Thursday Night Sangha
The Thursday Night Sangha (formerly Capitol Hill Meditation Group) has been meeting since 2010 under Tuere Sala's guidance and is a Practice Group of SIMS. Everyone is welcome to attend Thursday nights from 6:30-8:30 PM. Read this page for more information. There is no charge to attend, though dana support is always appreciated. By registering for this ongoing offering (no charge, choose any date) you will receive messages about topics and retreats specific to this group.
Change and Transitions
The Moffitt Method℠ of Skillfully Navigating Major Life Changes
When you are dealing with major change your life – switching careers, moving to a new town, starting or ending a relationship, to name just a few – you have many options for guidance in navigating the often bumpy and uncertain road of change. There are executive, career, and life coaches, psychotherapists, self-help books, and wise friends and mentors – each of these is a possible source of guidance during times of change. Now, there is another resource you can turn to when navigating significant life change: The Moffitt Method℠ of SkillfulChange℠. This integrative approach to helping individuals move through the ups and downs of change was developed by Phillip Moffitt, founder and president of the Life Balance Institute.
https://skillfulchange.org/the-moffitt-method/
What to Expect
Individual Strategy Sessions are designed to help you clarify and resolve core life questions and to support you in learning tools to skillfully navigate major life changes. This is not psychotherapy; it is an “intervention” in the sense that it results in a plan of action. Together we assess what’s out of balance in your life, explore options for resolving your issues, and create a plan, complete with goals and strategies for achieving a balanced life.
What You Gain
GAIN CLARITY
Through a deep exploration of your presenting question, you gain clarity about the internal and external forces that are involved in your current change and learn perspectives and techniques for staying in balance.
ALIGN WITH YOUR VALUES
I will work with you as an ally and an advocate to support you in staying true to your values as you navigate your change and transition. In the process of this work, you identify or clarify your values and intentions and this, in and of itself, brings a sense of relief and ease to your life.
CREATE AND IMPLEMENT A PLAN
The strategy sessions are designed to help you sort out your options, discover real possibilities, and prioritize the considerations that are in play in your change and transition. From there, I will work with you to create a plan and identify the steps needed to implement it.
Please contact me to make an appointment.
Nine Bodies of Consciousness
Awakening is an embodied experience that is supported through moment to moment awareness. The Nine Bodies teachings is an embodying awareness practice that offers a moment to moment tracking and classifying of meditative experiences.
As an insight practice, these teachings provide the means to explore ever more subtle levels of consciousness that can strengthen concentration and brighten awareness. The explorations, grounded in the present moment, can lead to a level of stillness that supports greater clarity and understanding into the causes of suffering and the way leading to the end of suffering.
I offer individual practice meetings, classes and residential retreats.
Please contact me if you have any questions.
Dharma Based Mindful Movement
This is a spiritual ceremony. Qigong can sometimes be thought of as exercise, this is not an exercise routine and should not be treated as such. This is a meditative practice connected to the movement of energy. Energy (or sometimes thought of as Right Effort) is an important part of spiritual strength. It is as aspect of several enlightenment practices, such as the Five Spiritual Faculties, the Ten Paramis and the Eightfold Path.
Qigong is an excellent energy practice. Its slow, methodical movements are both uplifting and strengthening. As we mindfully tend to the energy of each movement, we can let go of the outside world and liberate the mind from suffering. Liberation (or enlightenment) comes to those who cultivate wholesome qualities that strengthen the heart and calm the mind. This cultivation need not come from a place of striving to become a better person. Simply by becoming more and more familiar with the energy of these wholesome qualities, we can create the causes and conditions for the qualities to naturally arise.
This is a Dharma adaptation of the Shibashi 18 Movements that was developed by Professor Lin Housheng in 1979. I have taken each movement and correlated them to specific mindfulness principles. If you practice this movement sequencing every day you will notice that you become more aware of your conditioning and, as such, the causes of your suffering. You may even find it easier to let go of your grasping because of this awareness. Stillness comes from continuity of mindfulness. These movements can support that continuity of mindfulness as you incorporate the principal into your common understand. Last but not least, you may also notice greater courage and confidence as you learn to see the true nature of phenomenon.
This movement sequencing should be entered into as you would any ceremony or meditative practice. It should be done in a quiet place. Care should be given to the condition of the space around your practice area. It should be clean and clutter free, if possible. It should be a special area that is designated for practice. It does not have to be a separate room, it could be as simple as the wall you face when doing the practice. What is important is that you treat the area with care. You may want to place an altar, picture, a statute of the Buddha, flowers or anything you find grounding and/or inspiring. I like having a special rug to practice on. I do the preparation movements off the rug and step onto the rug for the main practice. A good rule of thumb is to do whatever will support you in tuning out the world and entering into the sacred.
Download the Morning QiGong Practice Instructions here.
Download the Morning QiGong Practice Videos here.
Music:
Heart Caravan by Thanissara, Mel Zeki & Ravi Cintakavi:
Available from:
Insight Dialogue
Insight Dialogue is an interpersonal meditation practice that brings together three basic elements, each powerful in their own right: meditative awareness, the wisdom teachings of the Buddha, and human’s natural relatedness. Insight Dialogue has the same purposes and traditional roots as silent meditation—developing mindfulness, compassion, and liberating insight. As such, it is conceived of as a component of a broader “whole life” path of cultivation intended to support harmonious and liberating life and community. Insight Dialogue is grounded in the Buddha’s early teachings (Pāli Canon) and the practice of Insight or Vipassanā meditation.
To register, please go to
https://insightdialogue.org/programs/10530/introduction-to-insight-dialogue-and-embodied-justice/