Demystifying Emptiness
6-week Course
Held over zoom
“We are empty, or rather the matter of which we are composed is empty. But I must emphasize that emptiness does not mean nothingness. Some commentators have been mistaken when they have accused Buddhism of being nihilistic. We believe that the world in which we live is part of a flux, a stream of events. This does not mean it is nothing. Everything depends on everything else. Nothing exists on its own.
-His Holiness the Dalai Lama XIV
At times the concept of emptiness can seem either confusing, scary or impractical.
In this course our aim is to provide clarity on the subject so that it can be used as a joyful addition to your practice or provide a new depth to an already existing practice.
Course Includes:
- Practical meditations
- Theravada, Tibetan and Zen approaches
- Clear explanations from prominent Buddhist texts
- Plenty of Q/A time for deeper discussions
......
Held over ZOOM on Thursdays beginning June 3rd through July 8th, 7-8:30 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada).
All dates:
June 3rd, 7-8:30pm
June 10th, 7-8:30pm
June 17th, 7-8:30pm
June 24th, 7-8:30pm
July 1st, 7-8:30pm
July 8th, 7-8:30pm
Instructors
Wendy N. Block started practicing meditation at age 18, studying different traditions, including Buddhist, Hindu, and Advaita paths with various teachers. She has been practicing Vipassana meditation for the past 15 years and has been a student of the Diamond Approach for the past 10 years. She has helped organize meditation programs in Long Beach for over a deacde as well. She has trained with cognitive psychologist Zindel Segal to teach Mindfulness- Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT).
Wendy teaches MBCT, Mindful Self Compassion, and Buddha’s Path classes. She completed the Dedicated Practitioner’s Program at InsightLA and Spirit Rock Meditation Center. She has been teaching MBCT for Kaiser Permanente for the past three years. Wendy co-leads the Long Beach sitting group, as well as the North Orange County Sitting Group. Her teachers are Trudy Goodman, Beth Sternlieb and Victor Bryd.
She currently works as a therapist, integrating mindfulness and psychotherapy.
Wendy Block, LCSW
Cayce Howe
Cayce Howe is an meditation teacher, poet and podcaster. Authorized as a teacher in the Theravada Buddhist tradition and a guiding teacher for InsightLA Long Beach, Cayce imparts guidance through workshops, retreats and 1:1 sessions throughout the year.
Cayce has been practicing for over 25 years in a variety of traditions. In 2004 he began a 6-year journey living and working at meditation retreat centers which culminated in a year-long closed meditation retreat in the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition.
Day to day Cayce is immersed in sharing; he is the lead mindfulness teacher at The Mental Health Collective in Orange County CA, teaches a variety of offerings at the University of California Irvine and co-hosts the ‘More Happiness, Less Suffering’ podcast with psychiatrist Dr. Monisha Vasa.