Deepening Mindfulness Practice: The Body
a 5-week series
July 6, 13, 20, 27 and Aug 3, 10:00 to 11:30 am
At the White Heron Sangha meditation center, in person
To register for this series, or if questions contact Mick Malotte.
Led by Mick Malotte
Mindfulness practice establishes a connection to the body, heart, and mind. This leads to less acting out of reactivity, resulting in less distress for ourselves and others. We learn how to maintain mindfulness and avoid shooting the second arrow. This initial practice is fairly easy to understand.
Deepening mindfulness takes the practice much further. Mindfulness of the body, feeling tones, mind states and mind objects are used to cultivate insight into the changing, non-personal and unsatisfying nature of things. This brings a clearer way of seeing that cuts the very roots of our distress. Reactivity itself comes up less and less, with a more profound and stable freedom. But this is not so easy to realize. It takes a strong foundation and a fair amount of practice for many of us.
The Buddha said, “This Dhamma that I have attained is profound, hard to see and hard to understand, peaceful and sublime, unattainable by mere reasoning, subtle, to be experienced by the wise.” MN 26.19
- This series will follow Bhikkhu Analayo’s book: Satipatthana Meditation: A Practice Guide (please note this is different than his other books on Satipatthana). The 5 classes correlate with the first 5 chapters (a second series is planned to cover chapters 6-9).
- This series is intended for those who have an established mindfulness practice that is already fairly well integrated into their daily lives. In the “gradual path” approach this foundation will support delving deeper.
- Prerequisites: Participants should have a daily formal sitting meditation practice (at least 20 minutes a day) for 3 years or more and should have attended at least one 5-day residential meditation retreat. Out of respect for the group, and in line with the precepts, please honor these guidelines. If you don’t meet these criteria and feel ready for this class, please contact Mick.
- Extending the time in formal sitting practice can be very fruitful. 45 minutes of daily sitting meditation is recommended during this course.
- Class size is capped at 16 people to facilitate a sense of community and sharing. Sessions will include presentation of the week’s topic, sitting meditation and discussion.
Mick’s passion is in making deep rooted mindfulness practices accessible, relevant, and helpful to those engaged in modern life in order to lessen distress and bring well-being and joy. He has been practicing and studying mediation for 30 years, mostly in the Insight and Mahamudra traditions. Mick was trained to lead dharma activities through Spirit Rock Meditation Center. He is married, has two children, two grandchildren and is a retired physician.
More about Mick
To register for this series, or if questions contact Mick Malotte.
ALTHOUGH THIS CLASS IS CURRENTLY FULL, WE ARE STARTING A WAITLIST. IT IS LIKELY THAT SOME FROM THE WAITLIST WILL BE ABLE TO ATTEND. To get on this list please email Mick at mjmalotte@gmail.com.