This course contains
an introduction to calmness meditation, the basis for insight into the
experience. All of us experience periods in which we seem to lose control,
almost as if external events require us to respond in various ways. Calmness
meditation is a key life skill here, allowing more control and flexibility in
our range of responses. This is the subject of a series of six eight half-hour
classes, entitled ‘Welcome to a Calm Place’, in which a set of simple
three-minute daily exercises introduce the state of calm. In learning to manage
our habit of reacting reflexively to external events, we find a more spacious
way of living and create a platform to generate a more creative way of life.
Classes meet online for six weeks, for forty five minutes
each week, and an optional half hour of questions. Classes are recorded and
accessible for six months. Each week, there will be a short lecture and
practice followed by a discussion.
Week 1: Introducing Concentration with a Candle
Week 2: Distinguishing Vitaka from Vicara with Bell
Week 3: Working with the Breath
Week 4: White Ball
Week 5: Traveling with the Ball
Week 6: White and Red Balls
Three Minutes a Day: A Fourteen-Week Course to Learn
Meditation and Transform Your Life by Richard Dixey
Richard Dixey holds a
Ph.D. from London University, an M.A. with distinction in the history and
philosophy of science from London University, and a B.A. Hons from Oxford. He
was director of the Bioelectronic Research Unit at St Bartholomew's hospital in
London for fourteen years before founding and becoming the Chief Executive of
Phytopharm PLC, a biotechnology company listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Richard has been a student of Buddhism since 1972 and has traveled extensively
in the Himalayas, India and South East Asia. He is currently an advisor to the
Khyentse Foundation.
