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 studio.
Dana donations are accepted to support the teachers and to cover organizational expenses such as the rent.
Sunday Night Sits starting September 17, 2023
Time: 7-8:30
Place: Helga Beer Yoga Studio
Address: 202-1600 Bay Street
For inquiries or to volunteer please contact us here.
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
Mary-Ann is a graduate of the “Mindfulness Meditation Teacher
Certification Program,” led by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach,
which teaches awareness and compassion-based practices. Jack
and Tara blend western psychology and eastern spiritual practices
and have brought their teachings to people around the world.
In addition to the teachings and guidance of Jack Kornfield, Tara
Brach, Pema Chodron, and Oren Jay Sofer, Mary-Ann’s practice
has also been deeply influenced by teachers such as, Thich Nhat
Hanh, Eckhart Tolle, Satya Narayana Goenka, Donald Rothberg,
David Chernikoff, Ronya banks, and Brother David Steindl-
Rast.
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.
Schedule of Sunday Sit Facilitators for 2023
September 17 Kristina Baré
24 Brock Brown
October 1 Metta VanderVliet
8 Mary-Ann Enthoven
15 Margo McLoughlin
22 Kristina Baré
29 June Fukushima
November 5 Mary-Ann Enthoven
12 Kristina Baré
19 Brock Brown
26 Metta VanderVliet
December 3 Mary-Ann Enthoven
10 Kristina Baré
17 Margo McLoughlin
24 cancelled
31 cancelled