"What's Happening Now?..."

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  Each participant chooses a topic of interest and is then guided inwards to track the four domains as they arise in immediacy. (See the 4 domains in right margin).  We combine the mentalization fundamentals of concentration and equanimity with investigation and curiosity into one's direct and immediate experience.

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These are great groups for those who dread group process. In What's Happening Now? we do not initially focus on the group field or promote cross-talk. Awareness of the "we space" arises naturally. The focus is one individual at a time and, yet, in this way we learn much about ourselves and others.  Compassion and shared states of consciousness become common.     

No domain is privileged.  No state, value system, or particular identity is privileged. Developing the skills to trust, track and articulate what is arising moment-to-moment is what is valued.  This is not a process group and while it may have tremendous therapeutic or spiritual benefit, it is not group therapy. Each individual is responsible for their own experience.

 

Connect with me to set up a free interview if interested.

 

Acknowledgements:  WHN has largely been influenced by the inquiry method of Hammed Ali in the Diamond Approach.  I am also grateful to Eme Le Cavalier, my DA teacher and Deborah Bowman, my Gestalt Trainer at Naropa University. All of my meditation/spiritual teachers since 2003 have been of great help to me.

 

 

 

"Tweaking the Breath Class"

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​​I've done several kinds of breath work over the years.  I've discovered a safe way to help you learn it at your own pace.

 

Why breathwork?  Why is it so mysterious?  The results of breath work vary greatly for each person and session-to-session.  As a rule it's adventurous and unpredictable.  On one hand, it breaks down unconscious tension in the body so that shadow aspects of the self may be integrated.  On another hand, it can help release frozen energy and traumas in the body.  It can also reveal new states of consciousness experiences that normally occur in meditation or can bring deep peace and relaxation.  

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In this workshop, we'll use the Wim Hoff method which is generally a safe mainstream approach.   As the course progresses, I'll add tweaks from other approaches to breath work which will make it much more powerful! I'll teach a step, then you'll practice until we meet again the following week.

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You are, of course, responsible for your own well being as this is an online offering. Connect with me here for more info.

 

Ackknowledgements:  I am grateful for a couple years of work with Andrew Bishop who has evolved a very unique approach stemming from Reichian schools.  I have also benefited from the shamanic aspects of Stan Grof's holotropic breath work.  Wim Hoff's method is also more powerful than the rational-scientific-materialist view he presents.

 

 

 

"Keeping Quiet: Meditation Training"

 

​The challenge today is not finding a good practice.  Access points to great teachers and excellent teachings are unlimited.  The challenge today is actually practicing.  Practice is my fovorite thing in the world so if you have any ideas how I might help motivate you to this end it would be my great pleasure!

 

​I teach a progression of meditation instructions covering beginner to intermediate stages of practice on the Buddhist path.  We begin with concentration and gradually include investigation of our immediate experience while emphasizing emotional regulation.  I recognize emptiness as the ground of all phenomena and of practice itself, though I favor a gradual approach to well rounded personhood rather than striving for premature awakening.

 

That said, I had premature awakenings, I pushed way too hard, so if you insist... I can probably assist you in sorting out of some of that mess. 

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Connect with me here for more info.

 

Acknowledgements: I learned to meditate on retreats in Thailand and India beginning in 2003.  Ajahn Tong and Christopher Titmuss were especially helpful in giving lineage steeped instructions which I could test and repeat!   I also benefitted from the guided meditations and "deep rest" retreats from Jaya Ashmore.  In graduate school I was influenced by meditation teachers from Chogyam Trungpa's Naropa University where I became a meditation instructor. In 2012 I trained with the softest tough guys I know, Doshin Roshi and Daicho Roshi of the Rinzai Zen/ Integral Zen lineage. I ordained as a Zen Priest in 2018.  Most recently I've come to appreciate the work of George Haas at Mettagroup who has developed a system of attachment theory with Buddhist psychology and meditation.​​​