Mindfulness of Breathing

Instructor(s): Bhikkhu Anālayo, Tuere Sala, Dawn Scott, Rachel Lewis, Mary Aubry, Kim Allen, Philip Jones

Program Description:

Detailed information for this program can be found on the program webpage.

Mindfulness of Breathing is an eight-week, in-depth study of the sixteen steps of the Ānāpānasati-sutta, as a way of combining tranquility and insight in a form of practice that aims at the cultivation of the awakening factors. This program thereby builds on the practice, particularly of the awakening factors, developed in the first program on Satipaṭṭhāna Meditation. 

This program will undertake a study of the ten perceptions taught in the Girimānanda-sutta (AN 10.60), which culminate in the sixteen steps of mindfulness of breathing. The program is meant for experienced meditation practitioners who wish to deepen their understanding and practice. The emphasis throughout this program will be on what is of practical relevance to actual meditation practice.

Each week students will engage with recorded guided meditations and video lectures by Bhikkhu Anālayo, complete reading assignments from Mindfulness of Breathing: A Practice Guide, attend a 90-minute weekly group meeting, and contribute to a written online forum.

About the Instructor(s):
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  Bhikkhu Anālayo

  Bhikkhu Anālayo is a scholar-monk and the author of numerous books on meditation and early Buddhism, such as Satipatthāna: The Direct Path to Realization, Perspectives on Satipatthāna, and Satipatthāna Meditation: A Practice Guide. He is a Faculty Member at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, having retired from being a professor at the Numata Center for Buddhist Studies at the University of Hamburg. His main area of academic research is early Buddhism, with a special interest in the topics of meditation and women in Buddhism. At the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies he regularly teaches residential study & practice courses, participates in online programs and undertakes research into meditation-related themes.  For a full list of Bhikkhu Anālayo’s publications, please click here.

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  Tuere Sala

  Tuere Sala is a Guiding Teacher at Seattle Insight Meditation Society and Spirit Rock Retreat Center. She is a retired prosecuting attorney who has practiced Vipassana meditation for over 30 years. Tuere is committed to lay practice and inspired by bringing the Dharma to nontraditional places. She is a strong advocate for practitioners living with high stress, past trauma, and difficulties sitting still. Tuere has been teaching since 2010 and has a long history of assisting others in establishing and maintaining a daily practice. Tuere can be contacted at tueresala.org and at www.dharmaground.org.

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  Dawn Scott

  Dawn Scott sat her first Young Adult retreat in the summer of 2008, and it meant a great deal to her to meet other young people who also valued turning inward, silence, connection, authenticity, and asking the big questions of life.  Since then, she served as the Family Program Coordinator for eight years at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and continues to teach teen retreats through Inward Bound Mindfulness Education (iBme).  She is a graduate of the Insight Meditation Society’s 2017 – 2021 teacher training program, a co-principal teacher of Marin Sangha, and is a core teacher of Spirit Rock’s Liberation, Emptiness, and Awareness Practices (LEAP) Program and the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies and Insight Meditation's joint program, Exploring the Heart of Freedom.  Dawn has a deep love of long retreat practice, the Buddha's liberative teachings, and working with young people.

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  Rachel Lewis

  Rachel Lewis began practicing insight meditation in 2003, while completing her physics PhD at Yale. Since 2011, she has taught dharma and meditation classes and retreats in British Columbia and beyond. She completed the IMS/IRC 4-year teacher training in 2021, and is a guiding teacher of the British Columbia Insight Meditation Society. Her dharma teaching interests include the power of music, humour, and creativity to increase our capacity for learning, as well as the way that practice supports and is supported by social justice work.

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  Mary Aubry

  Mary Aubry leads meditation retreats on insight, the jhānas, abiding in emptiness, and the brahmavihārās.  In addition, she has taught for programs that support mindfully meeting aging, illness, and dying, as well as training meditation companions for the aging, ill, and dying and those who love and care for them.  Mary also offers meditative support to parents of deceased children, having lost her son to cancer in 2015.  Additionally, Mary is one of the facilitating teachers for Bhikkhu Anālayo’s online Satipaṭṭhāna course offered by the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies.  Prior to becoming a full-time meditation teacher, Mary worked as a lawyer at the U.S. Justice Department for 24 years.

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  Kim Allen

  Kim Allen began meditating in 2003, seeking both a path out of suffering and the deeper truths of life. She trains mainly under the guidance of Gil Fronsdal at the Insight Meditation Center and has also practiced in Sri Lanka and, more recently, with a few Mahāyāna teachers. Kim was drawn early on to long retreat practice and has sat cumulative three years of retreat. Engagement with the Pāli Canon and texts from other Buddhist traditions inform her practice and life. A teacher and author, Kim aims to bring classical Dharma to a modern context and to encourage lay practitioners in discovering a life of Dharma. Kim also serves on the board of the Sati Center. Her education includes a Ph.D. in physics and a master’s degree in environmental sustainability, and her website is http://www.uncontrived.org.

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  Philip Jones

  Philip Jones started meditating in 1987, teaching Insight Meditation in 1996, and graduated from Spirit Rock's Community Dharma Leader program in 2000. Phil co-founded Show Me Dharma in Columbia, MO and has served on the board of Mid America Dharma, a retreat organization, since 1994. In recent years he has studied with Bhikkhu Anālayo, Shaila Catherine, and Ann Dillon. He enjoys using the early discourses as practice guides.