About this episode
Daniel Dodd shares his transformative journey through Vipassana meditation and community organizing.
Episode #529: Daniel Dodd is one of the two center teachers at Dhamma Patapa, a Vipassana meditation center in Georgia in the tradition of S.N. Goenka. Alongside his work as a meditation practitioner and teacher, he has built a career in community organizing, nonprofit leadership, and federal service focused on low-income communities. But it has not been an easy journey. Dodd was born in Brazil to a Colombian mother and an American father. The family later moved to the United States, and much of his childhood unfolded in rural Maine after his parents separated. His mother raised three children on a homestead without plumbing, where daily life required endurance and adaptability. His adolescence and early adulthood were marked by confusion and drift: He struggled in school, barely graduating, and began drinking and smoking marijuana, uncertain about his future, an angry and agitated young man. A period teaching English in Bogotá during Colombia’s violent drug-war years broadened his outlook but did not resolve deeper internal struggles. After a painful breakup left him feeling unmoored, he took a ten-day Vipassana retreat. The experience proved transformative, and meditation…
People in this episode
Guest: Daniel Dodd
Topics covered
- Vipassana meditation
- community organizing
- personal transformation
- low-income communities
- spiritual journey
Keywords
- meditation
- community organizing
- personal struggles
- spirituality
- transformation
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Dhamma Patapa, Consumer Financial Protection
Places: Georgia, Brazil, Colombia, United States, rural Maine
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