This weekly meditation group is for younger people, under, or kinda close to, 30 years old. The class begins and ends with social time. It includes 30 minutes of meditation, as well as a question and answer session. We often go out for dinner afterwards, and sometimes we get together on the weekends, too.
The class is taught by clinical psychologist Tucker Peck, Ph.D. (who falls into the "kinda close to" category).
When: Mondays, 7:30 – 8:30 PM
Suggested Fee: $5
No one will turned away due to inability to pay.
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
Tuesday Evening Buddhist Book Group: 6:30- 8:30pm. 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 6:30pm. Talks are offered by the teacher, group discussion, and mindful inquiry. This group opens to new participants whenever a new book is begun.
Book study group: "Emptiness: A Practical Guide to Meditators" by Guy Armstrong, starts Tuesday Jan. 16th, ongoing
Wednesday Evening Sitting Group: 6:30- 8:30pm. These classes are sometimes offered as class series, each class building upon the previous one and other times they are designed to be a Drop-in class where students can come any time they choose, depending on the nature of the class. The classes consist of a dharma talk, Q&A, meditation, and mindful inquiry.
Wednesday Night - Current Ongoing Series
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.
