Going Forth: Befriending Death, Embracing Life

Instructor(s): David Chernikoff

Program Description:

“Of all the footprints,” said the Buddha, “that of the elephant is supreme. Similarly, of all mindfulness meditation, that on death is supreme.” This program is an opportunity to take this statement into our hearts and to allow it to radically transform the way we live our lives. In a caring, supportive learning environment we will combine the stillness of insight meditation with dharma talks, partner and small group exercises, guided reflections, and heart-felt discussions. Maranasati, the practice of death awareness, has the power to awaken us to a felt experience of the preciousness and mystery of this amazing human life. This program is an invitation to truly wake up and celebrate the “laughter of the wise.”

About the Instructor(s):
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  David Chernikoff

  David Chernikoff is a meditation teacher, spiritual counselor, and life coach who taught psychology and meditation at Naropa University for many years. A student of meditation since 1971, David completed the inaugural Community Dharma Leader Training at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and began teaching Insight Meditation in 1988. His teaching has been influenced by senior teachers from the Insight Meditation Society and Spirit Rock, Zen teacher Yvonne Rand, and spiritual guides from other contemplative traditions, most notably Ram Dass, Father Thomas Keating, and Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. In the early 1980s, he worked at Ram Dass’s Hanuman Foundation Dying Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico and then became the director of Mesilla Valley Hospice in Las Cruces, N.M. He later spent three years in Nepal doing public health development work for the Seva Foundation and studying with Tibetan Buddhist teachers. After returning to the U.S., he became the education and training director for the Spiritual Eldering Institute, now called Sage-ing International. In that role, he taught conscious aging programs throughout the U.S., in Canada, and in Ireland. David is currently one of the guiding teachers of the Insight Meditation Community of Colorado and teaches retreats and workshops throughout the U.S. He is the author of Life, Part Two: Seven Keys to Awakening with Purpose and Joy as You Age. (www.davidchernikoff.com)