To learn to die from death  instead of illness,
is the main thrust of mindfulness.
Curing illnesses 
gives only  shorty-lived reprieve;
curing our mortality 
gives us  timeless and peaceful life.


 
NEWSLETTER CONTENT

Greeting
Fall Mindsight Intensives sign-up
A fun little treat
Reflections from the Salt Mines

Dear Mindfulness Community,

I hope you are still enjoying the height of summer - although, if you really peaked your senses, you may have noticed the radical change of luminosity on that beautiful first August morning, heralding the fall. The grass barely grows anymore, the air has a crisp flavor that was not there before, and one can sense the reversal of fortunes deep down in the capillaries and cells of nature around us. What grows must recede, and when things begin to recede, that's when we get busy.

In anticipation of the fall a few sobering words. I am known to be a party pooper. Life is not just beautiful. Sapiens is mostly a tragic figure. In its entire history (with only few localized exceptions), humanity as a whole has never proven to be capable of anything else than self-destruction. As of this writing, there is no evidence of the contrary - we are racing against a wall at 200 km/hour happily counting our pennies...... Continue here.....

Dr. T. 
 TIME T
SIGN UP
FOR THE MINDSIGHT INTENSIVES!

THE MINDSIGHT INTENSIVES

Mourning the passing of summer does not come without its new pleasures, such as meeting again for a year of intense exchange and cross-fertilization in the Mindsight Intensive.

This year will be about life, embodying its meaning through deep inquiry. I am turning the vision of the curriculum on its head, looking at experience from being grounded in awareness rather than looking at awareness from the point of view of experience. It goes without saying (which is why it needs to be said) that the practice of meditation will continue to form the living core of our work together. However, in at least one group throughout the year non-dual awareness and the way it turns our view of life upside down will be the main focus. With it comes the central exploration of the body and the imagination as our vehicle for awakening. Interpersonal neurobiology (IPNB - all about how the brain works and how meditation is connected to the brain) will be used in an ancillary fashion where necessary to underpin or support our inquiry.
 
To prepare I now need to know from you, whether you intend to attend this coming year, so that I can decide whether to run one or two groups. Please express your preference between Mondays 6-8 or Thursdays 6:45-8:45. I intend to teach the same course both evenings like last year, unless a significant number of people expressly ask for a whole year of IPNB, in which case one evening (Mondays) will be IPNB, the other (Thursdays) non-dual awareness. Like last year I reserve the flexibility to only run one group depending on the number of people attending. The courses start September 28 for the MO group and October 1st for the TH group, and they will run for 36 weeks. The cost will be the same as last year, $60 per session, payable in 3 installments of 760$ each (3 x 12 sessions), beginning of fall, winter and spring.
 
Please get back to me ASAP with two pieces of information :
1.  Which evening would you prefer?
2.  Would you like IPNB or non-duality?
 
To sign-up just call 905 338 1386 or
A FUN LITTLE TREAT
 
A student sent me this cute little 2-minute clip

Just ignore the instruction 'sit with your back straight' and replace it with 'stack your spine and head in the most effortless way'.  Otherwise, enjoy! 

Thank you Lisa!
REFLECTIONS FROM
THE SALT MINES  
 
From a student who had stopped practicing formally and thought that 'to simply be mindful during the day' was making his life peaceful. He had to realize that this does not work:

Hi Doctor,
I stayed and did the Wednesday night meditation group.  To my surprise I was able to sit for the entire 50 minutes of the meditation without getting up or completely getting lost in my thoughts.  During the meditation my awareness mainly stayed in thought and image space.  Only toward the end did I feel physical sensations and that is because my butt started to hurt haha. In short, it seems that my brain for whatever reason is hyper-active.  There was not any thought that came to mind which would have provided a clue as to what might be going on so I suspect its one of the following things, too much stress in my daily life with the boys and business and I need to get more help or  being unhappy/unfulfilled with the work I do on a daily basis or a combination of both.

You hit the nail on the head yesterday when you mentioned that I have achieved happiness previously because the position of the stars and not really knowing why or how I got there.  That statement hit me hard because I was very proud of myself for finally reaching a point where I felt content and I was sleeping well, patient with my boys, everything was sort of flowing. I thought that would continue and I would only become healthier, but that was not the case, I fell back into this negative space and my sleep started to be affected.

I will continue to practice daily mediation and see where it takes me. My goal is to get to a point where I can live a consistent peaceful and somewhat happy life.  I am prepared to do whatever it takes to get there.

This is about the shift from MacMindfulness to 'fine dining mindfulness'.......( see blog).
  
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I cannot express enough gratitude for being able to enjoy the privilege of working with so many talented, thoughtful, irreverent, creative and dedicated fellow travelers on this journey of inquiry, transformation and daily life application of what is most important for our human existence.

With kind regards,

Dr. T.

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