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Joy is clearly based on contentment and appreciation of life, as well as compassion for self and others. Why not join us to explore these and possibly rediscover how to celebrate your life with joy?

When we’re low on energy and inspiration, our lives can feel like a race to the bottom. To compensate, we may find ourselves running to the very habits that isolate and further drain our energy, disconnecting us from the natural sense of wonder and joy available in each moment.

This 5-week course introduces the joyful discipline of awareness and compassion.  While the challenges of daily life are always arising, when we appreciate our self, each other and the world, our lives take on a refreshing, ordinary joyfulness. By letting go of the struggle to be something “better,” we can make space for our inherently intelligent, compassionate, and strong nature to flourish.

Overview of the Course:

Class 1 Explores the meaning of joy and the traditional Tibetan concept of “windhorse” – a sense of uplifted personal energy and inspiration.

Class 2 Introduces the concept of bodhichitta or “awakened heart” and how awakening the heart and extending loving-kindness to others also rouses windhorse.   

Class 3 Explores doubt as the obstacle to opening up further.

Class 4 Introduces “entering bodhichitta”—the paramitas or “transcendental virtues” —how we actually engage our world.  

Class 5 Explores the joyous discipline that gives rise to a sense of basic healthiness and the inspiration to be of benefit in the world. 

About the Teachers

Don Adams was introduced to meditation through a day-long workshop held by the Ottawa Shambhala Centre in 1999. That same year he began coming to the Centre taking courses and doing the Shambhala Training weekends. He completed the Shambhala Training Levels and Sacred Path of Warriorship and attended Warriors Assembly.  In 2008 he became a trained Shambhala Teacher and Meditation Instructor. He is currently a vajrayana practitioner, a student of the Sakyong, and also trains under the guidance of Anyen Rinpoche.

Jocelyn Beaudette tried to learn meditation for many years through reading books but always felt that she was getting it wrong. In 2007, she came upon the writings of Pema Chodron which led her to join the Edmonton Shambhala Centre. There, supported by a meditation instructor, and encouraged by weekly community meditation, she developed her own meditation practice. She completed the Way of Shambhala and the Sacred Path trainings, followed by Enlightened Society Assembly in 2015 and Warrior Assembly in 2018. In 2023, she became a Shambhala Meditation Instructor.