$125 ten days prior to event / $145 After
This six week course is intended to support participants in developing a practice of Insight meditation, a tool designed to enhance calmness, kindness, and clarity in the mind. We will explore ways to pay attention to sensations, emotions, and thoughts that may lead to greater insight into how you are living your life. Intentionally observing your experience through the lens of Insight meditation practice can strengthen your capacity to navigate life with all its ups and downs.
We will practice periods of silent meditation, walking meditation, reflection and discussion. The course is designed to support you in building Insight meditation into your life, a resource you can turn to in any moment, wherever you are.
No previous experience necessary. All are welcome.
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This six week course is intended to support participants in developing a practice of Insight meditation, a tool designed to enhance calmness, kindness, and clarity in the mind. We will explore ways to pay attention to sensations, emotions, and thoughts that may lead to greater insight into how you are living your life. Intentionally observing your experience through the lens of Insight meditation practice can strengthen your capacity to navigate life with all its ups and downs.
We will practice periods of silent meditation, walking meditation, reflection and discussion. The course is designed to support you in building Insight meditation into your life, a resource you can turn to in any moment, wherever you are.
No previous experience necessary. All are welcome.
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Meditation with Amber Bemak
Amber Bemak will be offering instruction on samatha and metta meditation, two techniques which are often practiced together in the Therevadan branch of Buddhism.
The instruction is based on the Mahasi Sayadaw lineage of Therevadan practice. Samatha is focused on concentration and calming the mind, whereas metta is a practice of lovingkindness.
The Mahasi Sayadaw tradition of Therevadan practice comes from Burma, and is currently practiced in many countries, such as Thailand and Burma. In the US, this practice is often referred to as “Insight Meditation.”
Samatha mediation is a beginner’s technique and the entryway meditation practice for both Therevada and Vajrayana mediation practice. It is geared towards focusing and quieting the mind, a necessary state to create in order to do the real exploration that meditation offers.
Metta practice involves actively sending oneself and others (including your friends and enemies) love and good wishes. It is also a concentration practice, although in a different way. It is an incredibly healing and powerful practice.
7:30pm-9:00pm
Six consecutive Wednesday evenings - begins April 25th thru May 30th, 2018
Amber Bemak has engaged in a formal meditation practice for twenty-four years. She was raised attending family retreats at the Insight Mediation Center in Massachusetts and began her own practice at the age of fourteen. She studied with Michele McDonald for many years and practiced in the Therevadan tradition until 2001, when she was exposed to Tibetan Buddhism and met her teachers Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche and Phakchok Rinpoche. She then embarked on the path of Vajrayana practice and has been on this path ever since.
Originally from the United States, she has spent a great deal of time living as a foreigner away from her home country- first living between India and Nepal from 2006-20012, and then moving to Mexico from 2014-2016. During this time, she occupied the position of resident filmmaker for Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling monastery in Nepal on and off over a nine year period, and collaborated with Tibetan NGOs in India on a series of media activism projects during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, among many other amazing adventures, films, and projects. She is currently a professor of film at Southern Methodist University.