Awakening together - Insight Dialogue workshop

Most people who sit in silent meditation know the experience of losing mindfulness the moment another person enters the room. The stillness cultivated on the cushion can feel like it evaporates in conversation — attention gets pulled into reactivity, self-presentation, or the pull to fill silence. Insight Dialogue is a meditation practice that takes place in relationship rather than in solitude, it allows for the practice of cultivating mindfulness in the presence of another and along with the voice of another cultivates mindfulness and gain insights internally, externally and both. Insight Dialogue is grounded in satipatthana, the foundations of mindfulness, and works through six guidelines, that structure contact with another person as a field of meditative attention. Rather than treating dialogue as something separate from practice, or as a skill to be optimized, the guidelines slow interaction down enough that the same awareness available in stillness becomes available in speech and listening. Insight arises here not through thinking about the dharma, but through direct, embodied contact with what is actually happening between two people. This introductory course is designed for those with some meditation experience but no prior exposure to Insight Dialogue required. No conversational fluency or particular relational skill is assumed — what matters is a willingness to bring the same beginner's attention you'd bring to the breath into contact with another person. We will go through some of the guidelines as well as bringing in teachings of practice that allows for awakening in the here and now with the community, family and the world. We will start at 9am and finishes at 4.30pm. You are welcome to bring your own lunch, the location is only 5 mins walk from Chatswood station with many choice of eateries available. The exact location of the venue will be sent closer to date. If you have any questions, please email us.