The International Meditation Centre in Yangon, Burma, is the original IMC, founded by Sayagyi U Ba Khin in 1952 on a wooded compound in the city's northern suburbs. U Ba Khin was the first Accountant General of independent Burma, a senior civil servant who taught meditation to office staff during work breaks and went on to train a generation of Burmese and foreign students at the center. The IMC he established is the source center of the modern Vipassana movement that produced both S.N. Goenka's worldwide course network and the Sayagyi U Ba Khin Memorial Trust IMC branches in the UK, Australia, Austria, India, and the United States. The Yangon center operates on a strict ten-day course format that U Ba Khin developed from the broader Burmese Theravada tradition and his own teacher Saya Thetgyi. The first three days are devoted to anapana, mindfulness of the breath at the upper lip, to develop concentration. From day four, instruction moves to body scanning, sweeping awareness through the body to observe sensations as they arise and pass. The final days focus on equanimity with whatever sensations arise, gross or subtle. The course produces what U Ba Khin called the "fruit of meditation," a direct experience of impermanence at the bodily level. Today the Yangon center is run by the U Ba Khin Memorial Trust and led by senior teachers in his line, several of whom were direct students of his during his lifetime. Mother Sayamagyi (Daw Mya Thwin), who passed in 2017 after seventy years of practice, was U Ba Khin's senior successor and the principal teacher at the center for decades. Her successors continue the tradition as it was taught. The center accepts a small number of foreign yogis on each ten-day course, with applications submitted in advance. Burmese visa rules and the political situation since 2021 have complicated travel for international students. The center continues to operate but recommends checking current conditions through the trust's UK or Australian branches before applying.
The course follows the format U Ba Khin established. Day one to three: anapana, focused on the small triangular area between the upper lip and the nostrils, observing the natural breath without controlling it. Day four onward: body scanning, moving attention systematically from the top of the head downward, observing whatever sensation arises in each part of the body. Yogis are instructed to remain equanimous, neither craving pleasant sensations nor pushing away unpleasant ones, simply observing the changing nature of bodily experience. The final day of the course emphasizes metta (loving-kindness) practice and a return to ordinary social activity. Sittings of one hour alternate with shorter walking periods and rest breaks. Three of the day's sittings are designated "sittings of strong determination" where the yogi is asked not to change posture for the full hour. Group instruction is given by the teacher in the meditation hall. Brief individual interviews are scheduled to check progress. Silence is held continuously from the opening evening until the morning of day ten. The schedule begins at four-thirty and runs until nine at night.
The U Ba Khin tradition runs from Saya Thetgyi, a Burmese farmer and meditation master in the early twentieth century, to U Ba Khin (1899 to 1971), to his senior students Mother Sayamagyi, S.N. Goenka, Robert Hover, Ruth Denison, and others who established centers worldwide. The line traces back further through Ledi Sayadaw to the broader Burmese Theravada tradition. U Ba Khin emphasized the lay path and the directly practical nature of vipassana for ordinary working people. The Yangon IMC continues under his successors and remains the founding seat of this stream.
Practitioners who have sat with Goenka centers, IMC UK, or IMC Australia and want to practice at the founding seat under direct successors of the tradition.
Working people drawn to U Ba Khin's specifically lay-oriented presentation of vipassana, with its emphasis on practical application in ordinary life.
Yogis with prior experience in Theravada forms who want to deepen the body-scan practice with senior Burmese teachers in its original setting.
Foreign yogis arrive at the airport and are usually met by trust staff. The compound is a quiet walled garden in northern Yangon with a meditation hall, residential blocks, dining hall, and small library. Registration on day zero takes the usual forms: surrender of phones and reading material, a brief medical questionnaire, and a tour of the grounds. The course opens that evening with the formal taking of refuge and precepts. The first three days of anapana feel slow to those who have done other forms. The body scanning that follows is sometimes intense. Many yogis report strong physical and emotional experiences mid-course.
Accommodation is in single or shared rooms within the compound's residential blocks, with shared bathrooms on each floor. A small number of dedicated cells are available for long-stay students. Food is Burmese vegetarian buffet, with two meals taken before noon and tea in the afternoon, in line with the eight precepts kept during the course. The compound has walking paths through landscaped gardens. The climate is warm year-round, humid in monsoon season. Mosquito nets are provided.
The course is free of charge, supported entirely by donations from former students. There are no fees for tuition, lodging, or food. Yogis are invited at the close of the course to make a donation in support of future students, in line with the dana tradition. The center publishes no rates and does not solicit during the course itself. International travel and Burmese visa costs are the yogi's own. The trust's UK and Australia centers can advise on current applications and conditions.
Direct experience of impermanence, scanned through the bones.
The center continues to operate but the political situation since 2021 has complicated travel and visa applications for many countries. Prospective yogis should check with the trust's UK center (Splatts House) or Australian center (Sunnyside) before applying, since conditions change. Both branches use the same curriculum and accept applicants when Yangon is not accessible.
Goenka was a senior student of U Ba Khin and adapted the ten-day course for worldwide distribution using audio and video instruction. The Yangon IMC and its sister centers in the trust network teach the same core method as taught by U Ba Khin, but with live in-person instruction from teachers personally trained in his line. The form, schedule, and core technique are very close.
No. The course is designed to be a complete introduction to vipassana in the U Ba Khin tradition. Total beginners are accepted alongside experienced yogis. The first three days of anapana provide the concentration foundation, and the body scanning is taught from zero. Repeat students often find the course unfolds differently each time.
Ten full days of practice plus a half day on either end. The schedule runs from four-thirty in the morning to nine at night with alternating sittings, walks, meals, and rest. Three sittings each day are sittings of strong determination, where yogis are asked not to move for the full hour. Silence is unbroken from day zero evening to day ten morning.
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