About 2021 Programming
As many of you know, this is the time of year when we usually announce and open registration for all our courses scheduled for the following year. With so much uncertainty about when BCBS will be able to safely re-open for residential programs in 2021, we are not going to do that this year. Instead, we will continue to announce our online offerings about 2-3 months before they are scheduled. Be sure to check our emails and website for the latest information. We will let you know about residential programming as soon as we can make plans for a safe re-opening. We all look forward to that day!
Upcoming Online Programs
The Daily Sit
with
Bill and Susan Morgan
Monday-Friday, 10:30-11:15 am EDT
Saturday & Sunday, 10:30-11:00 am EDT
Dawn Scott will now be joining the Daily Sit on Tuesdays
Creating Dharma:
An Experiment with Artistic Practices
December 04 - 06, 2020
Kate Lila Wheeler and Alisa Dennis create a temporary, exploratory community of artist-meditators. Participants are invited to assemble materials for writing, drawing or doodling and any additional art form(s) they feel accustomed or intuitively drawn to. Guided meditations, structured exercises, and a spirit of play will be offered.
Mindfully Confronting Racism:
Buddhism and the Inner Work of Racial Justice
December 12, 2020
10:30 am-12:00 pm EST
Freely Offered
In this practice and inquiry session, Bhikkhu Anālayo and Rhonda Myozen Magee explore how mindfulness can increase our capacity to address racism and other socially-constructed oppressions and vulnerabilities in our times.
A Solstice Eve Sound Meditation
with Laurie Anderson
December 20, 2020
8:00 - 9:00 pm EST
Freely Offered
in support of BCBS and IMS
Laurie Anderson has been practicing Buddhist meditation and investigating the nature of sound for more than forty-five years. Please join Laurie for a freely offered sound meditation exploring some of what we might be learning about sound, communication, and empathy in the covid era.
Freedom From Fear and Anxiety:
An Online Retreat for Young Adults
Jan 02 - Jan 03, 2021
In this online weekend retreat for young adults (18-32 years old), Devon and Craig Hase will lead participants through a series of meditations designed to unhook you from anxiety and fear and bring you back to a state of calm, focus, and resilience.
Roots in to the Ground of Soul
January 09 - 12, 2021
This course is led by Catherine McGee and Yahel Avigur and is intended for meditators who have already begun to explore Soulmaking Dharma. It offers an opportunity to consolidate and extend your Soulmaking practice and understanding.
Course prerequisite: Having attended and completed the Autumn online Soulmaking program through BCBS in 2019 or 2020 and/or having attended at least two Soulmaking retreats with Rob Burbea and/or Catherine McGee.
Faith and Imagination in Dharma Practice:
A Seminar with Stephen Batchelor
January 16 & 23, 201
11:00 am - 2:00 pm EST
In the course of these two online seminars, Stephen Batchelor will explore how faith in the Dharma serves to empower the imagination. Each session will include two talks, breakout groups, plenary discussions and periods of meditative reflection.
Writing the Buddhist Essay
January 19 - February 23, 2021
Join Jess Row in an exploration of the Buddhist essay, which is a piece of writing that speaks from the heart. Participants will read a selection of classic and contemporary essays, engage in short and playful exercises to generate ideas for essays, work in small groups, and create a Buddhist essay that is grounded in an understanding of the Buddhadharma in your own life.
The Freedom of Non-Clinging:
An Insight Dialogue Retreat
January 22 - 24, 2021
Practice Insight Dialogue with Nicola Redfern and Bart Van Melik and investigate the process of clinging, and the direct experience of the release from clinging. Insight Dialogue is an interpersonal meditation practice that brings together mindfulness and concentration, the wisdom teachings of the Buddha and the power of relationship to support insight into the causes and the release of human suffering.
Cultivating Inner Strength:
An Insight Dialogue Program For People of Color
Jan 24 - Feb 28, 2021
Join Tuere Sala for this 6-week online offering for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. We invite BIPOC practitioners interested in learning the practice of Insight Dialogue and those already experienced in Insight Dialogue who aspire to deepen their practice skills. Each week we will explore and practice with one of the six guidelines that make up the foundation of Insight Dialogue.
The Liberating Practice of Mettā:
A Course of Study and Practice
January 27 - March 28, 2021
Shaila Catherine offers an in-depth exploration of Mettā—the quality of loving kindness, goodwill, and friendliness towards all beings. There will be a total of 9 topical learning modules which will include sutta and contemporary readings, recorded teachings and guided meditations, exercises, reflections, and discussion forums.
Buddhist and Christian Methods for
Personal and Social Awakening
January 29 - 31, 2021
Lama/Professor John Makransky and Reverend/Professor Melanie Harris will explore connections between healing spiritual practices and racial, intersectional, and environmental justice work. Melanie and John will alternate practices and perspectives of Buddhism and Christianity in ways that bring each other and the retreatants into deepening inter-religious practice and learning.
Embodied Self-Mettā:
A Foundational Practice for the Brahmavihārās
Feb 05 - 07, 2021
Join Mary Aubry in this weekend virtual retreat, intended as both an introduction to and a deepening of our embodied practice of the brahmavihārās of mettā, compassion, muditā (sympathetic joy), and equanimity.
Attachment and Non-Attachment:
The Dharma of Relationship
February 19 - 21, 2021
In this program, Chris Crotty and Julia Barry explore Buddhist teachings on impermanence and not-self, as well as attachment theory, which addresses how our early childhood relationships inform our adult views and behaviors. The format will include meditation instruction, Buddhist and Western teachings on attachment, and relational mindfulness practices. All are welcome and encouraged to attend this program!
Nourish the Heart: A Chanting Retreat
February 21 - 25, 2021
Join Thanissara, Kittisaro, and Jaya Rudgard in chanting verses and mantras from the Theravāda and Mahāyāna traditions. In chanting, we train in breathing, elongating the out-breath to sound sacred syllables and phrases through the tissues of the body, permeating all space and time with auspicious light and energy.
Spiritual Friendship
and the Liberating Power
of Dhamma Dialogue
February 26 - 28, 2021
Join Charles Hallisey and Janet Surrey for a weekend of investigating the Buddha's teachings on spiritual friendship while working with the guidelines of Insight Dialogue. This online retreat will include periods of study and dhamma talk, silent meditation, and dhamma contemplation of the meditative qualities of the heart/mind in the relational field with self and others.
Refuge in Sangha:
An Introduction to Insight Dialogue
for LGBTQIA+
March 02 - April 20, 2021
Tuesdays, 6:30 – 8:30 pm EST
Join Nicola Redfern and Rachel Hammerman for this eight-week online program for people who self-identify as LGBTQIA+ to come together as sangha to learn and practice Insight Dialogue. In this course we will be bringing wakeful awareness into the heart of speaking and listening, supported by the six Insight Dialogue guidelines. Each week we will practice together as a large group and also in small breakout groups of pairs and threes.
Wisdom Publications Collaborations
Previously Offered Programs
A Secure Core of
Compassion and Awareness
for Insecure Times
An Online Program with
Lama John Makransky, PhD
Co-sponsored by Barre Center for Buddhist Studies and
the Foundation for Active Compassion
Satipaṭṭhāna Meditation
An online study and practice course
guided by Bhikkhu Anālayo
Applications are now closed for Fall 2020
Satipaṭṭhāna Meditation is an interactive and comprehensive online program modeled on in-person courses offered globally by Venerable Bhikkhu Anālayo on the foundational mindfulness text the Satipaṭṭhāna-sutta.
A Soulmaking Dharma
An online study and practice course guided by
Catherine McGee
Assisted by Yahel Avigur
Applications are now closed for Fall 2020
11 weeks of practice and focused study of Soulmaking Dharma
