Opening the Heart: Joy of Living Level 2

In this 8 week meditation workshop series with Tergar Guide Myoshin Kelley, we will learn how meditating on loving-kindness and compassion can open our hearts to the world around us and relax the self-centered tendencies that lead to anxiety, dissatisfaction, and suffering.

Cultivating loving-kindness and compassion helps us to see the basic goodness that all beings share. By relating to others in an open-hearted way, we bring peace to the mind and develop a sense of confidence and purpose. This, in turn, naturally brings harmony to our relationships and enables us to work with challenging situations more effectively.

The schedule for this course includes video teachings by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, short presentations on the key points of meditation practice, as well as guided meditations and discussion.

Tuesdays, 1 July to 19 August 2024, 6:30 - 8:30 PM (Melbourne, Australia-time)

This program offers step-by-step instructions that will benefit those who have either recently completed the Joy of Living Level One program, or those who have completed the program but looking for a refresher.

The schedule for this workshop series includes video teachings by Mingyur Rinpoche, presentations by Tergar Instructor Myoshin Kelley, as well as guided meditations and discussion.

This live, online course covers the same material as the in-person Joy of Living Level 2 weekend workshops, and all participants will receive a printable course and practice guide as well as opportunities to join ongoing weekly gatherings of Tergar Australia, and is currently open to practitioners throughout Australia regardless of your current location

For those of you who have taken JOL2 before, it is always helpful to revisit this material, as this level is so essential that it can be very helpful to take it no matter where on the path one is.

About the Joy of Living Program

The Joy of Living program provides a path of meditation training that is open to people of all faiths and belief systems. The style of meditation presented in this program teaches how to work with the challenges of everyday life to create a peaceful mind and joyful heart. The training itself is comprised of three levels. In Calming the Mind, the first level of the Joy of Living, we learn how to use any situation or experience, even difficult emotions and physical pain, as a gateway to inner peace. The second level, Opening the Heart, focusing on the cultivation of loving-kindness and compassion, while the third level, Awakening Wisdom, teaches the practice of insight meditation.

Course Length:
8 consecutive Tuesdays from 1 July to 19 August, 6:30—8:30pm (Melbourne, Australia time)

IMPORTANT - Please plan to come to all 6 sessions. People who do not attend the first session will not be able to attend the rest of the workshop series without permission from the course facilitators. If you are unable to attend, please let us know as soon as possible.

Suggested Donations:
Standard Rate: $150.00 AUD
Sponsor Rate: $200.00 AUD
Concession Rate: $100.00 AUD
Repeater Rate: $125.00 AUD

Sponsor Rate / Bursaries : Those who choose the sponsor level enable us to offer a number of bursaries will be available to ensure that, where possible, people with financial difficulties are not prevented from participating in this course. 

If your ability to pay makes it difficult for you to attend, please contact us at events@tergar.org.au for further options.

Location

A Zoom link for the weekly meetings will be included in your confirmation email, sent once you complete registration. We will also send out a confirmation email with the Zoom link to attend the series sometime in the week before the first meeting.

Cancellation Policy
Registrations can be cancelled for a full refund at any time up to 24 hours prior to the start of the first event. Full or partial refunds cannot be made for any cancellations requested after this time unless under extenuating circumstances.

About your Instructor, Myoshin Kelley

Myoshin Kelley

At a young age, Myoshin decided that school could not teach her what she wanted to know and decided that life would be her teacher. This led her to a lifelong journey of living in spiritual communities while exploring the inner terrain of being human.

Myoshin received dharma instruction from renowned Buddhist teachers Chanmyay Sayadaw, Sayadaw U Pandita, Sayadaw U Tejaniya, and Hogen Yamahata. She also developed a great love of retreats and at one point temporarily ordained as a nun in Myanmar.

Myoshin’s training as a meditation teacher began with Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg at the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in 1994. She was appointed the teacher in residence at the Forest Refuge, the long-term practice center at IMS, in 2003.

In 1998, Myoshin was introduced to Mingyur Rinpoche. Twelve years later she moved to Minneapolis to help Rinpoche and others with the formation of Tergar Meditation Community. For a decade she led the team to oversee the formation of Tergar meditation groups and the training of Tergar community leaders. As a Tergar instructor, Myoshin leads programs that experientially explore how the practice of meditation and the wisdom of an open heart support the path of awakening.

Nature has been a strong teacher and support for Myoshin throughout her life. She loves to do solitary retreats in nature as well as hike, bike, cross-country ski, and now swim in the ocean on the beautiful Sapphire Coast in Australia, where she lives with her husband Edwin.

Tergar Australia
This course is being facilitated by the Tergar Australia — The Australian meditation community of Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche. Tergar Australia supports individuals, practice groups and meditation communities throughout Australia in learning to live with awareness, compassion and wisdom. Established in May 2020, we currently meet weekly in both virtual gatherings online and in-person, and welcome practitioners from all corners of Australia and beyond. Sign up to our mailing list and learn more at http://www.tergar.org.au/