Course dates: November 14 through December 5, 2022
This free, month-long interactive course is designed to accompany the Month of the Mind in the yearlong online program “Bring Body, Speech & Mind to Life.” Open to all.
Following a teaching and guided meditation by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche on Sunday, November 6, 2022, and the related 24-Hour Full Moon Practice of “Through Spaciousness, Manifest Qualities That Benefit Others” on November 7-8, we will meet weekly via Zoom to practice together and to reflect in large and small groups on how we can integrate the teachings in very practical ways into our lives.
During this Month of the Mind, we will learn to rest in the vast, open nature of mind, the source of all positive qualities. Openness can be obscured by our habitual patterns of judgment, worry, doubt, and identification; and our strategies to fix, change, or improve ourselves. In a safe environment, and with the support of the group, we will reflect on these habitual tendencies and also explore how we can relate more skillfully with the disturbing emotions and distracted movements of the mind. Through reflection and contemplation, we will see what becomes possible when we are able to host our challenges with openness, awareness, and warmth. We may discover that when we can allow and be with our experience, the obstacles and obscurations of our habitual patterns naturally dissolve into the openness of our true nature, and our positive qualities spontaneously arise from this source within to benefit ourselves and others. Through guided meditations, group sharing, and informal daily practice, we will deepen our familiarity with resting in spacious awareness that allows our positive qualities to manifest for the benefit of all beings.
Course size is limited to 21 participants to support a sense of group connection and safety, so that we can be brave and vulnerable. Although there is no charge to attend, each participant will be asked to make a strong commitment to show up fully and to bring these practices to life. Participants will be asked to bring their specific patterns to their practice, to host their pain, and to notice any shifts and changes that become available as these limiting patterns loosen and release. Between weekly group sessions everyone will be asked to engage in daily meditation practice, both formally and informally. There will also be an additional weekly small-group session to further the sense of group connection and support.
Classes take place on four consecutive Mondays beginning November 14, 2022. Each 90-minute class begins at 12 noon New York time and is held in English. The schedule of weekly small-group sessions will be confirmed with participants as the course begins. Access other offerings of the yearlong program, both live and recorded, at this link.
To register, complete and submit the form below.
About the Instructor
Aleezé Sattar Moss, Ph.D., is the associate director of the Myrna Brind Center for Mindfulness at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia. She is a certified mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) teacher and teaches mindfulness to the public, patients, health care professionals, medical students, and employees in corporate settings. In addition to receiving extensive training in teaching mindfulness, Aleeze completed the 9 month-long Three Doors Compassion Project in 2016. She continues to deepen her own practice and teaching through ongoing trainings and retreats. She has a doctorate in anthropology and conducts qualitative research on the effects of MBSR on physical and psychological health and has published in peer-reviewed journals. She is deeply passionate about sharing the benefits of mindfulness and meditation.