meditated.
2. Ānāpānasati Immersion — 25
Twenty-five days of long-form breath guardianship that fortify Sīla and Samādhi before any deeper insight work begins.
3. Vipassanā — Sīla, Samādhi, Paññā — 35
Thirty-five days bridging Ānāpāna into whole-body sensation scanning, with equanimity drills and extended sits.
4. Vipassanā — Advanced Insight — 15
Fifteen days refining insight into Anicca, Anattā and Dukkha, weaving in Mettā and the four protective reflections.
5. Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta Practice — 21
Twenty-one days integrating breath, body, mind and dhammas into daily life, service and the Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta.
Common questions
- Is the course really free?
- Yes, entirely. It is supported by dāna — voluntary giving, after the fact, by those who found it useful. There is no paywall and no upsell. If a page you find claims to sell this course, it is not us.
- Do I need meditation experience?
- No. The course opens at Day 0, which assumes you have never meditated before and explains posture, timing and what to expect.
- How long is each meditation?
- Sits begin at around ten minutes in Part 1 and lengthen gradually across the five parts as concentration develops.
- Do I need an account?
- Not to start. An account exists only to sync your progress across devices. You can sit anonymously.
- Is this the same as a 10-day Vipassana retreat?
- No, and it does not claim to be. This is a home practice course. It does not replace residential retreat training under a teacher, and it is not affiliated with any retreat organisation.
- What happens if I miss a day?
- Nothing is lost. Progress does not reset and there is no streak to break. You resume from where you stopped.
- What tradition does it follow?
- Theravada. The sequence follows Ānāpānasati into Vipassanā and then the Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta, with Sīla observed throughout.
- Which languages is it available in?
- English, Spanish and Russian. The audio is fully narrated in each — these are not machine-translated captions.
Languages
The course is fully narrated in three languages:
Contact
Written by Dyn, meditation and holistic wellness guide. Questions are welcome at smile@vipassana.life or through the community on Telegram.
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