Reclaiming Sangha

Dr. Shanté Paradigm Smalls (They/Them) is a teacher and student in Vajrayana/Tantric Buddhism. They currently study under Lama Rod Owens and Lama Justin von Bujdoss, co-founders of Bhumisparsha. Shanté began studying and practicing Buddhism at age 17 and has practiced in Zen, S...

Black Women’s Yoga History: Memoirs of Inner Peace

Aishah Shahidah Simmons interviews Dr. Stephanie Y. Evans

How have Black women elders managed stress? In Black Women's Yoga History, Dr. Stephanie Y. Evans uses primary sources to answer that question and to show how meditation and yoga from e...

Sometimes the upheavals of living in a chaotic world leave us tired and broken. What do we do when it seems like everything—including ourselves—has fallen apart? This talk will explore different perspectives and practices that help ground and reconnect our body, mind, and heart—so we are able to ...

Join us for an hour-long open community sitting. At 7pm, the first group meditation session will include guided instruction, then a brief break followed by a second sitting session at 7:30pm. Open to all, no experience necessary.

This special session is offered free of charge—use the code WDGFRE...

How the BuddhaDharma Helped me Decolonize my Heart

The intersection of Decolonizing the Mind/Heart and the foundational principles of the Dharma.

Noliwe Alexander has been a student of Vipassana meditation for over 20 years. Throughout this time of deep devotion to the Dharma, Noliwe has become...

An opportunity to review the Encountering Basic Goodness series and look ahead to next steps in your practice.

In this 8-session exploration David Perrin & Shanté Paradigm Smalls lead meditators of any practice level in cultivating stability, clarity, and strength in body, speech, and mind throu...

What is the relationship between laziness, freedom, and basic goodness of all things? This talk explores conventional and spiritual "laziness" (obstacles to practice) and how we may experience freedom from habits that keep us small.

Part of the ongoing Encountering Basic Goodness series offered ...

Open sitting session with meditation instruction, Wednesday January 5th at 7pm ET on Zoom for the Weekly Dharma Gathering.

This is a free session with the code WDGFREE!

Working With Western Wounds

Original sin is a concept that pervades western culture. It emphasizes that human beings are corrupt, born bad, and that only God has the power to forgive and redeem us. Buddhism has no such concept and emphasizes Buddha nature, that all being are inherently worthy an...

Part 6 of Encountering Basic Goodness: Mind

In this 8-session exploration David Perrin & Shanté Paradigm Smalls lead meditators of any practice level in cultivating stability, clarity, and strength in body, speech, and mind through meditation techniques which draw on ancient wisdom for the conte...

Part 5 of the Encountering Basic Goodness Series: Joy

In this 8-session exploration David Perrin & Shanté Paradigm Smalls lead meditators of any practice level in cultivating stability, clarity, and strength in body, speech, and mind through meditation techniques which draw on ancient wisdom for...

There is so much polarization in our world today. Views and ideas about groups of “other” people are becoming more and more solidified. The world sometimes feels heavy and stuck.

Dharma offers us the practice of curiosity. Curiosity allows us to be with whatever is arising, even if it’s difficu...

In this 8-session exploration David Perrin & Shanté Paradigm Smalls lead meditators of any practice level in cultivating stability, clarity, and strength in body, speech, and mind through meditation techniques which draw on ancient wisdom for the contemporary world. Each session consists of short...

Practicing in Our Relationships

René Rivera is a leader and bridge-builder, working and learning in all the spaces in-between race, gender, and other perceived binaries, as a queer, mixed-race, trans man. René has been a student of the Dharma since 2004 and has been a part of the East Bay Medita...

Join us for an hour-long open community sitting. At 7pm, the first group meditation session will include guided instruction, then a brief break followed by a second sitting session at 7:30pm. Open to all, no experience necessary.

This special session is offered free of charge—use the code WDGFRE...

In this 8-session exploration David Perrin & Shanté Paradigm Smalls lead meditators of any practice level in cultivating stability, clarity, and strength in body, speech, and mind through meditation techniques which draw on ancient wisdom for the contemporary world. Each session consists of short...

Join us for an hour-long open community sitting. At 7pm, the first group meditation session will include guided instruction, then a brief break followed by a second sitting session at 7:30pm. Open to all, no experience necessary.

This special session is offered free of charge—use the code WDGFRE...

Jessica Angima is a first-generation Kenyan American cultural producer and healing artist, working in the modality of meditation. In a constant state of process, she facilitates intimate community through the exploration of art, justice, and contemplative practice. She has taught for BRIC, the Mu...

with Dr. Shanté Paradigm Smalls

Dr. Shanté Paradigm Smalls (They/Them) is a teacher and student in Vajrayana/Tantric Buddhism. They currently study under Lama Rod Owens and Lama Justin von Bujdoss, co-founders of Bhumisparsha. Shanté began studying and practicing Buddhism at age 17 and has pract...

with David Perrin

David Perrin is a meditation mentor and friend to students, trainees, and fellow instructors. Collaborator, syncretist, facilitator of circle in its myriad forms, David articulates the multiplicity of meaning encompassed by a modern practice of mindfulness. As creative arts the...

This special pre-recorded session of the Weekly Dharma Gathering will contain guided shamatha meditation followed by an invitation to listen deeply to sound as a meditation practice. Headphones recommended.

This session is offered free of charge with the code WDGFREE.

Creating a Mindful Journaling Practice

A special session of Mindful Journaling led by Weekly Dharma Gathering team member Sheena Brockington-Taylor.

This special session is offered free of charge—use the code WDGFREE at checkout.

Taking Refuge in the Three Jewels

This special session of the Weekly Dharma Gathering is offered free of charge with the code WDGFREE.

Dr. Shanté Paradigm Smalls (They/Them) is a teacher and student in Vajrayana/Tantric Buddhism. They currently study under Lama Rod Owens and Lama Justin von Buj...

This special pre-recorded session of the Weekly Dharma Gathering will contain guided shamatha meditation followed by an invitation to listen deeply to sound as a meditation practice. Headphones recommended.

This session is offered free of charge here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klSzhHCjy1o
...

A special session of Mindful Journaling led by Weekly Dharma Gathering team member Sheena Brockington-Taylor.

This special session is offered free of charge—use the code WDGFREE at checkout.

Join us for an hour-long open community sitting. At 7pm, the first group meditation session will include guided instruction, then a brief break followed by a second sitting session at 7:30pm. Open to all, no experience necessary.

This special session is offered free of charge—use the code WDGFRE...

In this pre-recorded interview, Dr. Smalls interviews Dr. Sheryl Petty about her book Ocha Dharma and her work around building connections between Lucumi and Tantric Buddhism.

This talk is offered free of charge at this link: https://tinyurl.com/wdg-ocha
You can offer dana to the teacher on PayP...

loveWITHaccountability®

What if we didn’t weaponize accountability in the name of justice? What if we viewed accountability as a radical form of love grounded in the belief that we are all capable of causing harm? Harm is on a vast spectrum. Most of us have caused some form of harm on our life’s...

Pause. Reflect. Refresh Your Practice

We’re six months into 2021- how did that happen!?! What happened to all of the new year resolutions that we made? The upcoming summer solstice is a good time to pause, connect to the earth, and take stock of where we are - to think about what has served us ...

LGBTQ+ Spirituality and the 5 Precepts

In celebration of both LGBTQ+ Pride Month and Black Music Month, this conversation will center on the The Five Precepts. Instead of thinking them in terms of "morality," this talk with tink through the joy, diginity, and celebration that can come with livin...

Dharma Matters: A Conversation with Professor Jan Willis on her book

A conversation between Dr. Jan Willis and Dr. Gaylon Ferguson on Dr. Willis's most recent book, "Dharma Matters."

Jan Willis (BA and MA in Philosophy from Cornell University; PhD in Indic and Buddhist Studies from Columbia Uni...

Touching Our Creativity, Caring For Ourselves

In this talk we will be looking at the interplay between meditation and creativity, and the role creativity plays in community care. A short origami-folding demo will be part of the talk. Participants will be guided through the steps of folding a sim...

I Like the Sound of Your Voice - Choosing a Teacher(s) for longer term practice and study

In this day and age there are many, many options of teachers and instructors with whom to study and practice. How to choose!? There is no magic answer. However it is important to eventually make a choice an...

Reclaiming Lineages

How do we work with our respective lineages whether they are familial, ancestral, spiritual, or other forms of kinship? Can meditation practices aid is in discerning what is useful and what is not in our various lineages? And why is lineage so important in meditation?

Dr. Sh...

This special session of the Weekly Dharma Gathering will contain guided shamatha meditation followed by an invitation to listen deeply to sound as a meditation practice. Headphones recommended.

Alex Van Gils is a composer, performer, and generative video artist, exploring the interplay between h...

Guided Rest

Grounded in embodiment, this practice makes use of our lungta (Windhorse/energy) to both rouse us and ground us in our bodies, our environment, and in our reality. Participants will be given copy of the Ground Lungta practice.

Dr. Shanté Paradigm Smalls (They/Them) is a teacher and ...

Liberating Death

Death is scary! The concept of a good death is something that is ever shifting depending on our intersecting identities. Our relationship to death can be tinged with various emotions: fear, grief, acceptance, curiosity. How can we cultivate mindfulness of our mortality? Meditati...

Radically Imagining Collective Liberation

Radical imagination is a concept and action. It is our capacity to imagine the world as it might be otherwise. For us to practice this concept we cannot do it alone. As individuals we cannot daydream and call it an act of radical imagination, no matter h...

The MAP: Mindfulness - Awareness - Presence

Mindfulness is both a way of being, and a set of practices. Modern mindfulness goes beyond simply a way of focusing and de-exciting the mind/body (although that is helpful). When we consider the basis of awareness, and the embodiment of authentic prese...

Radiating Confidence

Developing and working with self-confidence is foundational to walking the bodhisattva path of care and compassion for others. When faced with unrelentingly chaotic world that often seeks to undermine our confidence, how can we practice relating to our own wisdom and wakeful...

A session of tonglen practice held by the Weekly Dharma Gathering to hold space after the shootings in Atlanta on 3/16/21.

The Heart is Talking

An exploration of the beauty and practice of compassion.

Sheena Brockington-Taylor (she/her/hers) is a Baltimore-based marketing consultant for health, wellness, and lifestyle brands and growth product manager of Weekly Dharma Gathering. She is also a restorative yoga teach...

Dreaming in a Dying World

Our world is full of movement and laughter, deep ritual and real connection to the earth and with each other. Black people can rest and thrive, immigrants are not “othered,” Native people are visible and have their land back, youth and elders are included and all spaces...

Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, born to parents who migrated from rural Louisiana at the start of WWII, she has walked through many different doors spiritually and academically. She has a PhD; she's a Zen Roshi; and she's also a poet and author. Essentially, she's a Seer in which she has woven herself int...

Rashid Hughes is a native of Richmond Virginia. He is a proud graduate of the Howard University Department of Music and the Howard University School of Divinity. Rashid is a certified Mindfulness and Yoga Teacher and a Restorative Justice Specialist in Washington DC. He is also an Affiliate Teach...

This is an opportunity to bend time, use the present somatic body to be a map to the ancestral wounds that may need healing, and begin to taste our liberation.

Dr. Claudelle Glasgow ( Dr. g) is a Queer Caribbean Black being whose work as a clinical psychologist and Buddhist teacher focuses on t...

Author Discussion—Black and Buddhist: What Buddhism Can Teach Us About Race, Resilience, Transformation & Freedom. Buddhism is a way of life, a philosophy, a psychology, a set of ethics, a religion, or a combination thereof. Central to the many ways Buddhism is understood is the achievement of em...

Unearthing the Heart of Transformative Justice

Transformative Justice is an alternative approach to responding to conflict, harm, violence, and abuse. Current responses often uphold a punitive approach as a means of resolution. Transformative approaches seek to uncover justice through the means ...

Victory Over Aggression

Aggression is described as one of the Three Poisons in Buddhist thought (along with ignorance and passion). This talk will engage embodied and spoken practices to help us work with self-aggression and aggression toward and from others.

This is a pre-recorded session.

D...

In this moment of marking a new year, we can look at our life, what we value, and how we want to structure our days to reflect that. There is a power to holding a discipline of daily creativity or expression—what can come from this space? How can it relate to our practice of meditation?

Alex Va...

Guided Rest

It's the end of a long, Gregorian calendar year. This practice of Ground Lungta ("Windhorse") assists us in both rousing our energy and resting deeply.

"Dr. Shanté Paradigm Smalls is a student, practitioner, and teacher
in the Tantric (Vajrayana) Buddhist tradition. Shanté began st...

Truth, Beauty, Power: Finding Refuge in the (Sh*t)storm

The only thing we know for sure is that we don't know what will happen next. Our nervous systems aren't really trying to hear that, though. While groundlessness is our ultimate reality, it doesn't offer much in the way of shelter when t...

Devin is deeply committed to the personal and collective liberation of marginalized communities; Knowing that through the integration of reflection and insight, clarity and wisdom give rise to wise action. Devin is a community teacher with East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland, CA where he co-fou...

Reclaiming Delight

Delight is our birthright – our connection to the sacred within and around us. In this gathering, let us explore our experience of delight and reclaim our capacity to bring this essence into our lives as an expression of our wholeness and dignity.

Laurie Amodeo has been a st...

Your Future Self Now

"Your future self is calling out to you. They are carrying the wisdom that you are currently seeking. How are you making yourself available for this call?

During this talk, we’ll explore how to listen to the future self who is free of the cycle and patterns in which we are ...

Practicing Impermanence

Impermanence might seem obvious - everything changes - however we aren’t fully comfortable with it. Sure it’s nice when painful situations pass, but what happens when we lose what we love, cherish, and don’t want to go away? Paying attention to the little moments of imper...

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A free session of sitting practice at 7pm ET on Wednesday, October 14th, led by Ashley Dinges. Open to all.

The Dharma Behind Resilient & Sustainable Activism

In the wake of Black Lives Matter, devastating forest fires, and the current Presidential election, there's no shortage of needed activism. What happens though when the grief, pain, and suffering of the world feels frankly like too much to take ...

Don't Know Mind

There is so much that we "just don't know". How can we rest with not knowing when our world - even now in the midst of falling apart - can still demand that we have all the answers? The practice of meditation can help us rest in the unknown spaces and connect to the right no...

Rest and Be Natural

During this talk, Rashid will explore what it means to Just Be Natural rather than putting effort into being supernatural or super holy.

Rashid Hughes is a native of Richmond Virginia. He is a proud graduate of the Howard University Department of Music and the Howard Univer...

Warriorship Within Chaos

In the words of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, "The essence of warriorship, or the essence of human bravery, is refusing to give up on anyone or anything." Living in an increasingly unsettling time, isolated in our homes away from community, how can we both take care of ourse...

Staying Engaged and Compassionate while Being a Public School Teacher

Meditation is not meant to exist in a vacuum of comfort. As meditators, we have a responsibility to offer our practice to our communities. However, this does not mean we should martyr ourselves. Our practice connects us to ...

This talk was recorded on September 9, 2020. Purchase to access the recording.

"Making Room for the Wrathful Mother"
with Lama Justin von Bujdoss

In this talk, Lama Justin introduces Palden Lhamo from the Karma Kagyu Lineage and Tröma Nagmo from the Zhije Lineage. These forms of the wrathful m...

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ACCESS THE RECORDINGS BELOW

In light of current events, the WDG team is bringing you free guided livestreams every Monday and Friday evenings at 7pm ET. Monday classes are Learn to Meditate (led by Ashley Dinges) and Fridays are Gui...

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ACCESS THE RECORDINGS BELOW

Register & then check your email for the link to join the next live broadcast, plus a link to access the previous recordings.

In light of current events, the WDG team is bringing you free guided livestre...

Each of us is impacted by the conditioning of our lives, our histories, and our cultures. The forces of greed, hatred, and delusion that underlie white supremacy, also live in each of us, although in drastically different ways. I will speak from my position as a white person who is actively atte...

This talk was recorded on June 17, 2020. Purchase to access the recording.

As we move to create a just and enlightened society, one that embraces all of us at our intersections, we need to reconnect with the truth of who we are, rest and rejuvenate frequently, to gain clarity and insight. This ...

Register to join the live talk on Wednesday, June 3rd at 7pm ET. After the talk, the recording will be available to view in your account.

The Four Reminders, or the four thoughts that turn the mind toward the dharma, assist us in contemplating what is valuable and important in our wakeful journ...

This talk was recorded on May 20, 2020. Purchase to access the recording.

Sustaining Resilience: Mindfulness, Pacing and ‘Crazy Wisdom’ for the Long Haul

When faced with a task that demands tremendous endurance, we draw on deep reservoirs of strength, will, practice and natural resilience to he...

This talk was recorded on May 13, 2020. Purchase to access the recording.

Decolonizing Dharma: The Path(s) of Liberation

What is liberation and what is any of us willing to do to experience it? How do we cultivate mind, body, and emotions to be oriented toward liberation, no matter what form it...

This talk was recorded on May 6, 2020. Purchase to access the recording.

Extra Ordinary Everyday Dhamma

A practical exploration of the simplicity and beauty of everyday dhamma.

Devin is deeply committed to the personal and collective liberation of marginalized communities; Knowing that through...

This talk was recorded on April 22, 2020. Purchase to access the recording.

How can the Buddhist teaching of impermanence help us to understand, process and cope with the fear and grief that arises as so many changes are happening quickly in our lives?

The cost for this talk is $10 for the Gene...

This talk was recorded on April 8, 2020. Purchase to access the recording.

Accepting Impermanence: How to work with fear and grief in the midst of a rapidly changing world.

The global pandemic Covid-19 is shifting life as we know it. Loved ones are becoming ill, people are dying, our children a...

This talk was recorded on April 1, 2020. Purchase to access the recording.

Our world and community is in a constant state of flux these days. What do the bodhisattva teachings, which might even include "good boundaries", offer us as individuals and the collective during these times? How does ide...

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Last Saturday, Karen Brown offered a free talk titled "Navigating Groundlessness" hosted by Dr. Shanté Smalls. The recording is now available to access for free.

Each day in this crisis we wake up to a new set of condition...

Join us for a live talk with Kelsey Blackwell on Wednesday, March 25 at 7pm ET.

The Buddha said, "within this fathom-long body and mind is found all the teachings." Societally however, we have been trained to value rational thought over feeling, efficiency over inclusion, certainty over the unkn...

Kado translates to the Way of Flowers. Kado ikebana (flower arranging) is a contemplative/meditative art, revealing the relationship between nature, space and human awareness. Human beings are part of nature therefore we reflect and are expressions of the same patterns in our life and death. Hen...

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Stuck at home? Global news got you down? The WDG team hosted a free, livestreamed sitting practice hosted by Ashley Dinges. Simply register below to receive free access to the recording.

Recording includes two sitting sessions, med...

The world is having a difficult moment. Each day we learn of a different conflict or crisis, which threatens the lives of so may people. It is easy to live with a lot of fear right now and it is even easier to react out of that fear was well. When we react out of fear we tend to create much more ...

An experiential journey into how the buddha's words at the moment of enlightenment, "The earth is my witness," is a compassionate and powerful call to embodied political, and spiritual action. We will journey through singing together, gentle movement, meditation, writing and discussion to explore...

What is the role of the erotic in spiritual practice? Has the oppression of the feminine contributed to anti–erotic sentiments in many spiritual traditions? Can the erotic be a source of power? Audre Lorde describes the erotic as "the creative energy empowered.” It is not merely sexual but it is ...

Survivors of child sexual abuse and adult rape, especially women and femmes, are taught that rage is an unhealthy response to the unspeakable forms of violence committed against the child and adult bodies we inhabit in this lifetime. Instead, for the sake of our well-being, we are regularly encou...

At the heart of the Mayahana Buddhsist teachings is the Six Paramitas - generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, meditation, and wisdom. When put into practice, these teachings can guide us to work skillfully with others so that we can transform everyday life. It sounds great, but what happen...

As we begin this new decade, many of us are exploring this moment through the lens of the Greek God Janus, the God of beginnings and transitions.

We are looking back and taking note of the causes and conditions of the past year that have brought us to the current state of our lives, and making r...

During this talk, Rashid Hughes, Restorative Justice Specialist and the co-founder of the Heart Refuge Mindfulness Community, will explore how our ordinariness connects us to our innate wisdom and to all beings.

Decolonizing Dharma: Relating with Ancestors, Kinship, and Lineage

Dr. Smalls leads us through the practice of Tonglen, a compassion practice. If you find yourself overwhelmed or sad or lonely or in a blind rage, this may be of benefit.

Guided Loving-Kindness meditation with Weekly Dharma Gathering team member Ashley Dinges.

Guided Shamatha meditation instruction from Alex Van Gils, member of the Weekly Dharma Gathering team.

Adriana DiFazio leads a short Introduction to Meditation Practice in this easy-to-follow guided meditation.

One Step At A Time

When the world gets confused, our mind can also easily be swayed away. Political, economic, and environmental storms can make our minds begin to swirl. How do we navigate our lives under this enormous momentum? One step at a time… Let’s contemplate the basic practice we can do...

Grow the Good: Applying Wise Diligence to Incline our Minds towards Wellbeing and Resilience

The Buddha offered 4 ways to practice Wise Diligence, which is one of the aspects of the Eightfold Path. These are: Wake up wholesome mind states when they are not arising in the mind, Keep wholesome min...

The Absolute is the Relative: Touching Race, Injustice, and Love

When we engage in the distortion that the relative plane is separate from the absolute – that it is something to transcend or ‘just an illusion’ – we ignore the reality of the illusion. What is the illusion comprised of? How is it ...

Grounding in the Body

In this session, we will practice grounding in our physical bodies through very gentle movement and sound. The point of these techniques is to remind us to continually dissolve the body-mind-heart split inherited and enforced in western hegemony. Grounding in the body is a ...

Using Faith to Combat Spiritual Materialism in Buddhist Sanghas

Sensei Alex Kakuyo uses the teachings of Shinjin and Harukai to illustrate the dangers of spiritual materialism in Dharma practice. Referencing passages from the Lotus Sutra and the Lankavatara Sutra he discusses the inherent enligh...

Setting Things in Motion: Cultivating Kind Intentions

This talk will explore the impact of our motivations and how to practice with intentions. We will dive into what it is to bring kind intentions to our practice, therefore our lives.

The cost for this talk is $10 for the General Public and $2...

Dharma as Lifestyle: Expanding Our Path

How can we integrate our spiritual practice with our lifestyle? The Five Precepts offers ethical guidelines on to how live mindfully, but how do we practically interpret and apply them to our day-to-day? This talk focuses on how contemplating our lifestyle...

Realizing Enlightened Black Society

Justin F. Miles will share his experience of creating and facilitating the Black Power Meditation Group in Baltimore Maryland and discuss the importance of sanghas holding spaces for so called “affinity groups” of all races and ways of being.

The cost for thi...

Off The Cushion

The practice on the cushion gives us the building blocks to be able to experience more peace and joy in our everyday. The ultimate purpose of meditation is for it to help us off the cushion, and that's exactly what it naturally does. But on the really challenging days, can our pr...

The Importance of Community: Featuring Aarti Tejuja, Joy Gutierrez, Martina Bouey, Dr. Claudelle Glasgow, & Dr. Shanté Paradigm Smalls

This panel of meditation teachers focusing on issues facing Buddhist, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and other communities. How does community, meditation, and connection help u...

Don’t Drop Me: Story vs Storyline

Meditators are often advised to “drop the storyline and return to the breath”. The intention in shamatha is to become familiar with our storylines so that we are not captivated, captured, defined or dictated by them. However, dropping the storyline doesn’t mean ...

Between the Four Noble Rumors & Four Noble Truths

Rather than relating to the Buddha's teachings such as the Four Noble Truths as ultimate, capital-T truths to believe in, or to accept or to brand ourselves, these teachings can only work when we use them the way the Buddha intended - to be devel...

Am I Bullshittin'?: Relating to Others Authentically

How do we each engage in spiritual bypassing, spiritual gaslighting, and materialism when we don't acknowledge the reality of our embodiment and how that shapes our relationship to other beings, to ourselves, and our environment? This talk foc...

Feeling Ourselves, De-Centering Whiteness

You know it’s there, even when you can’t see it, you can still sense it. It promises freedom, but delivers isolation, fear, and competition. When the dream is over, but we can’t wake up, how do we shake the hold of whiteness? Dr. Sy is sitting with her o...

Shame: A Bright Guardian of the World

The Buddha once taught his 7-year-old son Rahula to examine his actions, as he would his face in a mirror, to make sure that he harmed no one—neither himself nor anyone else. It's easy to judge the actions of others, but what happens when we look in the mirr...

The Dharma of Resiliency

Resiliency is such an important skill to develop right now. Resiliency is about how well we are able to meet the challenges of our lives with a sense of openness and curiosity that helps us to regain our balance. Balance means understanding how to return back to a sense...

Reclaiming the Wisdom of the Sacred Feminine

All of us have both feminine and masculine energies. In modern times, the feminine has been devalued, abused, ridiculed and smothered while masculinity has become glorified. Our society has dictated that one is more valuable than the other, creating a...

The Two Truths: Identity Politics, Nonduality and Radicalism

In this week's gathering we will investigate the potency and pitfalls of nondualism. We will look at ways that this teaching can apply to everyday life through multiple lenses, such as gender and race, and consider how this teaching m...

Discovering and Respecting Boundaries and Limits in Spiritual Practice

Boundaries and limits are inherent capacities in living beings. The ability to signal “Yes” or “No” to the world around us is a skill that is central to our physical and psychological safety. The capacity to hold our boundar...

Do We Need Gurus in the 21st Century?

This talk will cover three classic models of teachers (instructor, mentor, and guru) and look into the benefits and downfalls of the tantric model of committing to a guru.We will discuss what might need to evolve for the guru model to survive and thrive in t...

Depression and the Great Eastern Sun

Relating to one’s own state of mind, and to the personal experience of depression, can lead to feeling bad about feeling bad. Can we relate directly to our own sadness and melancholy all the while knowing that we are basically good and primordially free?

Ma...

Sobriety and Meditation

How might the wisdom of sobriety communities and meditation communities aide one another? What can communities that rely on rotating leadership, group agreements, personal transformation, and self-support teach dharma and meditation communities? Conversely, how might trad...

Minimizing Harm: An Internal and External Exploration

Harm is defined as: actual or potential ill effect or danger and to have an adverse effect on. Being of both an individual and a social body, we will inherently be the sender and the subject of harm many times in our lives. To deny the risk o...

I Love You and I Might Not Like You: Metta as Liberatory Practice

Everyone knows there’s a difference between ‘I love you’ and 'I like you’. It can feel threatening when someone tells us they don’t like us (what we are doing, saying, etc). And it can be powerful when they say ‘I love you’. Eithe...

Climate Change as Charnel Ground

In Tibet, dead bodies were traditionally cut up and left on the charnel ground for vultures. Practitioners could meditate there, connecting with a difficult reality and the awakened energy that runs through all of it.

Our lives are charnel grounds—filled with pa...

Embodying Sacred Masculinity: Liberatory Movement Practices and Discussion

"When we feel our bodies we can better explore who we truly are. We are in a time when patriarchy and a certain type of acute toxic masculinity serves to distract us from sensing what is most natural to us - our bodies an...

Deadly Force: Men, Power, Shame, & Insecurity

Why are men so disproportionately attached to power, and so apt to abuse it? This offering will explore three aspects of male identity: toxic, hegemonic forms of masculinity; the cost of this masculinity to individuals and society (regardless of gend...

Waking Up Through Humility, Community, Intelligence, and Refusal

What do the Four Karmas--Pacifying, Enriching, Magnetizing, and Destroying--have to do with how we live our lives, how we interact with others, and how we relate with interlocking systems of oppression? In this talk, Dr. Smalls wil...

Dissolving Cultural Norms of Shame as an Act of Resilience

Shame and fear are intertwined cultural norms that are used, unconsciously, to keep us from finding our inherent worth. Tuyet will share her experiences opening up to and dissolving shame as a part of her meditation path and how this led...

After You're Gone

When Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths, the first truth was, “life has sufferings.” For instance, we all have experienced a loss one way or another— could be a loss of job, loss of an opportunity, loss of trust, or loss of beloved one. When you experience the suffering of los...

The Personal Path of Unraveling Social Conditioning

We've all been socialized, or conditioned by the culture, people, and institutions around us, so when we sit to meditate, we are not just sitting with our own minds, but also with society and the messages that we have absorbed over our lifetime...

On Silence: Skillful Means for Modern Times

This talk will help connect with the seemingly illusive moments of silence in the 2K world. Learn how these spaces prepare the ground for social action and deeper relationships.

Dr. Claudelle Glasgow has been a student of Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche for o...

Stepping Out and Stepping In: The Importance of Meditators Becoming Activists and Activists Becoming Meditators

Aarti Tejuja is the former Director of the Social Engagement for Shambhala International where she worked with Shambhala Centers globally to help shift the community’s current insular ...