Are you hard on yourself when remembering past mistakes and hurts?


Do you have a strong inner critic who judges and doubts your thoughts, choices, and self-worth?


Do you compare yourself to others and feel disappointed with who you are versus who you “should” be?


Do you feel stuck repeating old, unhealthy patterns?


Do you experience feelings of shame and unworthiness, as if there is something fundamentally wrong with you?


Do you sometimes feel like you don’t even know who you are?


If you answered yes to any of the above questions, then this course is for you.

Course Summary

This course was designed with your needs in mind and contains all of the following:

12 Hours of Video Teachings

Downloadable Transcripts and MP3s

Glossaries, Summaries, and Recommended Reading Lists

Practice Assignments and Contemplations

Self-Assessment Quizzes

PLUS

Bonus #1: Recordings of Two Q&A Sessions with Pema

Bonus #2: Shamatha Meditation Instructional Video with Hope Martin

Bonus #3: Open Presence Instructional Video with Rebecca Eldridge

Bonus #4: This Moment Is the Perfect Teacher Audio Program 

ABOUT THIS COURSE:


Pema Chödrön has spent over forty years guiding people in making friends with themselves and discovering their own basic goodness. In this self-study online course, recorded in the intimate setting of Gampo Abbey, her home in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Pema shares the Buddhist teachings that get to the heart of how our sense of self develops and functions.

We all have habits of reactivity that hook us and cause us pain. Blending traditional Buddhist teachings with real-life stories, infectious humor, and deep insight into modern life, Pema shows how we can transcend the negative patterns and attachments that are at the root of our suffering. By befriending ourselves and becoming intimate with our deepest vulnerabilities, we create an opportunity for experiencing life fully.

These deep teachings into the true nature of self come from a master teacher beloved by thousands. Join Pema as she guides us in dissolving the barriers we place between ourselves and the world around us and reveals for us the ground of basic goodness, where we can live with limitless joy, wisdom, and compassion toward ourselves and all beings.

LEARN HOW TO:

COURSE CURRICULUM:

Bonus #1

Recordings of Two Q&A Sessions with Pema Chödrön

Recordings of two Question & Answer sessions with Pema Chödrön from the interactive version of this online course.

Bonus #2

Shamatha Meditation Instructional Video with Hope Martin

A video instruction on the basic practice of shamatha, or calm abiding meditation. The instructor, Hope Martin, is an experienced meditation practitioner in the Shambhala tradition as well as a teacher of the Alexander Technique—a methodology for helping find greater ease in our bodies. 

Bonus #4

This Moment Is the Perfect Teacher

Ten Buddhist Teachings on Cultivating Inner Strength and Compassion  (Regular Price: $22.95)

Lojong is a powerful Tibetan Buddhist practice created especially for training the mind to work with the challenges of everyday living. It teaches our hearts to soften, reframes our attitude toward difficulty, and allows us to discover a wellspring of inner strength. In this four-hour recorded retreat, Pema Chödrön introduces the lojong teachings and explains how we can apply them to any situation in our life—because, as Pema says, “every moment is an opportunity for awakening.” In addition, Pema also leads a guided tonglen meditation, a practice aimed at developing courage and cultivating compassion for ourselves and others.

Lesson 1: Permanent, Solid, and Separate: An Overview of the “Self"

What are we talking about when we talk about the “self”? In this first lesson, Pema shows us how the illusions of ego trick us into thinking we are singular and unchanging. When we start to understand the way this illusion is constructed, we can glimpse selflessness.

This lesson will help you:

  • Understand how the illusions of permanence, singularity, and separateness comprise  a seemingly solid sense of self
  •  Experience (via the contemplative exercise) how our sense of self fluctuates in  response to our thoughts
  •  Describe the process (the five skandhas) by which our sense of self as being  solid, separate, and permanent is created
  •  Explain how studying our fixed sense of self allows us to glimpse selflessness
  •  Practice shamatha, or calm abiding meditation

3-month payment plan option available

One-Time Payment of

$209


Join the Course

Sign up today and start making friends with yourself right now!

Get Started Now!

Watch

Over 12 hours of video teachings recorded at Gampo Abbey that you can download and watch at your own pace

HOW IT WORKS:

Read

Downloadable transcripts of all video sessions

Glossaries and summaries to help you understand and review the main terms and ideas presented in the teachings

Recommended reading lists to support you in deepening your understanding of the concepts

Practice

Practice assignments related to each lesson’s teachings help you integrate the course material into your own life and experiences

Contemplate

Short contemplations included with each lesson help you explore what you have studied and your experience with the practice assignments

Review

Optional self-assessment quizzes at the conclusion of each lesson support your understanding of the essential concepts

PLUS

“Truly, this course was an embarrassment of riches. . . . I have taken other courses but this has truly been life-altering. The only way I could be more satisfied is if I knew there would be another course!  Thank you . . . thank you . . . thank you.”

3-month payment plan option available

One-Time Payment of

$209


Join the Course

Sign up today and experience the profound effect of these teachings on your own life!

Get Started Now!

100% Satisfaction Guarantee

If for any reason you are not completely satisfied with your purchase, please e-mail us within 30 days of registering for the course, and we will promptly refund your purchase price.

Lesson 2: How to Get Unstuck: Working with the Skandhas

It’s important and necessary to explore how it is that we get hooked, but the real joy comes from learning how we can break the cycle. In this lesson, Pema gives us real-life examples of how the skandhas work and offers time-tested advice on how to interrupt the cycle of suffering.

This lesson will help you:

  •   Describe how you experience the skandhas, using an example of a stimulus you encounter
  •   Define and give examples of shenpas (your personal triggers)
  •   Explain how these personal triggers can be paused or disabled for the     purpose of decreasing negative habitual reactions

Lesson 3: Resting in Open Space: The Eight Kinds of Consciousness

Sometimes life feels like a roiling river, and we’re trapped in the current. What would happen if, even in the midst of the most stressful situation, we could put the brakes on our interpretation and judgment? In this lesson we’ll practice doing just that: pausing. We’ll also explore the eight kinds of consciousness and the six realms—traditional Buddhist teachings that will give context to why the practice of pausing is so important.

This lesson will help you:

  •  List and define the eight kinds of consciousness
  •  Describe what it means to “look for the gaps”
  •  List and describe the six realms, descriptions of our various psychological states
  •  Use sense perceptions to introduce a pause or gap in habitual patterns of mind
  •  Understand how the defense mechanisms developed by our self, or ego, lead to negative habitual patterns of grasping, aggression, or avoidance—the largest source of personal suffering
  •  Practice pausing while out on a walk, to develop familiarity with this technique of noticing the gap

Lesson 4: Understanding Ignorance: Where Suffering Begins

What keeps us from being fully present in our lives? In this lesson we’ll take a closer look at the mechanisms we use to put a barrier between ourselves and the world around us. And we’ll start to see what exists beyond that barrier as the starting ground for everything: basic goodness.

This lesson will help you:

  •  Define interdependence and describe samsara, the cycle of suffering
  •  Describe the two kinds of ignorance
  •  List the twelve nidanas, the links in the chain of interdependent co- arising
  •  Describe the quality of basic goodness
  •  Practice open presence meditation
  •  Understand why we should lean into and fully experience the raw emotion of the painful situations of life, rather than avoid them

Lesson 5: Samsara is a Cycle: The Twelve Nidanas

If we begin in a state of timeless awareness, in connection with the dynamic nature of reality, how do we get stuck in the view that reality is fixed and static? In this lesson we’ll go deeper into the twelve nidanas.

This lesson will help you:

  •  Deepen your understanding of the twelve nidanas
  •  Define nondual timeless awareness
  •  Understand how our sense of self, or ego, evolves and functions, according to Buddhist psychological doctrines
  •  Practice removing your sense of self from your activities

Lesson 6: Nowness Gives Rise to Bodhichitta: Connecting to Sacred World

We’ve spent much of this course analyzing what gets in our way of being present. In this lesson, we get to take in the view of what happens when we are able to rest in groundlessness and experience reality fully. This is what it means to discover sacred world.

This lesson will help you:

  •  Understand the Buddhist concept of dukkha (suffering, discontent, or dissatisfaction)
  •  Practice letting go of the reaction you usually have to a certain craving
  •  Understand what it means to maintain an awareness of sacred world
  •  Introduce practices into your life to help reduce the attachment, emotional reactivity, and suffering that arise from negative habitual patterns

Forgive Your Mistakes

Understand your tendencies and let go of guilt and shame.

Quiet the Inner Critic

Transform habitual self-judgment into unconditional self-acceptance.

Love the “Unloveable”

Hold unwanted thoughts and behaviors with gentleness and curiosity.

Transform Old Habits

Disentangle yourself from negative and harmful behaviors.

Calm Yourself Down

Rest with strong emotions rather than repressing or escalating them.

Discover Your True Nature

Recognize your inherent worthiness and true awakened nature.

Open Presence Instructional Video with Rebecca Eldridge

Bonus #3

A video instruction on open presence meditation, taught by Rebecca Eldridge. This practice helps you connect with reality as it is, without altering it. Rebecca is an experienced meditation practitioner in the Shambhala tradition.

Get Started Now!