Four-week courses
These weekly classes are held over four consecutive weeks
Tuesday nights 7 - 8.30pm
19 Aug – 9 Sept
30 Sept – 21 Oct
18 Nov – 9 Dec
Friday mornings 9.30 - 11am
3 Oct – 24 Oct
Cost is $50.
Receive all the instructions from the four week course in one day.
One-day retreats
Saturdays 10am - 5pm
28 June
23 Aug
27 Sept
6 Dec
Cost is $60, includes delicious vegetarian lunch.
Meditation Refreshers
Already completed a Learn to Meditate but forgotten what you’ve learned? Have some questions about your practice? Come along to a morning Meditation Refresher for a tune up.
6 July
12 Oct
14 Dec
Cost is $30, includes morning tea.
Please phone or email to enrol on any of these courses or classes.
A Simple Breathing Meditation
The first stage of meditation is to stop distractions and make our mind clearer and more lucid. This can be accomplished by practicing a simple breathing meditation. We choose a quiet place to meditate and sit in a comfortable position. We can sit in the traditional cross-legged posture or in any other position that is comfortable. If we wish, we can sit in a chair. The most important thing is to keep our back straight to prevent our mind from becoming sluggish or sleepy. We sit with our eyes partially closed and turn our attention to our breathing. We breathe naturally, preferably through the nostrils, without attempting to control our breath, and we try to become aware of the sensation of the breath as it enters and leaves the nostrils. This sensation is our object of meditation. We should try to concentrate on it to the exclusion of everything else.
At first, our mind will be very busy, and we might even feel that the meditation is making our mind busier; but in reality we are just becoming more aware of how busy our mind actually is. There will be a great temptation to follow the different thoughts as they arise, but we should resist this and remain focused single-pointedly on the sensation of the breath. If we discover that our mind has wandered and is following our thoughts, we should immediately return it to the breath. We should repeat this as many times as necessary until the mind settles on the breath. If we practice patiently in this way, gradually our distracting thoughts will subside and we will experience a sense of inner peace and relaxation. Our mind will feel lucid and spacious and we will feel refreshed. When the sea is rough, sediment is churned up and the water becomes murky, but when the wind dies down the mud gradually settles and the water becomes clear. In a similar way, when the otherwise incessant flow of our distracting thoughts is calmed through concentrating on the breath, our mind becomes unusually lucid and clear. We should stay with this state of mental calm for a while.
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