When: Sept. 4 - Nov. 20

Where: Hybrid - online or in-person at Matthew’s house in West Newbury, MA (address emailed to registrants)

Time: 7–9 pm

Cost: $225, $275, or $325 (sliding scale)

The ability to calm and steady attention by breath awareness and other mindfulness practices gives a place of inner safety, renewal, and calm. Compassion is the motivation to serve something bigger than just our individual needs and is an expression of the interdependent nature of our lives and those of others – it opens the heart. Nonduality draws upon the mindfulness of an open, knowing nature of mind, sometimes referred to as a “mirror-like” mind or “witness consciousness.” This knowing quality of inner life mixes, mingles, and merges with life in all of the individual forms it encounters. The separation of the knower and the known turn into the unified experience of life knowing itself. Here the sense of “I, me, and mine” and the formal sense of doing a specific practice dissolve into (or take a back seat to) a simple sense of being deeply alive in the here and now. Clear mind and a sense of non-self-centered responsiveness replaces our habitual thought-based relationship with the world. Separation becomes just a concept, and the quality of life changes. 

We will be drawing upon a variety of Buddhist and non-Buddhist sources for clarity and inspiration in our journey. These will include the book Throw Yourself into the House of the Buddha by the Zen master Tangen Harada Roshi, under whom Matthew trained in Japan.

This series is designed for those with at least one year of experience with meditation practice. Each class will consist of about 1 hour and 15 minutes of formal meditation and about 45 minutes of teaching and discussion.

To register and pay online, click below; to pay by cash or check, send an email to northshoreimc@gmail.com.