APPLYING MEDITATION FOR NONVIOLENT LIVING ONLINE COURSE
EVERY WEDNESDAY AT 1 PM PACIFIC / 2 PM MTN / 3 PM CENTRAL / 4 PM EASTERN, BEGINNING NOVEMBER 11TH THROUGH DECEMBER 16, 2020
Six weekly sessions of 75 minutes each – approx.
If you are in a different time zone, you can find the start time for your location here.
GOALS OF THE COURSE:
When we study the lives of people who changed the world through nonviolent means, we see that they were all rooted in some form of spiritual practice which sustained them through moments of crisis and human vulnerability. Faith was the fundamental source of their inner strength and capacity to endure.
The goal of this workshop is to offer an experiential introduction to the practice of meditation drawing from different spiritual traditions yet free of jargon, dogma or doctrine. The overall goal is to give participants an opportunity to discover which way is most suited to their temperament and natural inclination. Generally speaking, meditation is a way to train the mind and make friends with ourselves; it is an act of love that nourishes the core of nonviolent living and being. As Gandhi has said, “nonviolence is impossible without self-purification”. Transformation happens naturally through meditation.
After completing the meditation course all participants will be invited to attend a once a month online meeting with Veronica and other participants for a check-in and discussion with a little guided meditation as a way to continue your practice and support one another. These will be held on the last Tuesday of every month.
OUTLINE OF WEEKLY COURSES:
Week one: Why Meditate?
We are going to delve into the neuroscience of meditation with particular emphasis on the emotional lives of our brains. With guided practice.
Week two: Finding Home in the Heart
In this session we will look into how the heart connection plays a key role in understanding how to live from a centered place to develop greater compassion, equanimity and inner peace. Plus guided practice.
Week three: Working with Disruptive Emotions
In this session we will look at anger, fear and their antidotes. We will also explore the science of epigenetics in relation to how emotions affect our well being. Plus introduction to Tonglen meditation.
Week four: Practicing Mindfulness
To be mindful means to have the mind full of what is happening in this precise moment. We will explore how the above statement relates to mindful eating and our relationship with moment to moment awareness while bathing in self-compassion.
Week five: Working with Pain
How we relate to pain determines our life experience. Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional. In this sessions we will explore different approaches to pain management and how to experience our situation with less fear or resistance. Plus guided practice.
Week six: We and the World
In this recap and overview session, we will see the importance of meditation to meet today's challenges and explore what meditation teacher Thich Nhat Hanh calls our 8 bodies. A guided practice will follow.
COST: $80 USD for the 6 sessions. Register below. If you are in need of a scholarship, a few are available, just let us know. Email us at info@paceebene.org
REQUIREMENT: Have a good internet connection and understand how zoom works. No previous experience required.
FACILITATOR
Course Facilitator: Veronica Pelicaric
Veronica was raised in the Catholic tradition in Argentina. While in her thirties, she lived for two years in a monastery in Brazil. She has have been a practitioner of Buddhist meditation for over thirty years and lives in a spiritual community in Montreal. She has been with Pace e Bene for twenty one years as a nonviolence trainer and educator and considers her work a concrete expression of spiritual practice.
“Some form of contemplative practice is the only way (apart from great love and great suffering) to rewire people’s minds and hearts. It is the only form of prayer that dips into the unconscious and changes people at deep levels — where all of the wounds, angers, and recognitions lie hidden. Prayer that is too verbal, too social, too external, too heady never changes people at the level where they really need to change. Only some form of prayer of quiet changes people for good and for others in any long term way. It sustains and deepens the short term wisdom we learn in great love and great suffering. Forgive me for making that an absolute statement, but I believe it from years of working with people.”
“I was very moved by the meditation course. Because of your guidance my view of meditation has changed. Before I thought it was something to clear MY mind. Now I see it is an offering I have to give those around me and the world. A way to be in the world that is a benefit to all. ”