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Wise Effort in Working With Fear and Anxiety: A Practical Guide

Online Program
Dates: Oct 19, 2023 - Nov 16, 2023

Instructor(s): Michael Grady

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Program Description:
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How can we respond skillfully when fear or anxiety arise? In this program we will explore practices of calming and insight/wisdom (samatha and vipassana) that offer the potential for discovering freedom even during times of fear or anxiety, both in our formal practice as well as the challenging conditions of our daily lives.

We will investigate ways of calming the mind while seeing into the impermanent and not-self nature of fear and anxiety. Instead of being lost in identification with or overwhelmed by aversion, this shift in attitude and approach can facilitate faith in our capacity to live our lives unburdened by the limitations of these habits of mind.

Each week we will learn and deepen practices and explore what arises through these practices and through our mutual exploration and sharing. Together we will apply Wise Effort to working with fear and anxiety through practice, discussion, guided meditation, and developing a compassionate attitude towards these adverse feelings.

    About the Instructor(s):
  • Michael Grady began practicing Insight Meditation with Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg in 1974 when they first returned from Asia. He has also been a student of the late Chan master Sheng Yen who taught the practice of Silent Illumination - a practice that emphasizes relaxing the body and mind while practicing awareness without expectations or an agenda. Michael is a Core teacher at IMS in Barre, Ma, and was a Guiding teacher at the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center for over 20 years. Having taught extensively in both intensive retreats and in an urban dharma center, Michael encourages an attitude towards practice that is wholistic - that all of life is viewed as an opportunity for awakening to freedom.