Giving Up All Hope of a Better Past: Forgiveness Practices

Instructor(s): Jacoby Ballard

Program Description:

This is a program for anyone who in the last year has been harmed or created harm (pssst: all of us!). Dukkha, often translated as “suffering” from Pali, is part of the human condition, and forgiveness practice provides a way to work with it. This program explores the four directions of forgiveness practice, allowing us the time to delve into and explore each orientation of forgiveness. 

We will begin by directing forgiveness toward ourselves for harm we’ve caused ourselves: negative self-talk, judgment, harshness, shame, self-ridicule. We will then explore the ways that we ourselves have hurt people and beings around us: knowingly and unknowingly, and through thought, word, or deed. Together we will look at the ways in which we have been harmed, impacted by others’ unskillful thoughts, words, and deeds. And finally, we will explore forgiveness toward the suffering, oppression, injustice, and struggle that are so extensive in our world; forgiveness in this direction invites us into the heavy lifting of our times, grappling with issues touching our lives but ultimately beyond our control. 

This weekend is an opportunity to show up and heal together, bringing with you your broken heart, your resilience, your courage, and your vulnerability.

Please note that attendance to all sessions is required.

Online Schedule:

This program is hosted on Zoom and closed captions are available. You can check the time of the group sessions in your timezone here: https://www.worldtimebuddy.com. The schedule of Zoom meetings for this program (shown in US Eastern Time) is as follows:

Friday, February 9 

7:00-9:00 PM ET

Saturday, February 10

10:00 AM - 1:00 PM ET

3:00-5:00 PM ET

Sunday, February 11

10:00 AM - 1:00 PM ET

Please note that sessions will be recorded and made available to participants within 48 hours of each session for all programs except weekend retreats. For weekend retreats, all recordings will be made available within 48 hours of the final session. Recordings remain available for two weeks from the program end date with the exception of one-time events, available indefinitely on our website.

Cancellation Policy:

Registration fees for all online programs are nonrefundable after the program start date. Cancellations prior to the program start date incur a $25 cancellation fee. Application-based and online path programs incur a $50 cancellation fee in 2023 and a $100 cancellation fee beginning 2024.

DEI:

As we work to become a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive community, we invite feedback/suggestions you may have regarding ways that we can make participation in the program more accessible and welcoming. Please email us at contact@buddhistinquiry.org.

About the Instructor(s):
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  Jacoby Ballard

  Jacoby Ballard teaches yoga and dharma as it intersects with social justice and leads trainings around the country on diversity, equity, and inclusion. He has meditated since he was 17 years old and trained to teach meditation at the Interdependence Project in New York. In 2008, Jacoby co-founded Third Root Community Health Center in Brooklyn to work at the nexus of healing and social justice. Since 2006 Jacoby has taught Queer & Trans Yoga as a weekly class, a traveling workshop, and an annual retreat, and has offered yoga at the yearly Garrison Institute LGBT Meditation Retreat. Jacoby lives with his beloved, his gender-expansive child, and his dog companion on land known as Co-Karmi to Ute, Goshute, Paiute, and Shoshone people, now understood as Salt Lake City, Utah. He is the author of A Queer Dharma: Yoga and Meditations for Liberation. You can find out more at jacobyballard.net.