The Easton Meditation Group is offering a five-session course, “Introduction to Insight Meditation” beginning Thursday, May 7, 2009 at 6:00pm to 7:30pm in Easton. During five consecutive Thursday evenings, the introductory course provides basic instructions on insight meditation with each week’s session building on the previous one.
Larissa Kitenko, founder of the Easton Meditation Group, will lead the five-week course. She is a longtime practitioner of insight meditation and regularly includes silent retreats as part of her practice. Ms. Kitenko has studied and practiced Buddhism in the Theravadan tradition, and is currently participating in a two-year Dharma Study program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California while working under the guidance of one of the members of its Teachers Council. She is also in teacher training with Tara Brach, PhD, the founding teacher of Insight Meditation Community of Washington, DC. Ms. Kitenko has been teaching meditation (Dharma) on the Eastern Shore for five years and recently expanded to Washington, DC.
“At the heart of insight meditation is the practice of mindfulness which is simply the cultivation of our ability to pay attention to the present moment,” says Ms. Kitenko. She adds, “We are often preoccupied with thoughts about the past or the future that may contribute to stress, fear and suffering. Insight meditation is learning to overcome this preoccupation so that we can see clearly what is happening in our present experience.”
The first week of the course focuses on the basics of meditation and on mindfulness of breathing. The second and third weeks speak to mindfulness of the body and emotions. The fourth week addresses mindfulness of the mind and thinking, and the final session focuses on the role of mindfulness in daily life and deepening one’s spiritual life.
The five-session course fee is $50 – please call 410-430-2005 for further information and to register. The Easton Meditation Group, founded in October 2003, meets the first and third Wednesday of each month from 7:00pm to 8:00pm and is open to the public.