---
title: "How Vipassana.life Adapts Retreat Practice for Home"
description: "Conduct first. Breath before insight. Progress through practice. Honest about limits. The four principles behind the five-part course."
url: https://vipassana.life/about/methodology/
lang: en
author: Ocean DYNN
site: Vipassana.Life
modified: 2026-09-23
---

# How retreat practice has been adapted for home

The course rests on four principles. Everything else follows from them.

## 1. Conduct first

The course begins with the five precepts, because concentration does not settle in a mind that is acting against itself.

## 2. Breath before insight

Thirty days of Ānāpānasati come before any body-scanning. Insight practice without concentration tends to become thinking about sensations.

## 3. Progress through practice

Each sitting unlocks the next, in the order the practice needs.

## 4. Honest about limits

A recording cannot see you. This course has no teacher in the room, so it includes clear safety guidance, a gentler schedule option, and advice to sit a residential retreat when you can.

[Open the course →](https://vipassana.life/)