Friends, we are delighted to announce that our 9-month deep dive dharma program is open for registration. Living the Dharma in Community (LDC) supports participants to deepen their formal practice and to integrate the dharma into their daily life. There are in-person and online options.
(Please note: this replaces the Community Circle Program)
“Good friends, companions, and associates are the whole of the spiritual life.“
The Buddha to Ananda, Upaddha Sutta: Half the Spiritual Life, SN 45.2
This program supports a shift from seeing the dharma as something we fit into our lives, to seeing our life through the lens of the dharma: the movement from having a spiritual practice to having a spiritual life. This is not about changing our lives, but rather changing our relationship with life. This program is offered in support of each of us living fully, with an open heart, expanding kindness, and wisdom and care for the world. Living the Dharma in Community combines the wisdom of study, reflection, and practice together.
Our theme this year is the ever-deepening and liberating teaching of the Four Noble Truths, with a special emphasis on the 3rd Noble Truth of Nibbana.
This teaching can be easy to list cognitively and challenging to understand in an embodied way. This year will give us a precious opportunity to slow down and sense into this process of freedom deeply and naturally. If you are in the early stages of your practice, this can orient your practice from a firm foundation. If you are an experienced practitioner, this will offer the chance to feel into these liberating practices in new ways and invite awakening as your own lived experience.
This time of practice in community is suitable for both beginners and experienced practitioners.
The course includes:
- 7 online 2 hour sessions combining dharma talks, small group reflections, and relational practice
- Home reflections, including sutta study, reading, audio resources, practice suggestions and reflection questions follow each session
- Dharma buddies
- Practice talks with Jeanne Corrigal
Dates and times
For online folks, click links for conversion into other time zones.
| In person (Mondays) 7-9 pm | Online (Mondays) 7-9 pm Sask time |
|---|---|
| Sep 25 | October 2 |
| Oct 23 | October 30 |
| Nov 20 | November 27 |
| Jan 8 | January 15 |
| Mar 4 | March 11 |
| Apr 8 | April 15 |
| Apr 29 | May 6 |
Course fees
Administration fee:
The administration fee paid at the time of registration helps cover the administrative costs for SIMC.
Teacher dana/donation:
The registration fee does not include teacher support – there will be an opportunity to offer dana to Jeanne. See dana information below.
Registration
Register for the in-person offering
https://saskatooninsight.com/forms/view.php?id=63069
Register for the online offering
https://saskatooninsight.com/forms/view.php?id=63898
Course Teacher
Jeanne Corrigal is the guiding teacher for the Saskatoon Insight Meditation Community, and a graduate of the 2017-2021 IMS teacher training program. She deeply appreciates metta and nature based practices. She has been practicing since 1999, and is a graduate of Spirit Rock’s Dedicated Practitioner and Community Dharma Leader Programs. Jeanne is certified with Indigenous Focusing Oriented Trauma Therapy (IFOT), is a certified MBSR teacher, and she has trained with Mindful Schools and Somatic Experiencing. She is Métis, and one of her first teachers in loving presence was Cree Elder Jim Settee.
Some words about the practice of dana
We often have queries about what might be an appropriate range for any financial dana offering to the teachers, that you might wish to make. Before we consider this, it is really important to know that the teaching of dana is a liberation teaching, because it is an intentional opportunity to practice generosity, which can directly erode the habit in the mind of grasping. The Buddha invites us to tune into the joy of dana, the joy of giving, before, during and after… so please, see this as a joy and liberation practice!
One of the gifts of dana is that it is optional, and if people decide to give in this way, they can give according to their means. And at the same time, asking about a range is a reasonable question… in Asia, folks often have an idea of how much is needed to support a teacher’s “requisites”, but in the west, we don’t have the same kind of guidelines, and folks in the west can be left a little bit out at sea in this area.
Offering guidance can be sensitive, as everyone’s circumstances are different. That said, in order to support the teachings, we offer these guidelines as a place to start, and those who wish to give in this way can move up or down on the scale, according to their means.
One guideline is to give the amount that brings you joy, knowing that your dana is supporting the Dharma to carry on (while being aware of not breaking the bank 🙂). One may also seek guidance by looking at the fees that are charged for similar events of workshops in our culture. Movies now cost $15 or more; yoga classes often $15/hour; in addition, workshop leaders are often compensated in recognition of the time it takes to prepare materials, the presentation, as well as their expertise.
Perhaps a helpful starting point for our sessions would be $30 – $40 per class. (This would be a range of something like $210 – $280 for the program). For one-on-one practice talks with Jeanne, a range of $35 – $50 per meeting could be a good range to consider.
Please feel free to offer less than this in order to ensure your participation, knowing that your presence and any financial contribution are valued. Please feel free to offer more, if you are able, and it brings you joy to support others and the program in this precious way. Feel free to offer monthly or once or twice during the course – whatever works for you. And, please know that we are very grateful for both the dana of your presence in the program, and your financial dana; both danas contribute to our capacity to continue teaching. You can feel that your support is supporting the Dharma. Thank you.
If you wish to offer your generosity to support Jeanne and our community, please visit our dana page to find details.
