Retreats at PIMC
Autumn Equinox Meditation,
Movement, and Sound Healing
with Candle Summers and Phyllis Moses
Sat. Sept. 30th
10:00 am - 4:00 pm
$60 Suggested Fee (No one turned away for lack of funds)
This retreat will be meeting in-person only.
Join in joyous companionship in the Dharma for a day of rejuvenation and healing. This will be a day for meditation, movement, and the healing sounds of crystal and Tibetan bowls. We'll come together to share our heart’s joy with meditation, then we'll do some mindful movement based on Tara dance practices. The Mandala Dances of the 21 Praises of Tara is a ritual dance offered worldwide as a prayer of peace, protection, empowerment, and wisdom. All traditional cultures celebrate life with music, song, art, and dance! No experience is necessary, all genders welcome and no commitments to undertake other than to your own Presence!
Bring a mat for laying on the floor, slippers, a blanket (to be cozy), and a sack lunch.
For more information about the dances: taradhatu.org.
TEACHER BIOS
Candle Summers (she/her) arrived in Portland from Maui, Hawaii in 2013. She has practiced for over 20 years with her root teachers Kamala Masters and Steve Armstrong. She completed Spirit Rock’s four year Dharma Leader program in 2001 and her Theravadan background includes the teachings of Anagarika Munidra, Sayadaws U Pandita and U Tejaniya, Gil Fronsdal, Mark Nunberg, and more. Candle has been offering a monthly insight/metta meditation gathering on Mondays (currently on Zoom) in SE Portland and previously led a women’s group, a Buddhist book club and managed retreats for the Vipassana Metta Foundation on Maui for 12 years.
Phyllis Moses is a seasoned Tibetan Buddhist practitioner and facilitator and has been working somatically with people for the last 30 years.
Phyllis's Website.
Classes at PIMC
Basics of Mindfulness
with Doug Pullin
ONLINE ONLY
Thursdays: 9/28, 10/05, 10/12, 10/19, 10/26, 11/2
6:00 pm – 7:20 pm
$150 Suggested Fee (No one turned away for lack of funds)
This is an online class.
If you want support in establishing a daily mindfulness meditation practice (or deepening practice) this is the class for you.
During this six-session journey you will learn mindfulness of breathing, the body, of emotions, thoughts, of mind and of the application of mindfulness in daily life and on retreat. This class is appropriate for beginners as well as for those more experienced meditators who want to refresh the fundamentals of practice.
The benefits of this practice include:
1. A healthier relationship with your thoughts.
2. More balance with your emotions.
3. Be more in touch with your body and mind.
4. Increase your capacity to be loving and kind.
5. Be more peaceful
This class will provide you with a relaxed and supportive environment for mindfulness practice to deepen. Doug will tailor his instruction to meet your specific needs. You will be provided an at home practice guide and instructions to expand mindfulness into everyday life. Practice outside of class is an important part of the learning process.
BOOKS FOR CLASS:
by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana
by Nyanaponika Thera. (Click on title for a free PDF version.)
TEACHER BIO
Douglas Pullin (he/him) has been teaching at PIMC since 2004. He is a lineage holder and authorized to teach in the Insight Meditation tradition of U Ba Kin, Ruth Denison, and Robert Beatty. Douglas graduated from the Spirit Rock sponsored Community Dharma Leader Training with Tara Brach and James Baraz in 2008. Douglas is currently a student of Mathew Flickstein in the Bhante Gunaratana lineage from Sri Lanka. Douglas has a master’s degree in counseling psychology, and master’s in clinical social work. He has over 25 years of non-profit management experience in community mental healthcare. In addition to teaching at PIMC, Douglas offers mindfulness-based psychotherapy and consultation in independent practice. Douglas also works as a consultant in the nonprofit social service field. He enjoys meditation retreats, going for runs in the woods, hiking, and gardening.
The Noble Eightfold Path
An 8-Week Class
ONLINE & IN-PERSON at PIMC
Wednesdays: Oct. 11, 18, 25 Nov. 1, 8, 15, 29, Dec. 20
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
$250 Suggested Fee (No one turned away for lack of funds)
On any journey it is helpful to have an accurate map. A good map represents the territory well and allows one to travel efficiently toward the destination. It allows one to avoid dead-ends and dangerous pitfalls. It also allows one to use effort and energy to skillfully reach the destination.
The Noble Eightfold Path has been tested and refined for more than 2600 years. Millions of people have followed it in the direction of wisdom, happiness, compassion and lived lives with less and less suffering.
It is a comprehensive map that can be easily understood and followed. It begins with an examination of our worldview and understanding of how life operates. From there we are guided in skillful aspiration and goal setting. Next, it provides guidance on our day-to-day behavior, speech and livelihood so that we can stop sabotaging our best intentions and create the life we long for. From there it proceeds into how we can best focus our spiritual and psychological efforts to produce the results we want. Next comes mindfulness, the practice of really paying attention to, and learning from, life. Finally, there is the cultivation of concentration which joins with mindfulness to allow the mind to penetrate deeply into the nature of reality and bring the path of awakening to its fruition.
Each of the eight classes will cover one section of the Eightfold Path. There will be guided meditations, Dharma talks and time for questions and discussion. The teachings will be straightforward with practices you will be able to employ immediately in your life.
Books:
Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness : Bhante Gunaratana
The Noble Eightfold Path: Bhikkhu Bodhi
Events at PIMC
Living, Loving, and Letting Go:
Grief and Impermanence in a Changing World
Saturday Sept. 23, 2023
9 am - 4:30 pm
$80 Suggested Fee (no one turned away for lack of funds)
Impermanence is a fundamental truth of being alive. We all know that in time everything passes—there’s simply no way around it. Whether the passing strikes like lightning or swells like a growing tide, if we love, in response, we grieve.
We may experience an intimate loss or be overwhelmed by the world’s suffering, distress, and instability, but if we love, if we care, our hearts break. Our complex society and changing world can devastate us, which in turn complicates our responses to life’s inevitable losses. The challenges of loving and letting go compound in difficult times, whether pandemic, war, or climate breakdown, when systems and societies unravel.
Even in calmer times, many of us have few places where we feel safe to allow our sorrow to fully surface. Unable to explore and honor our grief, we may struggle alone, trying to ignore or rise above it, or distracting ourselves from our feelings—strategies that complicate our responses.
This workshop offers safe harbor for your heart, whatever it is holding. We invite you to join us.
THE WORKSHOP
Our work together will include reflections, interactive exercises in groups and dyads, silence, and discussion. We’ll have poetry, music, stillness, and movement. As the day unfolds, we’ll find laughter, too, and graceful means to embrace it all, skillful and creative means to heal into life, here and now.
Together in sangha, in community, we can honor our grief and let it flow through. We’ll reap the clarity, resilience, and joy that arise in living, loving, and letting go. Please bring a simple lunch with you.
TEACHER BIOS
Robert Beatty (he/him) is a member of the first wave of Theravada Buddhist teachers who brought Mindfulness from Asia in the 1970’s. His life is devoted to helping others discover the profound ways Buddhist practices can transform one’s life, reduce suffering and create happiness. Robert founded the Portland Insight Meditation Community where he is the guiding teacher.
His meditation training began with Goenka in India in 1972. He has studied with many teachers in Burma, India and the US. Robert was empowered to teach the Dharma by Ruth Denison in 1983.
Betsy Anjani Toll, founder, Living Earth Gatherings
Betsy Toll treasures Ram Dass’s teachings on the path of devotion and service, and his work with the dying. She has studied end-of-life care with Roshi Joan Halifax and Frank Ostaseski, and has been a student since the 1990s of Buddhist scholar and environmental activist Joanna Macy.
Betsy volunteered for ten years as a hospital chaplain with dying individuals and their loved ones; she continues that work with individuals at home. For the past 20 years, she has offered retreats and workshops on resilience, compassion, grief and dying, drawing on spiritual practices that enrich our lives, our relationships, and our love for our planet.