Meditation
What is Meditation?
Meditation is a simple, direct practice of moment-to-moment awareness of the body-mind process.
Vipassana (mindfulness) teaches us how to live more fully in the present moment, how to open gracefully to the ups and downs of life, and how to meet ourselves and others with more acceptance and love.
Courses will include complete instructions in sitting, walking, lying, and standing meditation, as well as talks, questions and answers, and support in developing a home practice.
Please see the calendar for meditation for information on our current class schedule.
Calgary Vipassana Sangha
See Buddhist Studies
The word sangha means the community of meditators who join together to meditate and study the teachings of the Buddha. This is for experienced meditators.
For further information call: Carmen 403-257-1156 or contact us
Loving-Kindness Meditation (Metta)
This course is only offered in the Fall of each year.
Text for course: "The Revolutionary Act of Loving-Kindness", by Sharon Salzberg.
Metta is a traditional practice of loving kindness or friendship. It is cultivated as a concentration meditation and a way of life, It’s a exploration!
How do we befriend ourselves physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually?
What is the attitude we carry with us in daily life, are we kind, patient, caring?
This practices lead to the development of fearlessness, happiness and a greater ability to love both ourselves and others. To learn to forgive, to recognize our connectedness with all life and to self heal. Along with Compassion, Appreciative Joy or {rejoicing in the happiness of others}, and Equanimity, we reclaim our inner home of peace.
“Loving-Friendliness is my religion” His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Vipassana Meditation (Mindfulness)
Text for course: "Mindfulness in Plain English", by Bhante Gunaratana.
Each class includes the fundamentals of Vipassana meditation,including working with physical sensations,emotions and thoughts. Questions and answer period, Dharma talk, and homework assignments.
Instructions in walking, sitting, lying and standing meditation and support in developing a home practice.
Buddhist Studies Sitting Group
Register for the full course or drop-ins welcomed.
Pre-requisite: Meditation experience
The Noble Eightfold Path is the Buddha's teaching on the gradual path to liberation from suffering.
During the 2012 Winter and Spring sessions, we will be taking a close look at the Path, seeing how each step can transform our minds and lives.
The class is intended to support your meditation practice, help build community between you and other practitioners, and help you incorporate your practice into daily life, from whatever point you're starting at.
Each class is 1.5 hours long, with 30 minutes of meditation, class discussion, and a dhamma talk. The text we follow is Bhante Gunaratana's "Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness".
Open to all with meditation experience.
Working with the Hindrances in Meditation and in Daily Life
Selected reading available online or for purchase at the YMCC.
The five hindrances are mental factors which obstruct our ability to have a calm and peaceful mind.
In meditation the hindrances block our ability to develop concentration.
In our daily lives the hindrances form the building blocks for unhappiness and discontent.
This course will explore in depth the role of the hindrance in meditation and in life.
Emphasize will be place on learning to recognize the hindrance as they arise and learning to counteract them through skillful means.
This course is a prerequisite to "Introduction to Jhana Meditation", scheduled for the 2012 Winter Session.
iRest Yoga Nidra for Relaxation and a Healthy Heart
iRest is a profoundly transformative meditation practice, usually practiced in a comfortable position lying down.
iRest teaches us skills to relax deeply, as well as reducing stress, insomnia, and anxiety. We gain skills to stabilize our emotions and improve personal relationships.
While cultivating overall wellbeing, iRest is a powerful practice to support heart health. The protocol is integrative in that it heals various unresolved issues, traumas and wounds that are present in the body, mind and senses;
and restorative in that it aids us in recognizing our underlying peace that is always present throughout the changing circumstances of life.
iRest has been developed by Dr. R. Miller, a clinical psychologist, and has been taught to thousands of individuals throughout North America.
For info on current clinical research programs including work with individuals with sleep disorders, chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder and more, see www.irest.us.
No previous yoga or meditation experience needed.
Barbara Ross (Buddhapali)
Barbara has been practicing meditation since 1981 and teaching for 15 years. During this time she has practiced with many different Theravadian teachers. She is a disciple of Venerable Bhante Gunaratana and is in his advanced teachers' training program at Bhavana Monastery, West Virginia. Her lay teachers are Joseph Goldstein and Guy Armstrong. She is the guiding teacher at the Yoga center.
Classes taught by Barbara
Judy Pequegna (Kusala)
Judy has been practicing meditation since 1996 and teaching since 2000. Her teachers have been Mechele Calvert, Barbara Ross, Shirley Johannesen. She is a student of Venerable Bhante Gunaratana and is in his advanced teachers training program.
Classes taught by Judy
Lyne Rivest
Lyne's journey with yoga started as teenager in Montreal and gained momentum in the 90s while taking classes at the Yoga Center and The Yoga studio where she obtained her Certification as a Yoga Teacher in 2000. It took her to India in 2001 where she studied restorative yoga at Dr. Karandkar Institute . Through yoga she has learned about meditation and started practicing Vipassana meditation in 1999 with Shirley Johannesen and is committed to sitting retreats each year. “I am very thankful for the many teachers who have encouraged me along the way, and who are helping me to share the benefits of these discipline with others.
Classes taught by Lyne
Anne Mahoney
Anne has been a student of Theravadan Buddhism since 1986. She has had the honour to study under both lay and monastic meditation teachers and Buddhist scholars including: Shirley June Johannesen, Ayya Khema, Sayadaw U Pandita and Bhante Henepole Gunaratana.
She began teaching meditation in the early 1990’s under the direction of Shirley June Johanessen. Currently Anne is the principle teacher of the Calgary Theravadan Meditation Society and a founding member of Bringing Awareness to Life.
Anne is dedicated to helping people live life with awareness, harmony, joy and compassion.
Classes taught by Anne
Carmen Wyatt
The amazing power of mindfulness to bring sanity, peace, and wonder to each day keeps Carmen committed to the practise and eager to share it with anyone who wants to listen.
Carmen has been studying mindfulness meditation since 1999, entering the Vipassana tradition several years later, guided by teachers Judy Pequegnat and Barbara Ross.
The profound and practical teachings of the dhamma and Vipassana gained through annual residential retreats, Buddhist study classes, and a recent pilgrimage to India are core to Carmen's joyful and gentle approach to life and teaching.
Classes taught by Carmen