This weekly meditation and dharma group is for anyone under, or kind of close to, 30ish years old. If you’re looking for support in your individual meditation practice, if you want to learn about the wisdom teachings of the Buddha, or if you just appreciate a supportive practice community, then this class is for you. Meditators of all backgrounds and levels of experience are more than welcome to attend. The class will feature social time, a meditation period, and a Q&A or dharma talk. We often go out for dinner afterwards, and sometimes we get together on the weekends, too.
The class is led by Jeremy Graves.
When: Mondays, 7:30-8:45 PM
Suggested Fee: $5-10
No one will turned away due to inability to pay.
About Jeremy
Along with Culadasa (John Yates, Ph.D.) and Matthew Immergut, Ph.D., Jeremy Graves is an author of the bestselling meditation manual The Mind Illuminated, which presents ancient Buddhist teachings from a Western scientific perspective. He has studied meditation for over a decade in both the Theravada and Mahayana traditions, and has accumulated more than two years of combined retreat experience. He was certified to teach by Culadasa after completing a four-year teacher-training program.
Jeremy has also practiced extensively in the Mahasi tradition of dry vipassana, and in the Goenka/U Ba Khin style of practice. In addition, he has pursued Western depth psychology and psychoanalytic forms of healing and integration. As a writer and community volunteer, he is interested in the intersection of dharma practice with culture, and in how the Buddha’s teachings can help heal social ills.
Jeremy has taught meditation and mindfulness at such venues as Inner Way LA, Amazon, Shambhala Mountain Center, and at Consciousness Hacking seminars in LA and Santa Barbara. Currently, he is an instructor, along with Eve Smith and Blake Barton, of the Dharma Treasure Dedicated Practitioners Course, an eight-month-long online course covering dharma teachings and the meditative training outlined in The Mind Illuminated.
Monday Night Mindfulness - 6:30 - 7:30 PM
The Monday Night Mindfulness class consists of about 40 minutes of guided mindfulness practice followed by a period of Q&A about the practice. The class is intended to be accessible to beginners but also useful to more advanced practitioners. It is a good place to start for those just beginning the practice.No registration is required. A fee of $3 - $5 is suggested to help pay for use of the facility, but students and other people with limited resources are welcome and nobody will be turned away for inability to pay the fee.
Beginners who need help with sitting posture options should arrive a few minutes early.
The benefits of mindfulness practice are many. Mindfulness can be useful for managing stress at its root. It can improve physical health by boosting immune function, reducing chronic inflammation, lowering excess cortisol levels, lowering high blood pressure, etc. Mindfulness can also be useful in managing chronic pain. But by far the most important benefit of mindfulness is bringing insight into the true nature of self and world.
The mindfulness techniques taught in the class, which follow the system developed by Shinzen Young, vary from week to week but are always aimed at developing the core mindfulness skills of concentration power, sensory clarity, and equanimity. The techniques generally involve focusing attention on one or more sensory streams (subjective and/or objective visual, auditory and/or somatic experiences) and bringing clarity and equanimity to those sensory streams.
Guidance is provided by Kaishin Ashley. Kaishin has been a student of Shinzen Young since 2001. He has a website at magnanimousmind.com and can be reached by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. His cell phone number is 520-240-5065
Shinzen Young has many helpful youtube videos relating to the methods used in this class and also has helpful websites at www.shinzen.org and www.basicmindfulness.org.
Making a Difference: Opening to Flow
With Community Dharma Leader Lhasha Tizer
Monday Morning Buddhist Book Study Group: 10:00- 11:30 am. This group consists of students who commit to participating in the book group for the entire length of the book. Each class begins with 30 minutes of partially guided and silent meditation begins at 10:00 am. Talks are offered by the teacher, group discussion, and mindful inquiry. This group opens to new participants whenever a new book is begun.
Next Book: Living this Life Fully: Stories and Teachings of Munindra by Mira Knaster
Wednesday Evening Sitting Group: 6:30- 8:30 pm. We will come together weekly to meditate, share Dharma talks, have group discussions, and practice mindful inquiry. This weekly group is open to all who are beginner meditators, intermediate students or those who have practiced for a long period of time. All are welcome to participate as often as you wish and feel free to drop in as it suits your liking. The topic of each week’s group will vary and will always be related to Buddhist teachings.
Basic Meditation Instuctions
Lhasha Tizer, MS - has been studying, practicing and teaching mindfulness meditation and Buddhist Studies for over 35 years. She began practicing in the Insight Meditation tradition 19 years ago.
She is a graduate of The Community Dharma Leader Program IV through Spirit Rock Meditation Center. She teaches weekly class series in Introduction to Mindfulness, and the 4 Foundation of Mindfulness; The 4 Noble Truths; The 4 Brahma Viharas, The Noble 8 Fold Path; The Essential teachings of Insight Meditation; The Ten Perfections/ Paramis; The 5 Hindrances and other individual classes related to the above subjects.
In addition, she facilitates a weekly Book Study Group. Lhasha teaches silent daylong practice days and weekend retreats such as “Tucson Mindfulness in Nature Retreat”. She has also co-facilitated a monthly group in working with pain and difficult emotions. She co-teaches workshops in Wise Speech, and Compassionate Communication.
Lhasha also guides, consults and provides instruction privately to individuals in mindful living, meditation practices, and mindful inquiry and uses the tools of Somatic Experiencing when working with clients.
She is a teacher at Desert Insight Meditation and has been teaching at Tucson Community meditation Center since 2000 and in 2005 began teaching under the guidance of Anna Douglas, co-founder of Spirit Rock Meditation Center.
Her web site is: www.themindfulnesspath.com
You may contact Lhasha at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
