Deepening Your Practice

This month’s Sangha gathering: Tuesday, Dec. 20th @ 5:30-7:00pm MST (click HERE to view in your time zone)

December Theme: Returning Home. Justin Kirkwood will be joining us this month to teach about the theme of “returning home.” Embracing the contemplative dark months of winter as a time of reflection and renewal, we look back on the year that has passed and begin to plan for the year that lies ahead. The turning of a new year is an ideal time to take stock of what we have accomplished and rejoice in it, as well as to review what we hoped to accomplish but were unable to and why. A year flies by when looking back but is in fact made up of countless opportunities to practice which are also countless opportunities for laziness and distraction. What are our real priorities in life and how can we move forward into the new year in a way that we take more of those opportunities for practice? How can we make our practice a greater priority without beating ourselves up and while still allowing for fun and rest?

One Community Gathering Description
Each month, we come together as a community to meditate, share, and connect around our practice. Each gathering is facilitated by a different Namchak peer, staff member, thought leader or teacher around the theme of the month. Sometimes our agenda closely follows our Learning Circle model, which includes check-ins, a Dharma talk or shared resources around the theme, journaling, small discussions in break-out rooms, full group discussions and group practice. The culture of this format encourages active participation, but participants always have the right to pass. Other times the format follows that of a formal dharma talk from a teacher, where a teaching is given followed by a Q&A session. This month will follow the format of a dharma talk. It will be recorded, so individual sangha members and Learning Circles can have continued access to these teachings.

Background for this month’s teacher
Justin Kirkwood has been studying and practicing Buddhism for over twenty years and has been working as a Tibetan translator and interpreter for more than ten. He lived in India for eight years, studying and practicing with many great teachers and spent three of those years as a monk, studying Buddhist philosophy in a Tibetan monastic seminary. He now works at the Namchak Foundation as a translator of texts, as Namchak Khen Rinpoche’s interpreter, and as a meditation teacher.

Zoom link will be provided upon registration. Please note: Confirmation emails from Eventbrite often end up in spam/promotions tab. Please check there if you do not see the confirmation email with the Zoom info.