Tag: program

A Deep Dive into the Heart of the Path

Friends, we are delighted to announce that our next 7-month deep dive dharma program opens soon for registration. Living the Dharma in Community (LDC) supports participants to deepen their formal practice and to integrate the dharma into their daily life through study, reflection, and community practice.

Our theme this year will be
The Insights of Insight Meditation: The Heart of the Path.

We will delve into the three liberating insights of Insight Meditation: anicca (impermanence), dukkha (unsatisfactoriness), and anatta (not-self).

These teachings illuminate the nature of reality and serve as pathways to ease and peace. We will focus especially on anatta, exploring it through key wisdom teachings. Together, we will investigate how understanding not-self can lead to greater happiness, well-being, and freedom in our lives.

Living the Dharma in Community combines the wisdom of study, reflection, and practice together. The course includes:

• 7 two-hour monthly-ish sessions (in-person or online) combining dharma talks, small group reflections, and relational practice. Participants have shared that one of the highlights of this course is the relational practice, which truly supports dharma friendship.
• Monthly home reflections, including sutta study, reading, audio resources, practice suggestions and reflection questions following each session.
• Connecting with dharma buddies.
• Optional daily support for integration during the month of January with Andrea Grzesina.
• Optional practice talks with Jeanne Corrigal.

More information about the LDC

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 a deep dive and exploration of the heart of the Buddhist teaching. The course is designed in a 6 year rotation through the core teachings. You can join in any year, and deepen through more than one 6 year cycle, coming to the first themes again with lived understanding. This can be a way of really seeing the deepening of our practice, over time. There are in-person and online options.

Is This Program Right for You?

This program is best suited for practitioners with a minimum of two years of Insight Meditation practice. The teachings will build on foundational meditation skills, such as mindfulness and concentration, and explore deeper insights into the nature of reality.

If you have less experience, or if your practice background is primarily rooted in another tradition, we warmly invite you to have a preliminary discussion with a teacher. This conversation will help determine whether the program aligns with your current practice and aspirations.

Dates and times

For online folks, click links for conversion into other time zones.

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 our teacher Jeanne Corrigal. Jeanne will also share your generosity with our supporting dharma leader, Andrea Grzesina. See dana information below.

Registration

To register for the IN-PERSON offering, click here:
https://saskatooninsight.com/forms/view.php?id=83870

To register for the ONLINE offering, click here:
https://saskatooninsight.com/forms/view.php?id=84737

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 has trained primarily in the Burmese lineage of Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw, with a great affinity for the Thai Forest Tradition of Ajahn Buddhadasa and for the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh. She is a certified MBSR teacher, is certified with Indigenous Focusing Oriented Trauma Therapy (IFOT), and she has trained with Mindful Schools and Somatic Experiencing. She has taught with Mindfulness Magazine, Lion’s Roar and Tricycle’s online programs, and teaches across North America. She is Metis, and one of her first teachers in loving presence was Cree Elder Jim Settee.

Local Dharma Leader

Andrea Grzesina is a certified mindfulness teacher with the Mindfulness Training Institute, having trained under Mark Coleman and Martin Aylward in 2021. Jeanne Corrigal has been her teacher and mentor for many years. She was invited into the 2024-25 Buddhist Geeks Teacher Training with Vince Fakhoury Horn and Emily West Horn. Andrea’s passion for the Dharma and continuous learning led her to complete the Intensive Practice Program at UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center, various Social Meditation Facilitation courses, along with many dharma study programs. She has been a dedicated practitioner since 2014, and contributes to SIMC as a local dharma leader, planning committee member, volunteer, retreat manager, and occasional cookie baker.

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 $20/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 $35 – $65 per class. (This would be a range of something like $250 – $450 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.

This is for a past event. For current events, please visit our Upcoming Events page.

Friends, we are delighted to announce that our next 7-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 through study, reflection, and community practice.

Our theme this year will be The Path to Awakening: Exploring the Seven Factors of Enlightenment. The Seven Factors of Awakening are important qualities both on retreat and in daily life. Cultivating and balancing these factors support insight and freedom, understood as the highest happiness. We will also explore liberation teachings themselves, including Liberative Dependent Origination, emptiness, awareness, and not-self. This course will be situated in the context of our lives: how can these teachings support us in wisdom in the midst of all that is happening in the world.

Living the Dharma in Community combines the wisdom of study, reflection, and practice together. The course includes:

• 7 two-hour monthly-ish sessions (in-person or online) combining dharma talks, small group reflections, and relational practice. Participants have shared that one of the highlights of this course is the relational practice, which truly supports dharma friendship.
• Monthly home reflections, including sutta study, reading, audio resources, practice suggestions and reflection questions following each session.
• Connecting with dharma buddies.
• Optional daily support for integration during the month of January with Andrea Grzesina.
• Optional practice talks with Jeanne Corrigal.

Hear Jeanne and Andrea talk more about this program:
https://youtu.be/Xkv9BUa2uA0

Dates and times

For online folks, click links for conversion into other time zones.

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 our teacher Jeanne Corrigal. Jeanne will also share your generosity with our supporting dharma leader, Andrea Grzesina. See dana information below.

Registration

Registration is closed for this offering.

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 has trained primarily in the Burmese lineage of Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw, with a great affinity for the Thai Forest Tradition of Ajahn Buddhadasa and for the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh. She is a certified MBSR teacher, is certified with Indigenous Focusing Oriented Trauma Therapy (IFOT), and she has trained with Mindful Schools and Somatic Experiencing. She has taught with Mindfulness Magazine, Lion’s Roar and Tricycle’s online programs, and teaches across North America. She is Metis, 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.

More information about the LDC

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.

This annual course is designed both for new participants and as a progressive deepening for those who join over multiple years. Currently we plan a rotation over 6 years, spiralling round to the first themes again in year 7. You can join in any year, and deepen through more than one 6 year cycle, coming to the first themes again with lived understanding. This can be a way of really seeing the deepening of our practice, over time. There are in-person and online options.

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.

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 Metis, 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.

“Good friends, companions, and associates are the whole of the spiritual life. A [practitioner] with good friends, companions, and associates can expect to develop and cultivate the noble eightfold path.“
The Buddha to Ananda, Upaddha Sutta: Half the Spiritual Life, SN 45.2

You are warmly invited to our Community Circles: The Eightfold Path to a Wholehearted Life. Our Community Circle courses are immersions in the dharma, with spiritual friends.

This is a time for us to gather as a dedicated cohort, and to engage in small groups to explore the dharma with gentle relational practices.

This year, we will immerse in the foundational teaching of the eightfold path. This teaching shows us how to make our whole life a path of practice. The path includes three spirals of teachings, beginning with panna, the Pali word for wisdom, which includes wise view about where peace and liberation lie, and wise intention, which can guide us in the journey. The second spiral is sila, or harmonious relations, where we bring our wisdom into our speech, action, and livelihood. Then from this foundation, the third teaching on samadhi spirals into wise effort, mindfulness, and concentration, which in turn further deepen our understanding and commitment to wise view. All three spirals influence and deepen each other. As we continue to practice, we spiral deeper in the embodiment of the path.

This 7-month program starts October 2022. It includes monthly meetings, monthly home reflections and readings, weekly check-ins with practice buddies, as well as commitment to your own individual practice. In addition, practice talks with Jeanne can deeply anchor your practice, and we recommend 3-5 twenty-five minute meetings with Jeanne during the program.

We will be offering two options for this program: an in-person series, for people in/near Saskatoon, and an online series.

Dates and times

Monthly meeting dates are as listed below. Each session runs 7-9 pm Saskatchewan time (click links for conversion into other time zones).

This time of practice in community is suitable for both beginners and experienced practitioners.

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

This program is now underway. Please email us if you want to be on the waitlist for a future offering.

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 Metis, 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.