Releasing into Presence: Meditation, Mantra & Movement with Lopön Chandra

Come experience the benefits meditation, mantra, and movement have to offer our body, mind, and soul. Classes will be relaxing, rejuvenating, and fun, enhanced by community and collective practice. Weaving together mystical stories, meditations, mantra, movement and singing chants, Chandra offers practices that facilitate releasing into presence with ease and comfort.

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Meditation: Experience a richness of techniques for developing shamatha, calm abiding, and vipashyana, insight. These will include mindfulness of breathing, an especially effective approach to soothing the body and calming the discursive mind, and more advanced techniques called “settling the mind in its natural state” and “awareness of awareness.” Tonglen (sending & receiving) guided meditation will also be offered.

Mantra: Explore mantra recitation and chanting, both with and without musical accompaniment. Chandra will share a variety of mantras and melodies from the Buddhist and Hindu tradition, including melodies from her 21 Taras Collective project.

Movement: Practice gentle and accessible yoga and/or meditative movement to bring more comfort and ease to your meditation and life. We suggest you come wearing comfortable clothes. No need to bring a yoga mat.

Beginning on May 20th, we will begin studying the book,On the Path to Enlightenment: Heart Advice from the Great Tibetan Masters. Students are encouraged to get the book and read along with us for the class. Each week we will discuss passages in the book and put them into practice.

Summary of On the Path to Enlightenment: Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard has selected and translated some of the most profound and inspiring teachings from the eight traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. The selected teachings are from the Buddha himself, Nagarjuna, Guru Rinpoche, Atisha, Shantideva, and Asanga; the great masters of the past, Thogme Zangpo, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Milarepa, Longchenpa, Machig Labdron, and Sakya Pandita; and contemporary masters, including the Fourteenth Dalai Lama and Mingyur Rinpoche. The teachings address such topics as...
• The nature of the mind
• The foundations of taking refuge, generating altruistic compassion, acquiring merit, and following a teacher
• View, meditation, and action
• How to remove obstacles and make progress on the Buddhist path

Logistics:

1. There is a large, free parking lot. For detailed directions, see: https://berkeleyalembic.org/contact
2. Doors will LOCK at 7pm. Please arrive early so you don't get locked out!
3. No one turned away for lack of funds. If this applies to you, please pay at the door.

If you are unable to attend in person, this class is livestreamed to the Releasing into Presence playlist on the Alembic YouTube channel each week.

Dorje Lopön Chandra Easton is a teacher, author, and translator of Tibetan Buddhist texts. She has taught Buddhism and Hatha Yoga since 2001 and co-translated Sublime Dharma: A Compilation of Two Texts on the Great Perfection, published in 2012.

While her training is rooted in Tibetan Buddhism (Mahayana and Vajrayana) and the Great Perfection (Ati Yoga; Dzogchen), her primary interest is making these traditional teachings relevant and accessible for our modern experience.

She is a Vajra teacher, Dorje Lopön, at Tara Mandala Retreat Center, founded by Lama Tsultrim Allione, where she serves on the Upaya Council, Prajna Council, and the Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Council, which address the underrepresentation of people from different cultural, racial, sexual orientation, and social backgrounds in the Dharma. She is the author of Embodying Tara: Twenty-One Manifestations to Awaken Your Innate Wisdom (Shambhala Publications, 2023). To learn more about her teaching schedule, writings, and music, visit www.chandraeaston.com.

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