Origins of London Insight Meditation
London Insight Meditation (London Retreats as it was known originally) was the result of a conversation on a train from Gaia House to London in 1995 between two meditators - Steve Small and Sallie Rose.
With busy work lives and families it was not always easy to travel to Gaia House and they recognised the need for access to meditation teachings in London. They called Christina Feldman who suggested Yanai Postelnik. A venue in Primrose Hill Community Centre was booked for the first retreat, although unfortunately the caretaker was two hours late so the first sangha actually gathered in a snowy courtyard.
Teachers at that time included Sharda Rogell, Christopher Titmuss, Martine and Stephen Batchelor and Christina Feldman. They all offered immense support in the early days. At this point it was a casual affair with the teachers mainly staying at Sallie’s house and people bringing packed lunches, and brochures typed out on the computer and sent snail mail. A weekly sitting group began and satellite Sanghas were formed in Brighton and Oxford.
After a year, Barry Letts became involved, and soon after the retreats moved to Friends’ House in Byng Place. Soon this venue was overflowing and there were complaints from the local residents about the strange walking that was taking place in the adjacent square! Annie Lennox, one of the retreat participants, called Sallie and suggested King Alfred’s School in Golders Green, where her children were attending at that time.
Steve left and Sallie and Barry ran it with the help of Clare Brunt, who managed the food side, and some casual volunteers. A couple of years later Sallie moved to Greece and Barry, now in his seventies, then led it for eight years, doing an enormous amount of the organisation single-handedly. He eventually stepped down and Roger Kayes took over.
In 2005, Roger moved to Turkey [is there a pattern here?!] and passed on the leadership to Chris Cullen. Gary Born developed a website for London Insight (as we renamed the group) and then Paul Cons became involved in 2006. Together with others in the current team, they brought it into the twenty-first century with properly printed brochures, online booking, and ever-increasing numbers. A London Insight Sangha had certainly been born.