Introductory Programs

Meditation and the Path to Awareness

Date: an upcoming Sat in Spring 2010, TBD
Time: 10am-4pm
Course fee: $50

(Email Sunada at if you'd like to be informed when the date is set.)

Medical science is continually finding more evidence of meditation's benefits, including reduced stress, lower blood pressure, and the alleviation of conditions such as depression, insomnia, anxiety. Meditators also report feeling happier, calmer, more at peace with themselves. So how exactly does it do all these things?

In short, it's all about deeper self-awareness. We spend so much of our day-to-day lives in our heads - trying to make something be the way we think it should be, remembering how it was before, wishing it were different, judging it, analyzing it, "fixing" it. We churn in our thoughts.

Meditation helps us to cut through the churning and find an innate core of stillness and confidence within ourselves. When we touch that core, we no longer need to chase after this or that to feel good about ourselves, because we feel a natural sense of groundedness and wholeness as we are.

In this one day workshop, you'll learn two kinds of meditation - The Mindfulness of Breathing and the Metta Bhavana - that bring us greater awareness and emotional positivity. You'll also learn the fundamentals to help you get started on a regular meditation practice of your own. No prior experience is necessary.

Any questions? Email Sunada at .

This workshop is taught by Sunada Takagi, a member of the Western Buddhist Order, a meditation teacher, and life coach. Her 14 years of Buddhist practice and meditation experience inform all of her work. She regularly leads activities at the Boston FWBO and teaches at Wildmind (www.wildmind.org), a web resource for Buddhist meditation. She also runs her own life coaching business (www.mindfulpurpose.com), through which she guides people toward embracing their authentic strengths and living with a greater sense of purpose.