Meditation: Presence, awareness, and the principle of non-duality
Deň / Dátum / Čas
nedeľa / 24.11.2024 / 10:00 - 18:00
Presence, awareness, and the principle of non-duality
A workshop on meditation
When we do not understand how the mind works, we become slaves of its ceaseless activity which can be useful, but can also be harmful for our lives. Judgements continuously appear in our minds and usually we blindly believe them. Thoughts can become obsessive, so we suffer from them being unable to escape their domination, we obediently follow our own thoughts without understanding their source, their nature, and their function. Therefore, the mind is a root of both our suffering and our happiness, so it’s very important to understand it and to learn how to be free from its domination.
Presence and awareness are two basic tools for understanding and mastering one’s own mind. Presence is a capacity not to be distracted and carried away by mental activity. Awareness is the knowledge of how the mind is at this very moment, whether it is getting agitated or unclear, generating desire or aversion. Mastering these two aspects, we are getting access to the deep and inherent qualities of mind, to its natural calmness and clarity as well as to discovering the so-called non-duality of subject and object. Natural qualities are already there, they don’t need any effort, but they must be discovered through our experience, not just through reasoning and analysis. Such exploration of the mind is what is called “meditation”.
In this workshop, we are going to have practical examples of what presence and awareness can be, how to break through the stream of thoughts to discover deep qualities of the mind. The topics include:
- Body-mind connection;
- Balance of body, energy, and mind;
- Action and sensation;
- Effortless meditation;
- Natural calm and clarity;
- Illusion of duality.
Schedule
10:00-13:00 morning session
13:00-15:00 lunch break
16:00-18:00 afternoon session
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Igor Berkhin is a long term practitioner of contemplative practices. Born in the USSR, he started his spiritual practice in the 80-s still behind the iron curtain. He studied with and translated for many teachers of different contemplative traditions the most important of them being Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, a renowned Dzogchen master. Having met his root Teacher in 1996, in 2002 Igor was authorized by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu to teach the Base of Santi Maha Sangha, a study and practice program on Sutra, Tantra, and Dzogchen designed by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu.
Starting from 2010, Igor has been also teaching meditation in a non-religious format using modern context to present the practical knowledge of mind preserved in ancient teachings. His meditation course in Russian language made on request of Yoga Journal in 2012 attracted 7000 subscribers. Igor lives in Israel and teaches online both Dzogchen and secular meditation as well as travels giving retreats around the world.