Finding Your True Nature: A Practical Introduction to Insight (Six Week Course, Starting July 12)

The greatest insight that the Buddha had is that our sense of self is a burden we carry, and that it’s possible for us to lay down that burden and live freely, spontaneously, and joyfully.

The Six Element Practice is a beautiful and poetic meditation practice that helps us to do this. It's a meditation in which we experience interconnectedness and non-self.

The practice encourages us to examine everything that we take to be “us” and “ours” and teaches us to see that nothing in the mind or body truly belongs to us.

In fact the concept of there being an “us” that anything can belong to is subjected to close analysis.

It does this by examining each of the “elements” that constitutes the body and mind:

1. Earth — everything solid within the body
2. Water — everything liquid within the body
3. Fire — all energy within the body
4. Air — anything gaseous within the body
5. Space — our sense of separateness
6. Consciousness — our perceptions, thoughts, and feelings

Over the course of six weeks we’ll explore each of these elements in turn, and see how everything that we take to be “us” is in fact merely “borrowed” from the outside world.

In time, our illusion of having a separate and permanent self can be seen through. No longer do we have to worry about whether the “self” we thought we had is good enough, worthy enough, capable of becoming awakened, etc. Instead we come to a direct perception of the thoroughgoing nature of impermanence, so that our “self” is nothing more than a dance of ever-changing experiences. Accompanying this is a profound sense of release, relief, and confidence.

There’s no promise that these six weeks will take you all the way to awakening, but you’ll certainly experience a shift in how you perceive yourself. You’ll at least experience a taste of liberation.

Course benefits

Over the course of this meditation event, you’ll learn to:

• let go of limited views of yourself
• feel a greater sense of awe and wonder
• experience a greater sense of connectedness
• find a sense of peace and stability in an ever-changing world

Course format

Signing up for this event gives you access to:

• Daily emails with practice suggestions, inspiration, and nourishment
• Access to 12 guided meditations, from 7 to 47 minutes in length
• Support, encouragement, and personal instruction in our welcoming and friendly online community

This event is for those who have at least a year’s experience of regularly practicing lovingkindness meditation.

If you can't afford the fee for this class, feel free to contact us using the "contact" link on this page.

About the instructor

Bodhipaksa has been practicing Buddhist meditation for over 30 years, and teaching for around 25 years. He formerly taught meditation in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Montana, and for several years ran a thriving retreat center in the Scottish Highlands. He is the author of more than a dozen books and audiobooks, and has been published in six languages. In 2001 he founded Wildmind, an online meditation center. He has been a member of the Triratna Buddhist order since 1993. He is originally from Scotland, but now lives in New Hampshire. He has two children.