Heart of Buddhist Meditation: Origins of Modern Mindfulness

Judith Simmer-Brown

January 3–8, 2017

Tuition $210 + 5 nights

The impressive health benefits of mindfulness meditation have led to its implementation in significant secular settings; from education, medicine, non-profits, business, the government and even to the military. But long before the healthy effects of meditation were recognized, it was being used as a method to directly experience one’s intrinsic wakefulness and the habitual patterns of mind that generate and reinforce suffering. In this immersive retreat you’ll be introduced to the central practices of Buddhist meditation with guidance from Theravāda, Zen and Tibetan Buddhist textual traditions. You’ll learn the stages of meditation, the techniques that enable you to quickly stabilize your meditation practice, applications for daily life and the workplace, and the recent findings of mindfulness neuroscience.

Naropa students enrolled in this course for academic credit, please register for lodging here: REL613 Buddhist Meditation: Calm Abiding, Insight, and Kindness (1.5)

Acharya Judith Simmer-Brown, Ph.D., is Distinguished Professor of Contemplative and Religious Studies at Naropa University, and Dean of the Shambhala Teachers’ Academy. She has been a Shambhala acharya, senior dharma teacher, since 2000, and is author of Dakini’s Warm Breath: The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Buddhism and Meditation in the Classroom. She and Richard have two adult children and three grandchildren.

Program Details

Registration takes place from 2– 5 pm on your program start date. All participants and volunteer staff must check in at our Guest Registration house. Please arrive before 5 pm to check-in and settle into your accommodations. Your program begins with dinner, followed by an orientation. The Guest Registration house closes at 5 pm after which no one is available to provide information or orient you to your accommodations. All programs usually end at 12:30 pm on the program's departure date, followed by lunch. Further specifics regarding your program's schedule will be available upon arrival. If applicable, you will receive an email from the program coordinator in the week prior to your program with any additional information you may need.