| Inviting Positive Change |
January Newsletter |
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World Peace Pagoda at the
Buddha's birthplace in Nepal
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As we welcome in another New Year, we invite you to join in a ritual that we have practiced for several years now. We offer a special set of interfaith Prayers for World Peace from all the major world traditions each New Year's Eve. These serve not only to send out prayers for the benefit of the global community, but can also be done with a special focus - for example, a personal intention you would like to set for the coming year.
Prayers for World Peace
Collected by Domo Geshe Rinpoche
Speaking of prayer and intentions for growth in the New Year, a few spaces remain in the Foundations of Yogic Healing program that begin in March.
Click here for more information.
Practical Buddhist Wisdom:
Change: Is it Fearsome or Joyful?
Tomorrow January 5 ･ 10 - 11:00am
Join us as Lama Thekchen discusses change during this time of year when many of us are considering how to make positive change. Change is inevitable, and yet we tend to fear and resist it, and therefore become unhappy. Yet if nothing changed - if we did not change - we could not awaken. Rather than "going with the flow" and being at the mercy of the changes coming along the road, can we take a proactive and joyful approach? You’re welcome to come an hour early and join us for Prayers for World Peace, a collection of peace prayers from all the major spiritual traditions.
Loving-Kindness 6-week group
Wednesdays 7:00-8:15pm
February 5 - March 12
After the holiday break, we are looking forward to continuing our discussions and meditations together on loving-kindness! Loving-Kindness, also known as metta, is a meditation practice taught by the Buddha to heal troubled states of mind and to cultivate selfless or altruistic love. Our exploration will be guided by the profound teachings Rinpoche has given on the topic, which focus on developing experience with the facets of Loving-Kindness, including: Optimism, Non-violence, Being Unafraid, and Being Relaxed. Each week will focus on one of these elements, exploring it through guided loving-kindness meditation, discussion, and suggestions for home practice. Handouts also provided.
24-Hour Mahayana Vows - One-day retreat
February 8
Experience the sacred mindfulness of the eight Mahayana vows for 24 hours. This is a wonderful way to take a day retreat, with a partial day of fasting, and learn how to be more mindful in supporting your spiritual path in daily life. Taking the 24-hour Mahayana vows is a unique experience that deepens one's existing practice and is also a purification practice in itself. It is sometimes likened to a one-day ordination.
Introduction to the Four Immeasurables
with Domo Geshe Rinpoche
March 6 ･ 7-8:30pm
The degree to which we open our hearts and connect to others is limited by our habit of categorizing others as friend, enemy or stranger. Through the transformative magic of spiritual love, we can increase our capacity for spiritual connection. The Buddha taught that this spiritual love has four active arms, known as the Four Boundless Attitudes - boundless love, compassion, joy and equanimity. With Rinpoche's guidance, come learn how to open your heart to extend boundless friendship to others.
Foundations of Yogic Healing
begins in March
We are overjoyed to announce the next Foundations of Yogic Healing program. Experience a special program designed to deepen your meditation practice and ability to be present with others in a healing manner, based on the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism and great compassion. This program may be taken by those wishing to deepen an existing healing practice, or to deepen their own spiritual process and healing.
Read our article in the Natural Awakenings - November 2013 issue
"[The program offered] a different kind of meditation than anything I had done before...and as a result, my "rough edges" of feeling too much stress, getting impatient, and being judgmental are being replaced with a much deeper foundation of compassion and respectful self-care. A deep and pervasive sense of gratitude grew and remains. Thank you - each and every one of you - for being such a loving community!"
-Jan B, a previous graduate
| Weekly & Monthly Gatherings |
Words that Work practice group
2nd & 4th Tuesdays ･ 7:00-8:30pm
Do you need to build understanding or agreement in your workplace, project, community or family? Do you feel challenged in discussing difficult topics or in giving feedback? Join this group to learn a simple communication process that can be applied in any situation. Based on Marshall Rosenberg’s technique called Nonviolent Communication, and on
Words That Work in Business by Ike Lasater, this process is simple, adaptable and can be used with anyone.
Green Light meditation night
2nd Fridays ･ 7:00-8:30pm
Join the local White Conch community as we gather for a 30- to 40-minute Green Wisdom Light meditation. In this meditation, after generating compassion and a connection with a deeper place within oneself, one visualizes being immersed in a special green light - a light which comes from a deep place and has profound healing qualities. Many people who come to this for the first time experience a wave of peacefulness and a fresh, heart-centered aliveness. Time for discussion and questions is given after the meditation.
608.437.0520