Meditation in Everyday Life

3 Week Course w/ Jerry Webster

 

Meditation is making friends with oneself and developing compassion towards others. We can learn to develop friendship with our mind, skill in how to work with speed and difficulty, and a sense of humor.  The journey continues by slowly allowing that mind to relax within itself.  We let go of struggling with ourselves.  We train in being awake in the present moment.

MEDITATION IN EVERYDAY LIFE COURSE SCHEDULE

Week 1:  Meditation: An Intimate Relationship with Ourselves
Week 2:  Gathering the Mind and Working with Emotions
Week 3:  Everyday Life and Mindfulness in Action

As human beings, our minds are naturally open, aware, fresh and good.  Even though we experience agitation, difficult emotions, stress, anxiety, and anger, beneath and within all of these experiences, we can contact a state of being that is fresh and clear.  Meditation is the practice to discover and rest in this uncluttered and open state of mind.  Meditation is a simple practice, available to all human beings, which enables us to discover and rest in the natural peace and goodness of this world.

This is a program on bringing mindfulness into our daily lives.  It is not about becoming a Buddhist but searching into the very techniques which Gotama Buddha employed over 3,000 years ago.  Well, it worked for him, and it has worked for many people since him in a variety of spiritual traditions.  This is not a religious course, but it is about working with techniques that will allow one to enter one’s life more fully through the benefits of a mindfulness practice.

This program is open to both new and long-time meditation practitioners.  It will allow participants to begin a new practice or to deepen one if one has already established a practice.

Meditation practice between classes is highly encouraged.  It is an easy practice —  just being  — but as in any practice, one has to practice to learn what one is doing.  We do offer cushions and chairs as seating options.  Tea and water are also provided.

Your Instructor

Jerry Webster Frederick Meditation Center

Jerry Webster presently serves as the Shastri, or head teacher, with the Shambhala Buddhist Meditation Center in Washington, D.C.  He began meditation with a ten-day retreat in India with the Burmese teacher Goenka in 1974.  Since 1976, he is a student of the Shambhala Buddhist tradition, and he has taught in this tradition since 1977.  He obtained his Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Maryland.  He has taught numerous courses in literature for the University of Maryland and numerous courses in multiculturalism for Montgomery County Public Schools.  He has taught English full-time in public school systems for forty years, beginning with the Peace Corps in Afghanistan in 1973.  During the past year, he has led three full-day week-long meditation weekends and numerous programs along the East Coast, including programs recently for Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. Peace Corps, and the Frederick Meditation Center.

 

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