Amidst the challenges and uncertainties in our own lives and in the world today, the Buddha’s teachings provide practices that guide us on a path to cultivate clarity, compassion, and equanimity—to meet life with a steady and balanced heart.
Join Hugh and Rebecca in the beautiful Delphi Valley, County Mayo, in the west of Ireland to nourish your body, mind, heart, and spirit with practice, community, and adventure.
Join mindfulness teachers Hugh Byrne and Rebecca Hines as they guide you to say "yes" to whatever your experience may be so that you can live with more joy and ease.
Tuesday, Sep 19, 04:15 PM - 06:00 PM (Every week on Tuesday for 6 times) in Online > Secure Zoom 2
The Buddha's teachings offer the radical potential to end suffering in our lives. He taught a path to abandon painful and afflictive states and cultivate those that lead to the deepest freedom possible in this human life.
In this course, we’ll explore three of the Buddha’s major teachings to free the mind and open the heart:
The Four Noble Truths—the Buddha’s teachings on suffering and the end of suffering
The Four Foundations of Mindfulness—the direct path to liberation
The Brahma Viharas/divine abodes—the heart practices of loving-kindness, compassion, appreciative joy, and equanimity that embody the commitment to kindness and care towards all beings.
In this six-week course, we’ll investigate each of these central teachings, how they relate with each other—and how, when wisely cultivated, they lead to the deepest well-being and freedom.
Each session will include a period of guided meditation; a talk on the teachings; sharing in small groups and full group; opportunity for questions/sharing.
Recordings of the class sessions will be made available to participants, along with resources, suggested readings, talks, slides, and at-home practices.
Learn more about the event by clicking the button below:
Saturday, Jul 29, 09:30 AM - 04:00 PM in DC > Washington > Tenleytown
Join Hugh and Rebecca for a day of immersion in practices of awareness and compassion. Through sitting, walking and moving meditation, together with heart practices of loving-kindness, gratitude, and self-compassion – we will explore the benefits of coming into stillness and opening to the truth of our experience. Practicing together in a community helps us break through the illusion of separation and recognize our interconnectedness with each other and all of life. And we are more able to weather the storms and challenges of these times with wisdom and compassion.
Check-in starts at 9 AM. Light snacks and drinks will be offered. Bring lunch (or visit a nearby establishment). Suggest bringing a cushion and/or sitting gear and a mat or blanket for afternoon practice. Chairs will be provided.
Learn more about the event by clicking the button below:
The ancient and trustworthy practices of mindfulness and loving-kindness can help us to be more present to ourselves and the world, especially in challenging times.
Join mindfulness expert Hugh Byrne as he guides you to say "yes" to whatever your experience may be so that you can live with more joy and ease. Grounded in the Buddha’s teachings of wisdom and compassion—and through poetry, stories, and humor—learn how to
Cultivate loving awareness amidst life’s joys and sorrows
Untangle yourself from unhelpful habits
Utilize poetry to help you open your heart and live more fully in the present.
Return home renewed and with tools for responding to life’s challenges with balance and ease.
Note Please bring a journal for writing.
Four Foundations of Mindfulness: Buddha’s Teachings of Freedom
In his central teaching on mindfulness, the Satipatthana Sutta—Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness—the Buddha taught that mindfulness is the direct path to liberation. Through bringing mindfulness to our moment-to-moment experience, we can gain insights that lead to letting go and freedom of the heart.
In this six-week course, we will study and explore the Buddha’s teachings on the four foundations of mindfulness—of body, feelings, mind states and emotions, and our experience through the lens of key dharma teachings. Each class will include a period of guided meditation, teaching, small and full group discussion, and sharing or Q&A.
Are you looking to cultivate new habits that will help you live a life you truly desire? Or maybe you want to let go of old habits that no longer serve you? Then this workshop is for you.
Learn to understand habits - how they form, why they can be hard to change and how mindfulness is a key to changing habits
Develop or deepen the bedrock habit of meditation to support them in working with habits in their own life
Develop skills and attitudes to let go of an unwanted habit and develop a more beneficial one
Strengthen the qualities of mindfulness and compassion to work with habits in daily life
3 hrs of live content including time for questions and connection with Hugh and the other participants
Access to a private Group to connect with other participants and continue the conversation
Pre event PDFs to support your experience
A recording of the workshop which you can access up to 3 months after the event
DEEPEN YOUR LOVE OF LIFE
The ancient and trustworthy practices of mindfulness and loving-kindness can help us to be more present to ourselves and the world, especially in challenging times.
Join mindfulness expert Hugh Byrne as he guides you to say "yes" to whatever your experience may be so that you can live with more joy and ease. Grounded in the Buddha’s teachings of wisdom and compassion—and through poetry, stories, and humor—learn how to
Cultivate loving awareness amidst life’s joys and sorrows
Untangle yourself from unhelpful habits
Utilize poetry to help you open your heart and live more fully in the present.
Return home renewed and with tools for responding to life’s challenges with balance and ease.
Note Please bring a journal for writing.
Four Foundations of Mindfulness: Buddha’s Teachings of Freedom
(Tuesdays, 7:15 - 9:00 pm ET)
In his central teaching on mindfulness, the Satipatthana Sutta—Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness—the Buddha taught that mindfulness is the direct path to liberation. Through bringing mindfulness to our moment-to-moment experience, we can gain insights that lead to letting go and freedom of the heart.
In this six-week course, we will study and explore the Buddha’s teachings on the four foundations of mindfulness—of body, feelings, mind states and emotions, and our experience through the lens of key dharma teachings. Each class will include a period of guided meditation, teaching, small and full group discussion, and sharing or Q&A.
Cultivating Compassion and Equanimity for Well-being and Freedom
Rebecca Hines & Hugh Byrne
The Buddha taught four heart qualities to deepen freedom and happiness supported by mindful awareness – loving-kindness (metta), compassion (karuna), joy (mudita), and equanimity (upekkha). Compassion helps us open our hearts to all beings and their suffering, including ourselves. Equanimity supports us in meeting life’s experiences with steadiness and acceptance. In this challenging time, these two qualities can be especially supportive in finding balance in the midst of life’s joys and sorrows – and holding all beings and experiences in the heart of compassion. Together in silence, we will explore cultivating these qualities and the well-being and freedom they bring.
Learn more and register here.
with Hugh Byrne
Are you looking to cultivate new habits that will help you live a life you truly desire? Or maybe you want to let go of old habits that no longer serve you? Then this workshop is for you.
Learn to understand habits - how they form, why they can be hard to change and how mindfulness is a key to changing habits
Develop or deepen the bedrock habit of meditation to support them in working with habits in their own life
Develop skills and attitudes to let go of an unwanted habit and develop a more beneficial one
Strengthen the qualities of mindfulness and compassion to work with habits in daily life
2.5hrs of live content including time for questions and connection with Hugh and the other participants
Access to a private Circle to continue the conversation
Supporting PDF documents
A recording of the workshop which you can access up to 3 months after the event.
Join Hugh and Rebecca in the beautiful Delphi Valley, County Mayo, in the west of Ireland to nourish your body, mind, heart, and spirit with practice, community, and adventure.
For the first half of the week, we will cultivate awareness and open our hearts through teachings of compassion, loving-kindness, and equanimity following traditional mindfulness practices—sitting meditation, movement, walking, and enjoying delicious organic, locally sourced meals. Our mornings will begin with movement and meditation flowing from the beauty of the fertile land and waters, with seamless practice supported throughout the day to cultivate renewal, calm, and healing.
The second half of the week will be spent exploring the scenic, spiritual, and welcoming west of Ireland, including visiting ancient monuments and other historical locations; relaxing in the spa; and doing whatever feeds your soul. Organized group and solo activities will be offered. Evenings will be spent with a group dinner to share our day and enjoy each other’s company.
Our retreats are shaped by our intention to immerse ourselves in the culture of where we are and to be open to the adventures that present themselves. This week will offer a balance of practice, rest, and play. We have discovered through leading and attending many retreats that traveling together and saying yes to life and its opportunities at the moment create a true connection with joy, lasting friendships, and gratitude for life’s abundance.
Take time for yourself on a solo adventure, bring a friend or a bunch, or focus on quality relationship time and bring your partner. Sign up for this life-affirming adventure to beautiful Ireland, you’ll be glad you did!
Cultivating Mindfulness and Compassion to Change Habits
with Hugh Byrne
Are you looking to cultivate new habits that will help you live a life you truly desire? Or maybe you want to let go of old habits that no longer serve you? Then this workshop is for you.
Learn to understand habits - how they form, why they can be hard to change and how mindfulness is a key to changing habits
Develop or deepen the bedrock habit of meditation to support them in working with habits in their own life
Develop skills and attitudes to let go of an unwanted
Strengthen the qualities of mindfulness and compassion to work with habits in daily life
2.5 hrs of live content including time for questions and connection with Hugh and the other participants
Access to a private Circle to continue the conversation
Supporting PDF documents
A recording of the workshop which you can access up to 3 months after the event
In these challenging times, the practices of mindfulness and loving-kindness are powerful supports that help us work with difficult emotions, mind states, and circumstances. Mindfulness invites us to find the peace that is always available when we say "Yes" to the present moment.
Join mindfulness expert Hugh Byrne and learn how open-heartedness—towards ourselves and the world—can help us dissolve fear and live with joy. Through the wisdom and compassion of Buddhist teachings, and with kindness, warmth, and humor, learn to
Deepen your practices of mindfulness, self-compassion, and loving-kindness
Cultivate attitudes of kindness, acceptance, and curiosity toward yourself and others
Increase your capacity to live consciously in alignment with your deepest aspirations.
Return home with a greater knowledge of how to handle challenges while maintaining an open heart.
Retreat Description
‘A tangle within, a tangle without, people are entangled in a tangle… Who can untangle this tangle?’ SN 7:6
The Buddha saw, with great compassion, that people in his time were caught up in tangles of desire, discontent, and worry. His teachings offered an answer to the question of tangles as he pointed to the cultivation of appropriate attention and to other skillful qualities of heart and mind—such as mindfulness, discernment, compassion, joy and letting go.
We, in our own times, can be similarly caught in tangles. In this retreat, we will, together, deepen our cultivation of the freedom that can be found in the wholesome practices offered by the Buddha. We will focus especially on making our spiritual practice uniquely our own as we apply the teachings to the particular circumstances of each of our own conditions, experience, and life.
A central element of the Buddhist path is the practice of mindfulness—the skill of meeting our moment-to-moment experience with an open heart and kindness and without judgment. Mindfulness can help practitioners abandon mental states and behaviors such as greed and anger that cause harm. It can also cultivate those that lead to happiness and freedom, such as compassion, generosity, and gratitude.
In an interactive presentation Hugh Byrne, a senior teacher with the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, shares the foundations of mindfulness and its benefits leads a guided meditation and conducts a Q&A session. He is the author of two books on mindfulness and habit change, The Here-and-Now Habit and Habit Swap.
The Buddha’s Heart Practices: Gateway to Deep Happiness
The Buddha’s heart practices—loving-kindness, compassion, appreciative or spiritual joy, and equanimity—known as Brahma Viharas, divine abodes or our ‘best home’, are powerful support in these difficult times. They help us meet whatever conditions arise with a balanced and open heart. The Buddha taught that we should always live in one or more of these states.
In this six-week course, we will study and explore these four heart qualities in meditation practice and in our daily life. Each class will include a period of guided meditation, a talk on one of the four heart qualities, small and full group discussion, and Q&A. An optional seventh class will be offered on May 10 to address any outstanding questions.
Poetry to Deepen Meditation and Contemplation
with Hugh Byrne
Join Hugh for this experiential workshop. Together you will incorporate poetry into your understanding and practice of meditation, helping you to drop out of conceptual thought and rest more fully and open-heartedly in the present moment. With short talks, poetry, and guided meditations, participants will cultivate skills in three key areas of practice: 1. Being present and opening to this moment as it is 2. Opening the heart and cultivating qualities of compassion, loving-kindness and equanimity 3. Meeting difficulties and challenges through seeing patterns of holding and resisting experience and letting go Hugh will provide you with with background materials, including poems particularly suited for meditation and contemplation.
Understand and experience how poetry can support dropping out of conceptual mind, our thoughts and stories and into the present moment
Develop ways of listening to connect more fully with feelings and emotions to open the heart and deepen qualities that support well-being and freedom
Develop skills and attitudes to let go of an unwanted habit and develop a more beneficial one
Strengthen the qualities of mindfulness and compassion to work with habits in daily life
3hrs of live content including time to connect to other participants and ask questions
Short talks on cultivating and deepening the practice of mindfulness in meditation and daily life—and how we can incorporate poetry to deepen and sustain practice
Guided meditations, including poems linked to the three workshop themes outlined above
Opportunities for journaling, questions, and sharing on the impact of poetry on practice and ways it can support deepening awareness and presence
Access to a private group to continue the conversation and connection
A recording of the workshop which you can access up to 3 months after the event
Sunday, Dec 26, 10:30 AM - Saturday, Jan 1, 08:30 AM via Zoom
The New Year is a wonderful time to touch sacred presence and deepen our roots in spiritual life. In this silent retreat, we will open our hearts and minds through practices of Vipassana meditation, guided heart practices, mindful movement, group practice meetings and dharma talks.
IMCW retreats and workshops offer instruction in Buddhist meditation and talks on the awakening of our natural insight, love and wisdom. While the meditation practices derive from the Buddhist tradition, they are universal in orientation and address spiritual themes of concern to all contemplative traditions.
IMCW aspires to create a safe, supportive community. We welcome everyone with an interest in meditation, regardless of identity, orientation or background.
Are you looking to cultivate new habits that will help you live a life you truly desire? Or maybe you want to let go of old habits that no longer serve you? Then this workshop is for you.
Together with Hugh, students will:
Learn to understand habits - how they form, why they can be hard to change and how mindfulness is a key to changing habits
Develop or deepen the bedrock habit of meditation to support them in working with habits in their own life
Develop skills and attitudes to let go of an unwanted habit and develop a more beneficial one
Strengthen the qualities of mindfulness and compassion to work with habits in daily life
This learning experience includes:
2.5hrs of live content including time for questions and connection with Hugh and the other participants
Access to a private Circle to continue the conversation
Supporting PDF documents
A recording of the workshop will be made available a few days after the session
Please note there are limited seats for this workshop.
This workshop will be recorded and all attendees will receive a recording of the session. You have the option of remaining muted with your camera off if you do not wish to be featured in the recording.
Cancellation Policy:
You can cancel your ticket to this workshop up to 24 hours before its scheduled date. Please email us at mentoring@insight.co to request a refund.
The Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path—the fourth of the Four Noble Truths—offers a comprehensive training in cultivating wisdom, living wisely and kindly, and training the mind that leads to the end of suffering. In this daylong retreat we will explore this core teaching of the Buddha and investigate through practice and reflection how this path of practice can support us in our daily lives.
With practices of mindfulness, compassion, and loving-kindness, supported by poems, stories, short talks, mindful movement, and sharing, we’ll invite a letting go of attitudes and mind states that lead to stress and suffering and deepen those that support well-being, happiness, and freedom of the heart.
Participants are invited to attend for the full day or come for the morning or afternoon session.
Join us for a nourishing weekend of calming the mind and the heart practices of loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity, which provide true refuge in the face of fear, uncertainty, stress, and worry.
There will be periods of silent and guided sitting meditation, walking meditation, movement, dharma talks and small group discussion to support your practice. Together, we will join in community for deep listening to our own hearts as we open to life unfolding.
This weekend has been formatted specifically to be an online retreat, accessible for people who are staying home and would like to deepen their practice. The schedule will be supportive, whether you are able to devote a weekend to silent practice or need to incorporate your home life into the weekend retreat.
The online schedule will be as follows (please note, schedule may shift slightly). An updated schedule will be sent to all prior to the opening of the retreat:
Friday: 7:30-9 p.m., Welcome, Opening Meditation and Retreat Orientation
Saturday: 7:30-8:30 a.m., 10-12:30 p.m., 2:30-5 p.m., 7:45-9 p.m.
Sunday: 7:30-8:30 a.m., 9:30 a.m.-noon
7:15 - 9:00 pm ET
Twenty-five hundred years ago, the Buddha provided a path of training to end suffering—the Noble Eightfold Path, which is the fourth of his Four Noble Truths. This comprehensive training in cultivating wisdom, living wisely and kindly, and developing the mind provides the conditions to abandon clinging and end suffering in this very life.
Our world today is very different from the one the Buddha lived and taught in, yet we are susceptible to suffering in the same way and have the potential, with practice, to develop the tools to free ourselves from suffering.
In this eight-week course, we will explore this core teaching of the Buddha and investigate through practice and reflection how this path can support us in living wisely and compassionately and finding freedom from suffering.
Each session will include periods of guided meditation, a talk on the teachings, and periods of sharing and Q&A. The class is geared towards those with an established meditation practice, but is open to newer practitioners and all who are committed to exploring the teachings in their own practice and life.
Six Mondays, April 19-May 24, 7:15 - 9:15 pm ET (ONLINE)
Twenty-five hundred years ago, the Buddha said, "I teach suffering and the end of suffering."
The first discourse of the Buddha after his awakening was the Four Noble Truths, his teaching on the existence of suffering, its cause, its end, and the path to its cessation—and all of the teachings point back to and support the ending of suffering in this very life.
We live in a very different world today—of airplanes, computers, smart phones, weapons of mass destruction, climate change—that would have been unrecognizable to those living a hundred generations ago. But while humans have developed in extraordinary ways scientifically and technologically, we don’t appear to have made similar advances in wisdom or in living together wisely and harmoniously.
In this six-week class we will explore the core teachings of the Buddha and investigate through practice and reflection how these teachings can support us in living wisely and compassionately and help us find freedom from suffering.
Each session will include periods of guided meditation, a talk on the teachings, and periods of sharing and Q&A. The class is geared towards those with an established meditation practice, but is open to newer practitioners and all who are committed to exploring the teachings in their own practice and life.
In these tumultuous times of loss and hope, our practice is a powerful refuge—helping us open to and transform our suffering and access wise hope for ourselves and our world.
With practices of mindfulness, compassion, and loving-kindness, supported by poems, stories, mindful movement, and sharing, we’ll invite a letting go of attitudes and mind states that lead to stress and suffering. And deepen those that support well-being, happiness, and freedom of the heart.
Participants are invited to attend for the full day or for the morning or afternoon session.
As the new year begins, join me for a retreat to cultivate practices of hope and renewal as the opportunity opens to engage together with the challenges facing our country and world in a spirit of unity, empathy, and compassion.
With practices of mindfulness, compassion, and loving-kindness, supported by poems, stories, mindful movement, and sharing, we’ll invite a letting go of attitudes and mind states that lead to stress and suffering and deepen those that support well-being, happiness, and freedom of the heart.
Participants are invited to attend for the full day or for the morning or afternoon session.
Full day: 9:30 am - 4:30 pm ET
Half-day / Morning: 9:30 am - 12:30 pm ET
Half-Day / Afternoon: 1:30 - 4:30 pm ET
You can learn more and register here.
Learn more and register here.
Mindfulness can be a wonderful tool for coping with the stress, anxiety and uncertainty of these challenging circumstances. It can help us to find a sense of calm, cultivate resilience, kindness and compassion, and connect more fully and compassionately with our experiences.
This half-day online mindfulness retreat with Hugh Byrne is an invitation to take some time for yourself and be supported in practice from the comfort of your own home. There will be guided meditation practice, supported by short talks, stories, poetries and sharing. It’s an opportunity be in an extended period of practice and cultivate bringing kindness and ease to our experiences.
The retreat is suitable for beginners and experienced meditators alike, and is open to anyone with an interest in meditation. The retreat day will be offered online through Zoom. You will need your own private space, where you will feel comfortable engaging in the practices and ideally have room for some movement/walking practices. It's not essential for the space to be totally silent as any noises or interruptions can simply be woven into the practice.
We have a number of reduced cost and free spaces available for those unable to pay the full amount. Please get in touch at friend@londonmindful.com for further details.
In these challenging times, the practices of mindfulness, loving-kindness, compassion, and other core dharma skills can help us calm and steady our minds, open our hearts, and build resilience to meet with kindness all that is arising in body, heart, and mind. We can then engage and respond wisely and appropriately and be a source of compassion and healing in our families, communities, and our world. In this retreat we will practice the Buddha’s central teaching on the foundations of mindfulness, the Satipatthana Sutta, and cultivate compassion and loving-kindness in practices of the heart—in sitting, walking, movement, and throughout the days. The retreat will include meditation instructions, small group meetings, mindful movement, heart practices, and an evening talk. Mary Linda McBride will lead movement practices. This retreat is open to both new and experienced practitioners.
Join me with my partner Rebecca for a day of immersion in practices of awareness and compassion. Through sitting, walking and moving meditation, together with heart practices – we’ll explore the benefits of coming into stillness and opening to the truth of our experience. We are then able to weather the storms and challenges of these times with wisdom and compassion. Practicing together in community helps us break through the illusion of separation and recognize our interconnectedness with each other and all of life.
n this time, cultivating mindfulness, compassion, and equanimity connects us more fully with our lived experience, builds resilience, and enables us to respond compassionately and wisely to the suffering of our world. With the pandemic, Great Depression-level job losses, the country in turmoil in response to another police killing of an African-American man, and a nation crying out for compassionate and caring leadership, we can feel overwhelmed and unable to respond. Join together with me in community to offer the mutual support of kindness and presence for an extended period of practice.
In this half-day retreat, we will practice sitting and walking meditation together in our own spaces, supported by short talks, stories, poetry, and sharing. The emphasis of the instructions will be on cultivating a relaxed awareness in all our moments with an attitude of acceptance and kindness.
Newcomers are warmly welcomed. We aspire to create a safe, supportive community, and welcome everyone with an interest in meditation, regardless of identity, orientation or background.
In these unprecedented times, the practice of mindfulness and the heart practices of loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity provide a true refuge in the face of fear, uncertainty, stress, and worry.
This online retreat provides the opportunity to come together in community while at home and pause and find balance through guided meditations and movement, walking meditation, dharma talks, small group discussions, large-group sharing, and practices of bringing mindfulness to all aspects of life.
The schedule being offered will be supportive, whether you want to devote a weekend to practice or need to incorporate your home life into the weekend retreat.
