Author Archives: brucemacrae

2024/04/27 Adrianne Ross One Day Retreat

VICTORIA DAYLONG April 27 2024 with Adrianne Ross
WISE EFFORT
April 27, 2024 at Goward House in Victoria.
2495 Arbutus Road.
Saturday 0900am to 4pm
In-person only
Registration opens April 01
During this day of practice we will explore cultivating wise use of our energy. We are exposed to so many distractions demanding our attention that it can be hard to focus and apply our energy to what we really value. The Buddha taught the Four Wise Efforts as a way of helping us avoid patterns that drain or distress us and intentionally cultivate beneficial patterns that lead to well being for ourselves, our communities and the world.
Come and join us for a day of practice, rebalancing our energies, releasing difficult
patterns and cultivating well being.
The day will be in silence with instruction, meditation, walking and time for questions
and discussion.

2024/03/16 Weekend Retreat with Margo McLoughlin

Retreat with Margo McLoughlin
The Clear Light of Awareness: Uncovering Wisdom and Balancing Effort on the Path of Awakening.

March 16 and 17, 2024 at Goward House in Victoria.
2495 Arbutus Road.
Saturday 0900am to 4pm
Sunday    0900am to 4pm
In-person only
Registration open.    REGISTER

The skillful application of energy manifests as the willingness to meet the circumstances of our lives with joyful interest and courage. This fearlessness is both the result of practice and the fuel that takes us onward. A sustained and balanced energy is necessary as we disentangle the reactive habit patterns of the mind and gradually learn to welcome both the lovely and unlovely aspects of experience. Over the course of the weekend, we’ll explore several dimensions of viriya (effort/energy), including its relationship to the other four spiritual faculties of confidence, mindfulness, concentration and wisdom.

Margo McLoughlin has been practicing and studying in the Insight tradition of Theravada Buddhism for more than thirty years. She is a graduate of the Community Dharma Leader program and also holds a Master of Divinity from the Harvard Divinity School. Margo translates the birth stories of the Buddha, known as the Jataka, adapting them for modern audiences. She brings a deep love of poetry, myth, and metaphor to her teaching.

2023/11/12 Day two audio from Howard Cohn Retreat

These audio files are from day two of Howard Cohn’s retreat titled “Wings of Awakening”

 

2023/11/11 Day one audio from Howard Cohn Retreat

These audio files are from Howard Cohn’s retreat titled “Wings of Awakening”

 

2023/10/22 Audio from Tempel Smith Retreat

The following audio files were recorded at Goward House in Victoria during a one day retreat presented by Tempel Smith on October 22nd 2023.

 

2023/09/23 Audio for Brock Brown Retreat

The following Audio files were recorded at Goward House in Victoria on the 23rd of October, 2023. when Brock Brown presented a one day retreat.

 

2023/06/11 Ajahn Tiradhammo Retreat audio

The following audio files were recorded at Goward House in Victoria on Sunday the 11th of June, 2023 where Ajahn Tiradhammo presented a one day retreat.

Link

Sunday Night Sits
Victoria IMS weekly Sunday Night Sits are an opportunity to practice meditation and listen to dharma talks with our community sangha.
The sits are led by dharma teachers and dedicated peer leaders (see below).
There’s no registration simply show up if you can. Everyone is welcome.
The evenings will begin with a 40 minute meditation followed by a dharma talk and or a discussion. Chairs are provided and participants are welcome to bring their own cushions or stools if they prefer. There are also yoga bolsters, blocks and blankets available at the stuSdio.
Dana donations are accepted to support the teachers and to cover organizational expenses such as the rent.
Time: 7-8:30
Place: Helga Beer Yoga Studio
Address: 202-1600 Bay Street
For inquiries or to volunteer please contact us here.

Schedule of Sunday Sit Facilitators for 2024
March 03 – Mary-Ann Einthoven
March 10 – Brock Brown – The Seven Factors of Awakening – Mindfulness
March 17 – Joyce Elliott –  This SNS follows the Margo McLoughlin Retreat
March 24 – Kristina Baré – Ten Paramus – Exploring Energy
March 31 – Ajaan Peter (visiting monk at the Aranya Refugee) will have Q & A after the sit. (fyi – this SNS coincides with Easter Sunday) 

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Sunday Sit Leaders

Kristina Baré

Kristina Baré is an insight meditation teacher, therapist, and Somatic Experiencing practitioner. She has trained primarily in the
Burmese lineages of Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw and Ven. Pa Auk Sayadaw.
She enjoys supporting students in deepening samadhi and insight.
Opening the door to an expansion of the heart and to liberating
wisdom. In support of the Buddha’s teachings, Kristina also draws
on knowledge from Western psychology and Somatic
Experiencing. She invites a kind, patient, and embodied approach
as a base for samadhi and insight meditation practices.
Kristina’s talks at the Sunday Night Sit will focus on the 10 Paramis. They will be based on
Ajahn Sucitto’s online book, Parami – Ways to Cross Life’s Floods.

Brock Brown

Brock Brown is a founding member and Chair of the Victoria
Insight Meditation Society where he teaches and leads meditation
retreats. He has been dedicated to the study and practice of the
Buddha’s teachings in the Theravada tradition for the past 27
years, and is inspired by the Thai Forest tradition.
Brock is a graduate of the Spirit Rock Dedicated Practitioners
Program and the Community Dharma Leader Program and
completed the Birken Forest Monastery Upasika program. Brock
enjoys studying the suttas and making them relevant to our
everyday lives.

Mary-Ann Enthoven

As the founder and teacher of YOGADA studio in Montreal in 2010, Mary-Ann provided classes for individuals to enhance their lives with mindful movement and meditation’s many benefits. Her interest and study in Buddhist tradition got peaked by a long Vipassana retreat in 2012. Mary-Ann has been studying with Pema Chödrön and is a graduate of the “Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program,” led by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach. In addition to their guidance, Mary-Ann’s practice has also been deeply influenced by teachers such as, Thich Nhat Hanh, Eckhart Tolle, Brother David Steindl-Rast, and Oren Jay Sofer. Her mindfulness routine is deeply rooted in gratitude practice and relation to nature as a doorway to ease the mind and find peace. Mary-Ann leads workshops on mindfulness and has on-going drop-in Meditation sits.

Margo McLoughlin

Margo McLoughlin has been practicing in the Insight tradition of
Theravada Buddhism since 1986. Margo is known for her telling
of Jataka tales and in leading meditation retreats and courses on
Vancouver Island, the US and Ireland.
A former staff member at Insight Meditation Society in Barre,
Massachusetts and a graduate of the Harvard Divinity School,
Margo has also completed her training to be a Community
Dharma Leader through Spirit Rock Meditation Center in
Woodacre, California. Her teachers include Joseph Goldstein,
Carol Wilson, Thanissara, and Eugene Cash.

Tempel Smith

Tempel Smith teaches Mindfulness, Insight and Metta
meditation with an emphasis on Buddhist psychology and mind-
body awareness. In 1997, he spent a year as a monk in Burma
with Sayadaw U Pandita and Pa Auk Sayadaw.
Since 2001 Tempel has been teaching meditation and Buddhist
psychology to a wide variety of people including prisoners,
activists, youth, service providers, and those with severe and
chronic illnesses. Tempel serves on the Spirit Rock Teachers
Council, organizes the Dedicated Practitioners Program (DPP)
and Living Dharma retreats for Spirit Rock, and teaches classes
in the East Bay.

June Fukushima

June Fukushima (she/her) was born into a Buddhist family and has been a student of the dharma for 35 years. Her teachers are from the Thai Forest monastic tradition. June was the Personnel Director for IMS (Barre, MA) and has volunteered for the Victoria IMS for the past 15 years. June is involved with the development of Aranya Refuge, a Thai Forest monastery on Vancouver Island. June was born in BC and is third-generation Japanese Canadian.

Metta VanderVliet

Metta VanderVliet (who uses they/them pronouns to acknowledge their genderqueer identity) began their regular daily practice of meditation in 2003, sitting yearly retreats in the Theravada Buddhist Tradition. Moving to Victoria in 2011 they gratefully began participating in VIMS Sunday night sits and weekend retreats. Metta has occasionally led Sunday sits and has supported weekend retreats as sound person and Zoom coordinator. In their work role as a somatic oriented trauma therapist Metta leads a weekly lunchtime mindfulness group for survivors of gender-based violence. Metta is part of the sub-committee responsible for organizing the post-pandemic relaunch of the Sunday night sits.

Sandra Joy

Sandra is a dedicated student and meditation practitioner in the Theravada Buddhist tradition. She sat her first Vipassana retreat in 1982 with S.N.Goenka at a “gypsy” camp on the banks of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec. Sandra continued on this path for many years, gradually transitioning, from 1994 onward, to experience other teachers of Insight Meditation practice as well as those in the Thai Forest tradition. Among the teachers she has sat with are S.N.Goenka, Sayadaw U Pandita, Sayadaw U Tejaniya, Ajahn Sona, Thanissaro Bhikkhu, Steve Armstrong and Kamala Masters.
From the outset of her meeting with the Dharma, Sandra has had a focus on integrating the teachings into her daily life in the world, observing the benefits that accrue from practice – the development of stillness of the body and a quiet mind, the clarity of vision that arises, and the warmth of a loving heart. Sandra has been an active member of the Victoria Insight Meditation Society since 2012, supporting its activities in the management of retreats, administrative and communication functions, and facilitation of the Sunday night sittings.

2023/04/01 Tuere Sala audio files day two

The following audio files were recorded at Goward House during a weekend retreat presented by Tuere Sala on the topic of “Right Intention.