This six-week course has no pre-requisites. All are very welcome!

The foundational teachings of the Buddha indicate that the anxiety, fear, depression, and other forms of suffering we experience in our lives can end if we recognize, deeply and profoundly, how that suffering has arisen. This requires gentle bravery and deep contemplation, and means we must be willing to go beyond any previous simplified ideas about how and why our anxiety, fears and suffering have arisen.

Each course in the Foundations series provides a thorough exploration of core Buddhist teachings, drawing on teachings from prominent teachers and classic Buddhist sources. If you have ever wondered “what Buddhism is all about” or feel like you need a refresher on the key teachings, this is the course for you!

Benfits of this Course and the Series

• Pre-recorded talks by very senior teachers, and in-person practice and guidance from local meditation instructors
• Learn new meditation practices based upon the Mindfulness of Life
• Through the practice of meditation, experience the present moment of everyday life just as it is
• Engage in deep study and conversation with other meditators in a safe, inclusive, and suportive environment
• Develop more contentment and joy and live with greater clarity and compassion
• Begin to understand the cause of your anxiety, depression, and fear and how you can be free from it
• Develop more friendliness to yourself, allowing you to meet the challenges of daily life with bravery and dignity
• Cultivate having a more open heart – both to yourself and others

Suggested readings:

Chögyam Trungpa, Glimpses of Abhidharma
Chögyam Trungpa, The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma, Volume One: The Path of Individual Liberation

About the teachers:

Judith Simmer-Brown Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Contemplative and Religious Studies Emeritx at Naropa University, where she has taught for over 40 years. Simmer-Brown is a compassion trainer for the Compassion Initiative at Naropa. She is author of Dakini’s Warm Breath: The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Buddhism (Shambhala) and editor, with Fran Grace, of Meditation and the Classroom: Contemplative Pedagogy for Religious Studies (SUNY). For Shambhala, she teaches Shambhala Training levels, Mahayana and Vajrayana topics, with a special love of White Tara, feminine principle, working with emotions, compassion and social engagement.

Gelong Loden Nyima is a fully ordained Buddhist monk. He lived at Gampo Abbey from 2009 – 2017 where he practiced intensively, completed a cycle of advanced studies (Shedra), and served in various roles including as a senior teacher. He now lives at Drala Mountain Center where he serves as Resident Teacher and a founding faculty member for the Path of Meditation, the Summer Seminar, and other programs. He spends a portion of each year in retreat, travels to continue his own dharma education, and can often be seen jogging around the land at DMC.

Colin Cordner, Ph.D. has been a Shambhala practitioner for 13 years and a student of Buddhist meditation for 17 years. He is the Director of the Ottawa Shambhala Centre, was authorized as a meditation instructor in 2016, and is also an educator and chaplain at Carleton University (Ottawa). He is the author of various academic articles on philosophers such as Plato and Michael Polanyi, and occasional bouts of poetry.

Natalie Charron, Psy.D. has been been a meditation practitioner for many years, and completed her meditation instructor training in 2023. She has trained in both Tara Brach’s Theravadan lineage of metta practice, and now too in the Shamabhala Buddhist lineage of shamatha practice.