Meditation Practice Group

Introduction to the Brahmavihārā and Breath Awareness Meditation

6-7pm Central European time

This is an ongoing practice group that will introduce a variety of meditations good for beginners and intermediate practitioners.

Practices will include:

• Breath awareness meditation (anapanasati)
• Heart meditations (brahmavihārā)
  • Innate goodness meditation (metta)
  • Compassion (karuna)
  • Sympathetic Joy (mudita)
  • Equanimity (upekkha)
• Possibly more depending on the group

Most of the practices can be found in Buddha’s Heart: Meditation Practice for Developing Well-Being, Love, and Empathy.  It is not necessary to purchase the book but you may find it a helpful companion.

NAVIGATING DAILY LIFE has never been more complicated. Life’s unrelenting demands disturb our inner state of peaceful quiet. Constant electronic interruptions can lead to feeling hopeless, helpless, and without inner support. There is an alternative to feeling overwrought by life. We can turn inward to engage in soothing, nourishing Buddhist heart practices that feed our soul. These ancient heart meditations allow us to gently, lovingly touch our contracted, wounded hearts while opening to the flow of the unconditioned heart qualities of our deeper nature. Engaging a heart meditation means following a formula to relax our learned resistances to heart qualities, such as compassion, while opening to receive compassion for ourselves and ultimately directing it for the benefit of others.

― Stephen Snyder, Buddha’s Heart

Thomas Zenshin Jedensjö was born in Sweden. He started meditating in 2005 and has been a student of Stephen Mugen Snyder’s since 2009. In 2023, he completed the two-year Buddha’s Heart Teacher Training program with Stephen Mugen Snyder, Roshi, by which Thomas became authorized to teach in the Theravada Buddhist Pa Auk Sayadaw lineage the Brahmavihāra, Breath Awareness meditation, Forgiveness & Gratitude practices. Thomas is also authorized to teach Shikantaza and to lead Absolute Guided Meditations.

Thomas has experience in a variety of Theravada and Zen practices with a focus on the Brahmavihāras and Shikantaza. He’s currently leading online meditation groups as well as serving as an assistant teacher for Awakening Dharma on residential retreats.

Experience Prerequisites

No meditation experience is needed. This group is oriented towards beginners and intermediate meditators.

Investment

Dāna (donation) based event