Anyone interested in learning meditation, regardless of age or experience, should join this class.  We will cover the 5 basic postures for sitting, as well as learning mindfulness while following breath as the object of meditation.  Meditators with experience are also very welcomed to help newcomers establish a practice in a group setting.  Fee by donation.    

For directions, please go towww.sadhaname.com

 

July 10,2010  @ Bowdoin College, The Peter Buck Center for Health and Fitness, Room 302 from 9:00A-12:00 PM

 

For too long, most world spiritual traditions have ignored or minimized the sacred feminine as an equal to and partner of the sacred masculine.

 

Likewise, women have often been prohibited from assuming leadership roles within traditions to correct this imbalance.  There has never been a female pope or dalai lama or ayatollah.  How do women of faith reconcile the incomplete manuscript and gender based bias of these traditions? 

 

This workshop will encourage participants to explore Her sacred presence in several traditions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. After identifying key feminine archetypes from each tradition, we will practice specific meditations to recollect and embody Her.  

 

Cost: sliding scale $25-$50, as you can afford w/1 free scholarship available. Student cost: $15

 

 

 

 

JULY 12, 2010 @ Freeport Siddhartha Sangha Shrine Room, 7pm - 9pm  

 

This meditation practice will encourage participants to engage in present moment awareness through mindfulness practice both in seated posture as well as moving meditations. By being present to our own experience we are able to grow compassion and patience for meeting others and situations as they are without needing anyone or anything to change. Our preconceived idea about how we should be or how others should be causes us (and them) a great deal of difficulty.

 

This concept of should creates and contributes to patterns of suffering and dissatisfaction because it leads us away from acceptance and presence with people, circumstances, environments and things as they are. Much of this pattern is infused with judgment, whether we recognize it or not, and judgment leads us even further from the goal of non-judgmental compassion and acceptance. Of course, this often makes difficult circumstances even harder!

 

It is good to have goals and plans, however life will serve up what it has in store for us along the path which may not be part of our plan. When we open to our own experience and life as it is unfolding without should and without judgment, we become greatly liberated by the wisdom of acceptance.  Meditation practices will allow participants to explore and discover new ways to experience being open and present to what is, internally and externally.

 

Cost: sliding scale $25-$50, as you can afford w/1 free scholarship available.  Please register by May 14, 2010. 

 

 

 ""This is the kind of handbook I wish I had in those early days. My gift to you … this is the start of your spiritual journey, of discovering within the sage that you really are. Are you ready?" —Lama Willa Miller

 

Notice to potential students: there will be daily life work (a new version of "Homework"). In this class we will use the new book by Lama Willa Miller (an American female Tibetan teacher) to further advance our meditation and spiritual practice. Everyday Dharma: Seven Weeks to Finding the Buddha in You offers a simple guide to achieving real and lasting personal transformation.

 

This book appeals to any who are open to Buddhism in the broader context, whether one subscribes to a specific religious view or to no view at all. Dharma, a Buddhist term for the actions taken to find one’s inner-wisdom, is really a universal concept. "If wisdom were a destination," Lama Willa says, "Dharma—played out in our thoughts and actions—is the path leading there."

 

By applying Dharma’s essential truths to the modern world, Everyday Dharma teaches how to do the spiritual, emotional and psychological work in order to bring about day-to-day well-being.

 

Drawing from her personal progression from a young and inquisitive college student into an ordained Tibetan Buddhist minister, Lama Willa offers sincere, insightful guidance with the early questions that so naturally surface when beginning a spiritual journey of any kind. Questions such as "How does one awaken their life-intention?" and "How does one become mindful?" are approached with practical clarity. 

 

A great follow up class for students who participated in the WAKE UP! class, this workbook is particularly accessible to the Western spiritual student. Everyday Dharma is patient, relaxed, and best of all, fun!  This seven-week initiation composes a chapter per week, with each day outlined for study.

 

Through daily exercises, inspirational passages, and insightful tips, Lama Willa creates a non-dogmatic system for putting the wisdom behind Buddhist thought into real-life practice. Quotes from inspiring minds such as Maya Angelou, Helen Keller, and John F. Kennedy color each day with heart-warming support. Daily exercises include feel-good tasks—for instance—smiling at three people you wouldn’t ordinarily and demonstrating three acts of giving.

 

Cost: sliding scale $150-$200, as you can afford w/1 free scholarship available.  Book purchase separate.  Please register and pay half of your deposit by May 20, 2010.  Information will be emailed when your registration is received.

MEDITATIVE MIND 101 @ BOWDOIN COLLEGE, 3RD FLOOR BUCK WELLNESS CENTER, Mondays beginning February 8, 2010 from 7-8 PM

 

This is a 12 class session. No prior experience is necessary.  Discover how creating a meditation practice can help establish inner peace, balance,and well being in our fast paced world. We will learn techniques including posture, breathing, and mindfulness, moving into meditative practices beginning with Shamatha, or calm abiding meditation.  

 

Once we have developed a stable breath practice we'll explore insight meditation, or Vipassana.   Practitioners are assigned 5 minutes of daily homework practice that will build as we continue into the course, and are encouraged to keep a journal of insights, epiphanies, roadblocks and resistances.  We will also experience guided meditation, visualization, and meditation on specific themes such as impermanence & death and dying to understand how we can use these to help us establish ourselves more fully in present moment awareness.  Although this is designed as a course that builds on each class and consistent attendance is encouraged for maximum benefit, drop-ins are always welcomed.

 

Cost: $120 or $10 per class, students $96 or $8 per class.

 

 

 

WAKE UP TO YOUR LIFE: A 12 week practice of purpose, methods, effects and results

 

Many problems in meditation practice come from expectations about what meditation is and what we think should happen, what we hope for, and of course, what actually happens.  The purpose of meditation is to cultivate attention, what we do with attention is the method (place attention on the breath and rest). Effects are experiences that arise during meditation, while results are the qualities and abilities that we cultivate and gain from doing the practice.  We will learn by practicing meditation and taking breaks to discuss insights and questions.

This is a class for meditators who want to grow their practice to attain tangible outcomes.  Classes will be structured on these four categories and students will be asked to make meditation a stable element in each day by establishing a practice of at least 5 minutes each morning.  Other topics include: Six Supports for Meditation Practice; Developing Attention through mindfulness, awareness, relaxing and energizing to develop clarity, and energy transformation.

 

Next session begins APRIL 7, 2010 

 

Meeting every Wednesday (For a total of 12 sessions, in case of cancellation we will reschedule)

Time: 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Cost: $360 ($300 if you register early by March 21, 2010)

Location: Freeport, ME

 

 

 

This workshop will explore the sacred use of sound in a meditative practice. Participants should have some prior exposure to a sitting meditation practice.  We will explore the use and synchronization of living sound as an inner massage that touches the spirit, experience vibrations as they spread through the body, and explore various ways to get in tune through sound to promote healing and create clear living spaces.  We will also experiment with mantra, or sacred chant, as a path to enter into meditation.

 

March 28, 2010  1 pm.- 4pm. 

Cost: $40 

Location: Freeport,ME 

  

 

If you have a particular scheduling wish, we will be in touch shortly.  We are available on site to teach meditation sessions at your home or business.