Foundations of Meditation
A six-week course in the essentials
7.15 - 9.30pm | In person | £130/£85
Our mind is notoriously tricky – hard to manage, mostly unconscious, by turns creative and destructive. What’s crucial is to be able to work with this elusive ‘non-thing’ called the mind.
Buddhism has 2,500 years of experience working with the mind, with meditation at its core. Because our mind is so mercurial, we need to learn to work with it in a guided, structured way, utilising Buddhism’s understanding to help us change our habits. And like anything else, we’ll make much more progress if we do this with other people.
Here's what you'll explore:
- – A transcendental vision of life, beyond the secular and the divine
– A reliable toolbox to get the best out of your mind
– Two fundamental approaches to meditation: one that cultivates calm-concentration, the other emotional strength
– You’ll learn from committed Buddhists who have been practising for many years, and in the context of an aspirational community
– You’ll do all this in the sacred place of the London Buddhist Centre, where people have been practising Buddhism since the 1970s
Week 1
Learn the basics of meditation posture and other foundations for meditation. Discover the Mindfulness of Breathing meditation practice.
Week 2
Hear about the Buddha's teaching on the 'second arrow'. Learn how to work with and overcome discomfort and pain in our physical and emotional experience.
Week 3
Learn the five hindrances to deepening our concentration in meditation and the five antidotes to apply to those hindrances.
Week 4
Learn the Metta Bhavana practice for developing loving-kindness through meditation and transforming hatred and ill will.
Week 5
Discover how to develop more and more pleasure in our experience through meditation and use that pleasure to become more absorbed.
Week 6
Look at how to balance effort so that meditation is neither too tense nor too slack – allowing for a state of 'energised calm' to arise.
Is this course for me?
This course is open to everyone, including complete newcomers, and is aimed at making meditation accessible to all. By the end of the course you will have all the tools for a lifelong meditation practice and you will be well placed to engage with any class at the London Buddhist centre.
After each class, we will send you a follow-up email with the key ideas and practices to try out during the week. We'll also support you to think about next steps when the course ends.
We hope to see you there!
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I get the most from the course?
Here are some top tips for taking part:
Come every week – whether you feel like it or not. If you look for motivation before you do something, you reverse your motivation; mostly you only want to do something when you’re actually doing it.
Come early – so you can relax before the class.
Do your ‘home practice’ every day – then each week you’ll be in a small group to check in about how that went.
What if I can’t make every session?
Often people need to miss a session or two, so feel free to book anyway. We'll send follow-up emails which will recap some of the content you missed.
If you are going to miss a class – Just get in touch so that we know and do come back the following week.
What if I can’t afford it?
If money is a barrier to you booking on a course, you can use the Low Income rate or alternatively email bookings@lbc.org.uk or call 02087099978 (10am-5pm weekdays) and we would be happy to discuss other ways to help you get on retreat.
You can read more information about payments and cancellations on our Bookings Policy page here.
