Lojong Meditation

About the Teacher:
Michael Carroll is the author of Awake at Work (Shambhala 2004) and The Mindful Leader (Shambhala 2007). He studied with Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche starting in 1976 , graduated Buddhist seminary in 1980 and is an authorized teacher in the Kagyu-Nyingma and Shambhala traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. Michael teaches and lectures widely on the topic of bringing Buddhist practice into ordinary life at Om Yoga of NY, Wake Up yoga of Philadelphia, Won Institute, Kriplau, Zen Mountain Monastery, Cape Cod Institute, Karme Choling, Shambhala Mountain Center and many other practice centers throughout the US and Europe. Email: jhampa@comcast.net; www.awakeatwork.net

Corina Benner is the director of Wake Up Yoga. She took her first yoga class in 1992, and has been teaching since 1999. Viewing asana practice as an entry-point to self-study, Corina weaves the ancient tenets of yoga philosophy into her teaching, inspiring students to discover how this ancient practice remains relevant today in their own lives both on and off the mat. Her positive vibrations and contagious optimism empower students of all levels to practice with enthusiasm, while her detailed instruction and intelligent sequencing create a safe space for students to explore the landscapes of their body, mind, heart and soul. She opened Wake Up Yoga in 2002, inspired to create a warm and nurturing community-centered yoga studio where people of all ages, stages, colors and flavors could come together with breath and movement, in silence and in laughter, to deeply connect with the underlying current that unites us all.

Urban Retreat: 3 Weekends to Study & Practice:
Lojong Meditation
The Seven Points of Mind Training
& Yin Yoga Practice
Taught by Michael Carroll & Corina Benner

3 Weekends: Fridays, 7:30 - 9:30 pm;
Saturdays: 12 - 5 pm; Sundays: 12 - 3 pm
October 10 - 12, November 7-9, December 5 - 7, 2008

Contribution: $450
Early Registration Incentive: $395 if fully enrolled by 9/30/08
Wake Up Yoga Teachers, Past Training Graduates, and
Monthly Unlimited Card Holders: $375 if enrolled by 9/30/09

Lojong or "Mind training" is a one-thousand-year-old Tibetan Buddhist meditation practice based on The Root Text of the Seven Points of Training the Mind. Originally taught to 11th century Tibetans by the renowned Bengali Buddhist master, Atisa Dipamkara Srijnana, the teachings seek to loosen our resistance to life, ease our self-deception, and reveal the awakened state as ordinary experience. Atisa's oral teachings were organized into 59 pithy slogans, shorthand instructions for cultivating compassion and enlivening wakefulness. For over a thousand years the Lojong practice has been widely used throughout Tibet and many of the great Tibetan spiritual teachers commented on the text, expanding and refining the practice.

The practice of Yin Yoga is a perfect complement to sitting meditation practice. By opening the hips and spine, Yin Yoga creates more ease in the body so that the act of sitting is less painful. By putting the student in touch with strong attachments and aversions, Yin Yoga assists with the cultivation of equanimity: choice-less awareness, creating ever more space in the mind. Suddenly the act of sitting becomes less of a struggle and something you actually begin to look forward to!

By studying Lojong, participants will be introduced to:

Mindfulness awareness meditation - the fundamental practice of taming the mind and recognizing Absolute Bodhicitta;
Contemplation on the four preliminaries - a traditional Buddhist practice that focuses the mind and generates the attitude of maitri or loving kindness.
Sending & taking or Tonglen - a uniquely Tibetan Buddhist meditation practice for cultivating the compassion of Relative Bodhicitta by exchanging oneself for others, opening up to life's rawness, letting go of bias and preconceptions and ultimately helping others.
Slogan practice - a daily contemplation practice for mixing the teachings with everyday experience

This workshop is open to students who have been cultivating a meditation practice and are interested in going deeper; there is no partial enrollment. Upon enrollment in the course, participants will be provided with a reference list of texts that will be studied. On the whole, this Urban Retreat Lojong program will introduce participants to a powerful, ancient and practical meditation for taming our minds, uplifting our daily lives, generating loving kindness for others and, ultimately, recognizing the nature of reality.

To register, please mail payment to: Wake Up Yoga, 2329 Parrish Street, Philadelphia, PA 19130. Or call: 215.235.1228 to use a credit card.
Please include your name, phone number and email address. Thank You!