Transforming our Isolation Into an Inner Journey–The Path to Freedom.

The global pandemic is a frightening and painful experience that touches everyone in the world. Many of us are isolated from our loved ones; some are dying alone. We witness and applaud the courage and compassion of all those who go to work each day to serve and care for us. Most of us feel powerless, wishing there was more we could do.

With the guidance of the Buddhist teachings, it is possible to transform our isolation into an inner journey, the path to freedom. 

While there is little we can do to avoid the sickness and economic crisis in our outer world, the Hinayana teachings remind us that there is an inner dimension to our suffering that can be liberated. The path of warriorship invites us into the space of meditation, to deeply listen to our background fears. We make space for our self-doubt, the worry that our human vulnerabilities are signs of weakness, signs that deep down there is something fundamentally wrong with us. 

The course Foundations for Freedom: The Hinayana is a year-long supportive journey that offers tools and practices that have been tested for centuries to help us discover our own bravery and strength.  We don’t know what lies ahead in the coming year, but the inner journey of meditation and dharma teachings can transform fear into a path of liberation. These teachings provide us with the insight and trust in our goodness to help us sit down on the cushion and to allow ourselves to truly make room for the experience of fear and loneliness, to feel those feelings rather than fight them, to let ourselves simply BE rather than constantly seek distractions or solutions that only increase our anxiety. 

As Shambhala Warriors, we can use this global crisis as a time to train, to face our new reality with courage and curiosity, to open to the space of meditation and learn how to accommodate suffering rather than pushing it away. The power of these teachings is this discovery that freedom is found when isolation transforms into retreat, when we turn inward and embrace the fears and anxieties that we’ve spent a lifetime trying to avoid. 

We look forward to sharing this path with you.
Please join us.

The Acharyas (Chapman, Maull, Rockwell, Asrael, Simmer-Brown, Duquette, Hessey, Spiegel, Rosenthal), Loden Nyima and the Shambhala Online Staff

Click here to register!

Acharya Dan Hessey

You can watch this short video to learn more about the course.