Dear Friends,
We would like to let you know about a new online practice opportunity with Gary Steinberg and Mary Burns. This will be a facilitation practice cohort. For the sake of clarity, this is not a program or a course that would lead to a ‘facilitator’ designation, but rather the formation of an ongoing community joined in zeal for practice and self-leadership. This regular practice cohort will be aimed at those who want to cultivate their ability to share the practice of Insight Dialogue with their own communities, either face-to-face or online.
It will be offered strictly on a dana basis, and registration will be through a personal interview with the teachers. In addition to prior Insight Dialogue experience, participants need to be enthusiastic about regular practice and leadership of the practice community. If you would like to join this opportunity please give some thought to days and times that work for you and contact Gary or Mary as soon as possible. We would like to launch the cohort very early in the new year, before Mary departs for her teaching tour in Oceania.
The basic format of the practice will be familiar to those who have previously engaged in online Insight Dialogue practice. Each weekly session (online, via Skype) will be two hours long and will be led by a pair of facilitators. We will begin with silence; then one facilitator will offer our practice, and later the other will refresh or expand the contemplation. After 90 minutes we will close and invite a 30-minute workshop atmosphere to explore the teachings and offerings.
In preparation for the session each pair of facilitators will work with one or both teachers for approximately an hour. Some email work may ensue to help fine-tune the offering.
Importantly we are seeking to form a community of active involvement. While it is understandable that things occur and one may miss a session, the movement of heart being called is a commitment to the community in the form of regular practice and regular leadership.
As a community, with the support of the teachers, we will choose the dhamma themes we’ll work on and how to move through them. For example, if we choose the hindrances, we might decide for each pair to offer practice on a given hindrance while rotating through the Insight Dialogue guidelines:
Week 1 – pause, aversion
Week 2 – relax, aversion
Week 3 – open, aversion
Week 4 – trust emergence, aversion
Week 5 – speak the truth/listen deeply aversion
We would then offer a session that would take the form of Insight Dialogue led by the teacher(s), Q&A, or a group process discussion.
Then we would move into the next round:
Week 1 – pause, desire
Week 2 – relax, desire
Week 3 – open, desire
Week 4 – trust emergence, desire
Week 5 – speak the truth/listen deeply, desire
Regular interviews with Gary and Mary will be available.
We look forward to hearing from those of you interested in joining this new facilitation practice opportunity. Please contact us via email at gary@metta.secure.retreat.guru and marysburns@gmail.com.
May you be well and happy,
Gary and Mary