New York Insight Meditation Center

Pleasure is a necessary component of human life. But what is our relationship to it? Is it skillful? As the Buddha discovered, if we learn to establish a skillful relationship to pleasure, our dharma practice will thrive and we’ll know greater happiness in life. In this four-week course beginning on Thursday, June 3rd, 2021 with author and meditation teacher Peter Doobinin, we’ll learn about skillful pleasure, what it is, how to cultivate it, and why there’s such great benefi...t in doing so. The course will include meditation, teaching, discussion, and various practice activities. All are welcome to attend.

The Buddha taught us to live in harmony with the way things are and to awaken to the truth of suffering and how to end it. This might sound like a lofty goal especially in the midst of a global pandemic. However it can be very supportive to practice the most basic instructions the Buddha gave: to fully know of what it’s like to be human in every moment. Step by step during this online course beginning on Friday, May 7th with meditation teacher Bart van Melik, we’ll look at ...the Buddha’s teachings on welcoming ALL of our experiences even the presence of challenging emotions. This course will offer empowering instructions enabling us to know the immediate truth of our experience which is so worthy of our application. Click for more info and registration.

Join renowned author and neuroscientist Richard Davidson on Thursday, May 20th, 2021 from 7pm9pm ET for a special online evening benefit event for New York Insight. Together we will discuss the interaction between dharma and scientific evidence that suggests we can change our brains by transforming our minds and cultivate habits of mind that will improve our well-being and the world. Click for more info and to reserve your spot!

Buddhism is distinguished by four characteristics, or "seals": all things are impermanent, all emotions are painful, all phenomena are empty of self-existence, and nirvana is beyond extremes. In practice, these ‘seals’, become a path to work with our everyday perceptions, thoughts, and emotions, bringing greater efficacy in overcoming mental and emotional habits that cause us unnecessary pain and suffering. In this four-week online course beginning Wednesdays, June 2nd, 2021 ...with Buddhist teacher Scott Tusa, we will explore these four seals together through periods of teaching, meditation, and discussion. Join us! Click for more info and course registration.

What does it mean to honor native land in a city rampant with the destruction and desecration of nature? How do we heed the call of indigenous communities that proclaim that land acknowledgements are not enough? How do we forge a connection to earth that goes beyond ideas of property and ownership to ones of relationship and stewardship? Join our Sacred Earth Sangha on May 8th, 2021 for a special gathering in Central Park to explore Honoring Native Land. We will use embodied ...and relational practices to explore these questions and more. Click here for more info: https://bit.ly/3npkbaN

What is the role of inquiry and reflection on the spiritual path? How can we use questions and mental contemplation to deepen wisdom and understanding? The Buddhist tradition includes a wide range of practices beyond formal meditation training exercises. In this half-day session with meditation teacher Oren Jay Sofer on Saturday, February 6th, 2021, we’ll explore core practices for inquiry and reflection, using the thought and recollection skillfully to enhance understanding ...and apply Dharma principles to life. The program will include instructions, guided meditations, and small group discussion. All are welcome. Click here for more info and registration: https://bit.ly/3oCmTtv

The ever-changing nature of experience means that sooner or later difficulties will come our way. While our natural response may be to shrink away, the Buddha encourages practitioners to contemplate the source of our discomfort, no matter its form. Join Buddhist monk Ayya Soma on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2021 for an evening talk and discussion on how once we truly understand the nature of pain, loss, oppression, and despair, we can make the appropriate response and be free from... the suffering they cause. Click here for more info and registration: http://bit.ly/2XwC7UT

The Buddha’s teachings on meditation have been referred to as a technology of transformation. The practices themselves are taught in a very wide range of ways, depending on the individual teacher and cultural context. This bounty can, paradoxically, lead to confusion and doubt, or to staying on the surface level in our practice as a result of switching around so much. What is the relationship between these practices? How do we know when to turn to one or the other? There ar...e ways to welcome depth, playfulness and creativity in practice to counter this doubt and confusion. This online course, led by meditation teacher Jon Aaron on Thursdays, February 4th March 25th, 2021 will include a significant practice periods and teachings based on the original suttas, as well as classical and modern interpretative commentaries. We will spend time investigating our own experience with each of these practices and sharing the fruit of wisdom and compassion that comes of this. Click here for more info and course registration: https://bit.ly/3nOGBSx

To conclude this year of the bitter and the sweet, New York Insight Meditation Center invites you to our annual New Year's Eve gathering. This evening will include meditation, chanting, time to connect and set intentions for the new year, a special remembrance ceremony, and a wonderful surprise ending in which all are invited to participate. The program swill start at 9:00pm ET on Thursday, December 31st and end with time to wish each other Happy New Year until 12:15am ET.... We hope you can join us! Click here for more info and to reserve your spot: https://bit.ly/2VWdIY6

Join Buddhist teacher and Emmy-award winning musician David Nichtern and The New York Times best-selling author and founder of the Open Heart Project, Susan Piver for a six week online course on Tuesday evenings, January 5th-February 9th, 2021, exploring the foundational Buddhist teachings of the six paramitas integral to the Mahayana Buddhist path of the bodhisattva. "Paramita" is often translated as other shore symbolizing a crossing over from a sense of personal cultiv...ation and fulfillment to also include a genuine concern for the well being of all. During the course we will dive fully into each paramita, also known as the transcendent virtues, (Generosity, Discipline, Patience, Exertion, Meditation, & Wisdom). Each class will include plenty of time for group process, discussion and exploration of what it really means to dial down self-importance and allow our hearts, energy and attention to become available to others. Click here for more info and registration: https://bit.ly/3aTz8Ov

The journey inward towards awakening asks more of us than force of will. It is a gradual unfolding of understanding and equanimity. The three refuges Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha can be an engine behind this gradual unfolding. This evening talk on Sunday, January 10th, 2021 with Seattle Insight Meditation Society Guiding Teacher, Tuere Sala, will be about how the refuges came together to turn the wheel of dharma in Sala’s life. It will be both an introduction and an exploration into what is possible when we find a genuine refuge. Click for more info and registration: http://bit.ly/2KVexhu

What can we take refuge in during times of crisis and upheaval? How can Dharma wisdom teachings and practices of mindfulness and compassion support us during these times? Join meditation teacher Mark Coleman on Sunday, November 15th for an online program exploring key Dharma teachings and practices that help us find clarity, heartfulness and balance in the midst of life. Click for more info and registration: https://bit.ly/3dN2tcv

During this special online exploration with renowned Buddhist teacher Martine Batchelor, we will discover with mindful awareness what our identity is based on and how we relate to it. We will use different meditation tools to learn to develop an identity that can be confident, bright, creative and open to others and the world without being defined by them. This program on Saturday, November 7th, 2020 will include, guided sitting and walking meditation practices, breakout gr...oups, group discussion and talks and Q&A with the teacher. All are welcome! Click here for more info and registration: https://bit.ly/30Myk7S

The road to complete freedom is long, and as we walk it our lives will continue to change around us. How do we stay on the path through the ups and downs of life? In this online talk with Buddhist monk Bhante Pamutto on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2020 will discuss the Buddha's Eightfold Path not just as a blueprint for liberation, but a description of the stable core to a life that is beautiful from beginning to end. This evening is co-presented by Buddhist Insights. Click here for more info and registration by donation: https://www.nyimc.org/event/living-a-principled-life/

In this online program with Buddhist scholar Andrew Olendzki, we will look closely at some of the images, similes, and other literary devices used in the early Buddhist Canon, and in some later literature, to define and describe the practice of mindfulness. We will also examine some of these images experientially as an aid to our own meditation practice. Click here for more info and registration: https://bit.ly/3dtA8rL

During these challenging times it’s good to know that there are tools we can turn to that offer us support and upliftment. In this online course with New York Insight Teacher Lani Miller, we will explore ways our spiritual and meditation practice can be a refuge and offer us the inner nourishment we long for. This program will be experiential in nature and include teacher-led meditation instruction and practice, as well as time to share and connect with the teacher and other... group members. Individual attention will be offered to meet each group member’s needs and wishes as appropriate. During this 4-week course on Wednesdays, October 21st November 11th, 2020, we will explore and interweave four different areas of practice as follows: -Techniques for grounding and centering for our bodies, hearts, and minds -Connection with ourselves and others -Tapping into the refuge of silence and stillness -Practices of loving kindness and gratitude Click here for more info and registration: https://bit.ly/36BKTqz

The emotional impact of this season lands on us when we already feel threadbare. It’s never been so tough to maintain wellbeing, clarity, compassion, and non-reactivity and yet it’s never been more important. Join meditation teacher Ralph De La Rosa, LCSW on Saturday, October 24th, 2020 for an online day of truly integrated practice and community connection informed by our complex needs. The day will range from restful somatic meditation and breathwork to insightful emotional process to inner work to lively discussions and breakout rooms. Click here for more info and to reserve your spot: https://bit.ly/36nVk0D