NYINGMA INSTITUTE- Spring classes begin the week of March 19th!

Spring classes begin the week of March 19th! The following is a complete list of the Spring Classes.

Nyingma Meditation

The practice of Nyingma Meditation leads to serenity and insight. Courses provide instruction in meditation techniques and support for daily practice.

MED103 Beginning Meditation: Calm and Clear

Morning Session: Tuesdays, 10-11:30 AM
(March 20—May 22)

Evening Session: Thursdays, 6:15-7:45 PM
(March 22—May 24)

Meditation calms the mind and leads to insight. Students learn how to foster both through clear, simple instructions for beginning or revitalizing a meditation practice. The focus is on the process that leads to insight and overcomes resistance.

Cost: $180. Instructors: Robin Caton (mornings) and Olivia Hurd (evenings). For beginners and those wishing to review basic techniques.

MED203 Intermediate Meditation: Meditations to Open the Heart

Morning Session: Wednesdays, 10-11:30 AM
(March 21—May 23)

Evening Session: Thursdays, 8-9:30 PM
(March 22—May 24)

Genuine satisfaction, love, and beauty are found within the heart. Silent and guided meditations open the heart to feeling. Students develop new integrity and balance.

Cost: $180. Instructors: Jack Petranker (mornings); Hugh Joswick (evenings). Prerequisite: one year of meditation experience.

MED204 Intermediate Meditation: Shamatha and Vipashyana

Wednesdays, 8—9:30 PM
(March 21—May 23)

Through two aspects of meditation, calming and insight, the mind is experienced as tranquil and sensitive, alive and brilliant. In this course, students will be led through contemplative practices that reveal deeper levels of mind than are ordinarily recognized. The focus will be in sitting practice with a minimum of instruction.

Cost: $180. Instructors: Nyingma Institute Meditation Faculty. Prerequisite: two years of meditation experience.

MED303 Advanced Meditation: Inner Calm and Wider Perspective

Mondays, 6:15—7:45 PM
(March 19—May 21)

“Rest thoughts and mental contents as they are, in the sky-like nature of mind, watching them vanish like clouds.” Longchenpa.

The inner calm of meditation, “lustrous and smooth like the ocean,” naturally opens up to a wider perspective, “open and bright like the sky.” This course bases its practices and teachings on the writings of the great 14th century Nyingma master Longchenpa.

Cost: $180, which includes a workshop to be announced. Instructor: Sylvia Gretchen.

Based on Longchenpa’s Kindly Bent to Ease Us (chapter 11) and its auto-commentary. Prerequisite: three years of meditation experience and consent of the instructor. Students attending this course will benefit from also attending the Advanced Kum Nye course “Focus on the Senses” held Mondays, 8-9:30 PM. The Kum Nye practices offered in that course will further deepen the meditations and insights gained through the advanced meditation course.

Kum Nye (Tibetan Yoga)

The gentle movement, massage, and breathing practices of Kum Nye promote physical and emotional health as they bridge the gap between the material and the spiritual.

KNR102 Beginning Kum Nye:

Working with Lower Body Energy*

Wednesdays, 6:15—7:45 PM
(March 21—May 23)

This course presents Kum Nye exercises that energize the belly, hips, legs, and spine. Bringing awareness to the lower part of the body counteracts the tendency to focus on thoughts and personality, allowing us to reconnect to the vitality of full embodiment.

Cost: $180. Instructor: Jack van der Meulen. Based on Tarthang Tulku’s Tibetan Yoga.

KNR301 Advanced Kum Nye:

Focus on the Senses

Mondays, 8—9:30 PM
(March 19—May 21)

Advanced Kum Nye practice reaches inward toward subtle aspects of embodiment. Exercising mind and senses through harmonizing breath, awareness, and feeling leads naturally to serenity and insight. This course focuses especially on the senses.

Cost: $180. Instructor: Santosh Philip. Based on Tarthang Tulku’s Joy of Being. Prerequisite: two years of Kum Nye practice. This course is suitable for both intermediate and advanced students. Students attending this course may also be interested in the advanced meditation course “Inner Calm and Wider Perspective” offered on Mondays from 6:15-7:45 PM.

KNR107 Sunday Morning Kum Nye

Sundays, 10 AM—noon (every Sunday)

Re-awaken a spirit of ease and appreciation through gentle Tibetan Yoga practices that relax and rejuvenate. Each session includes movement, massage, and breathing exercises.

Cost: 15 per session. Instructors: Jack van der Meulen, Santosh Philip, and Dave Abercrombie. This drop-in class is for all levels of students.

Buddhist Studies and Practices

DHS202 Transmitting Insight: Penetrating Illusion

Tuesdays and Thursdays, 6:15-7:45 PM
(March 20—May 24)

At every moment we receive messages transmitted from our body, from our mind, and from the world around us. These messages form the basis of all that we know and do. The Buddha’s teachings bring our attention to how the senses operate and how knowledge of ourselves and the world develops. This course looks at the process of transmitting and receiving information from the body, mind, and world. Abhidharma and Mind Training (Lojong) teachings provide the textual basis.

Cost: $360. Instructors: Sylvia Gretchen and Jack Petranker. Students are encouraged to attend the associated workshops “Turning the Mind to the Dharma” on March 30-31 and “Training for Freedom” on May 4-5. Prerequisite: DHS 201 or consent of the instructors.

DHS211 Buddhist Studies Tutorial: Birth of Enlightenment

Thursdays, 1-2:30 PM
(March 22—May 24)

“Awakening to the nature of existence means quite simply that now is the time to act. Now is the time to conceive the inconceivable: It is possible to become a Buddha.” Tarthang Tulku, Path of Heroes.

The path of mindfulness and compassionate love provide the basis for acting on the realization that we all have the capacity to awaken to the nature of existence. In this course, we cultivate a spirit of inquiry and investigation into the patterns that shape our lives. We sow the seeds that will deepen into enlightenment.

Cost: $180. Instructor: Sylvia Gretchen. Based on Path of Heroes. Open to those with a sincere interest in the Buddha’s teachings.

Nyingma Psychology and Practices

Nyingma psychology and practices offer unique insight into the human situation and innovative ways to ease emotional discomfort.

NPR109 Healing with Sacred Art

Mondays, 6:15-7:45 PM
(March 19—April 16)

Accessible to our senses, the intricate shapes and colors of sacred art take us to a source of wellness that is ever-fresh and available. This course focuses on techniques for achieving and maintaining good health from Tibetan medical teachings, including the Healing Buddha practice, along with discussion on how to tap into the special healing power of sacred art.

Cost: $90. Instructors: Rosalyn White and Mark Henderson. This 5-week course is suitable for all levels of students.

Skillful Means

“It is time to turn to the positive: to begin caring enough to change…. We know from experience that choosing positive action inspires and uplifts the spirit. It expands vision, builds strength and confidence, and leads to enduring accomplishment.” Tarthang Tulku, Mastering Successful Work.

SKM213 Pioneering Inwardly

Tuesdays, 8-9:30 PM
(March 20—May 22)

We can invest our energy in cultivating mind, creating a friendly and productive inner ahome in which life and work will flourish. Choosing a setting of wholesome discipline, we allow straightforward styles of thought to take the place of ancient tangled patterns. Step by step, we work on beneficial enhancements.

Cost: $180. Instructor: Barr Rosenberg. Students may attend the “Making the Most of Formal Thought” workshop on May 26 for an additional $25. Based on Tarthang Tulku’s Mastering Successful Work.

Time, Space, and Knowledge

TSK108 Time, Space, and Knowledge:

Wednesdays, 6:15—7:45 PM
(March 21—May 22)

Enter into Tarthang Tulku’s visionary teachings on Time, Space, and Knowledge (TSK) through this introductory course. An open path of transformative inquiry, TSK is not based on a set of beliefs or a code of conduct. Its approach is light and direct. Encouraging and liberating the deepest capacities of being human, TSK offers a wonderfully refreshing way of being in the world. From the outside, the TSK vision may seem quite daunting. From within, the view is quite different.

Cost: $180. Instructor: Ken McKeon. For students of all levels.

TSK103 Inviting Knowledge

Tuesdays, 6:15—7:45 PM
(March 20—May 22)

Creative and responsive, embodied knowledge manifests as clarity, subtle appreciation, and confidence. This course invites knowledge into experience through introspective practice, readings from Tarthang Tulku’s TSK vision, and honest inquiry.

Cost: $180. Instructors: Tom Morse and Ken McKeon.

Tibetan Language

TIB103 Beginning Tibetan, Level III

Thursdays, 8-9:30 PM
(March 22—May 24)

Continuing instruction in classical Tibetan with selected readings.

Cost: $180. Instructor: Mark Henderson. Prerequisite: TIB102 or consent of the instructor.

TIB203 Intermediate Tibetan, Level III

Fridays, 6:15—7:45 PM
(March 23—May 25)

Readings illustrate the different styles of Tibetan literature.

Cost: $180. Instructor: Mark Henderson. Prerequisite: TIB202 or consent of the instructor.

TIB301 Tibetan Tutorial

Fridays, 4:30—5:45 PM
(March 23—May 25)

Ongoing reading and translation of Tibetan texts.

Cost: $180. Instructors: Barr Rosenberg and Sylvia Gretchen. Prerequisite: consent of the instructors.

*Courses or workshops marked with an asterisk meet the qualifications for continuing education credit for MFT’s and LCSW’s as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. Provider: Nyingma Institute #2513.

Questions? Information? Registration?

NyingmaInstitute.org
Call: (510) 809-1000
Email: Nyingma-Institute@Nyingma.org