Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor are true gems of the yoga world. Both immensely skilled teachers of yoga asana and philosophy, brimming with warmth, humor, and understanding.
ABOUT THIS COURSE
ABOUT THIS COURSE
Want to learn to ride the waves of life with mindfulness and compassion? We all do—and yet we so often fall short of our goal to bring more wisdom into our lives at work, at home, and with our friends. In this course, author and Buddhist teacher Lodro Rinzler serves as your guide in how to develop a spiritual backbone, regardless of whether or not you’re interested in religion.
This course includes meditation instructions to help you become calm and centered, guidance on how to work with strong emotions (what Lodro calls the pervasive “Incredible Hulk Syndrome”), and practical steps you can take right now to connect more fully to your own heart of wisdom. You’ll learn how to embody contentment, joy, and fearlessness so you can live your life to its fullest and be of benefit to the world.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
Establish a consistent shamatha (calm-abiding) meditation practice at home
CULTIVATE
Incorporate the qualities of gentleness, discernment, and precision in your being
DISCOVER
Learn techniques to work with strong emotions, in meditation and on-the-spot in your day-to-day life
PROCESS
Employ strategies to live a life of contentment in the here and now
PRESENCE
DEVELOP
Build your capacity for compassion through six actions
RELEASE
Move away from the trap of doubting yourself toward touching your innate bravery and strength
COURAGE
Experience inner peace through addressing change and fear head-on
ENGAGE
Engage with whatever comes up in your life as part of your spiritual path
THIS COURSE INCLUDES
CULTIVATE
DISCOVER
PROCESS
PRESENCE
DEVELOP
Establish a consistent shamatha (calm-abiding) meditation practice at home
Incorporate the qualities of gentleness, discernment, and precision in your being
Learn techniques to work with strong emotions, in meditation and on-the-spot in your day-to-day life
Employ strategies to live a life of contentment in the here and now
Build your capacity for compassion through six actions
COURAGE
Experience inner peace through addressing change and fear head-on
Move away from the trap of doubting yourself toward touching your innate bravery and strength
RELEASE
Engage with whatever comes up in your life as part of your spiritual path
ENGAGE
3 HOURS OF VIDEO TEACHINGS
Taught by Lodro Rinzler
Guided reading assignments with downloadable PDF's
Integrate what you're learning into daily life!
Access any time on your computer, mobile device, or tablet. Go at your own pace.
Deepen your understanding with complementary readings from The Buddha Walks Into a Bar, by Lodro Rinzler
Learn at your own pace whenever and wherever works best for you!
BONUS MATERIAL
ABOUT YOUR TEACHER
Pema Chödrön is a beloved Buddhist teacher, author, nun, and mother. She has inspired millions of people from around the world who have been touched by her example and message of practicing peace in these turbulent times.
She has been teaching and writing extensively for many years, including authoring the best-selling books When Things Fall Apart and The Places That Scare You.
Pema first met her root teacher, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, in 1972. Lama Chime encouraged her to work with Rinpoche, and it was with him that she ultimately made her most profound connection. At the request of the Sixteenth Karmapa, she received the full monastic ordination in the Tibetan lineage of Buddhism in 1981 in Hong Kong. She is the resident teacher at Gampo Abbey in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia—the first Tibetan Buddhist monastery for westerners in North America.
“If you have ever wished for a smart, kind, discerning, and ridiculously funny friend to accompany you, encourage you, challenge you, make you laugh, and point you in the direction of true healing, here he is.”
~Susan Piver, author of Start Here Now and The Wisdom of a Broken Heart.
PRINTABLE TRANSCRIPTS
CONTEMPLATIONS AND PRACTICES
DOWNLOADABLE AUDIO FILES
GUIDED READING ASSIGNMENTS
UNLIMITED ACCESS
When does the course begin?
The course is self-paced, so you can get started as soon as you enroll and go at your own pace.
How long does it take to complete the course?
There are six lessons in the course and each lesson is designed to last a week. However, the course is flexible and you can work at your own pace as well, so you can benefit just as much from the course even if it takes you longer to go through it. We encourage you to download videos as you go through the course for your own personal use in the future. You will continue to have unlimited access to the course materials online as well.
How long will I have access to the course?
Your access to the course is unlimited. It will not expire.
Can I still take this course without a desktop/laptop computer (for example, if I only have an iPad)?
Yes, you can access this course using the browser on your device. However, please note that if you’d like to save any of the course materials, you will need to download to a computer first and then transfer the files to your device.
What if I have technical difficulties with the course?
We have a dedicated course support person who can help you with any issues you may encounter in navigating or accessing the course. Please email course-support@shambhala.com if you have any questions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Want to learn to ride the waves of life with mindfulness and compassion? We all do—and yet we so often fall short of our goal to bring more wisdom into our lives at work, at home, and with our friends. In this course, author and Buddhist teacher Lodro Rinzler serves as your guide in how to develop a spiritual backbone, regardless of whether or not you’re interested in religion.
This course includes meditation instructions to help you become calm and centered, guidance on how to work with strong emotions (what Lodro calls the pervasive “Incredible Hulk Syndrome”), and practical steps you can take right now to connect more fully to your own heart of wisdom. You’ll learn how to embody contentment, joy, and fearlessness so you can live your life to its fullest and be of benefit to the world.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
CULTIVATE
DISCOVER
PROCESS
PRESENCE
DEVELOP
Establish a consistent shamatha (calm-abiding) meditation practice at home
Incorporate the qualities of gentleness, discernment, and precision in your being
Learn techniques to work with strong emotions, in meditation and on-the-spot in your day-to-day life
Employ strategies to live a life of contentment in the here and now
Build your capacity for compassion through six actions
COURAGE
Experience inner peace through addressing change and fear head-on
Move away from the trap of doubting yourself toward touching your innate bravery and strength
RELEASE
Engage with whatever comes up in your life as part of your spiritual path
ENGAGE
Establish a consistent shamatha (calm-abiding) meditation practice at home
CULTIVATE
Incorporate the qualities of gentleness, discernment, and precision in your being
DISCOVER
Learn techniques to work with strong emotions, in meditation and on-the-spot in your day-to-day life
PROCESS
Employ strategies to live a life of contentment in the here and now
PRESENCE
DEVELOP
Build your capacity for compassion through six actions
RELEASE
Move away from the trap of doubting yourself toward touching your innate bravery and strength
COURAGE
Experience inner peace through addressing change and fear head-on
ENGAGE
Engage with whatever comes up in your life as part of your spiritual path
This Course Includes
COURSE CURRICULUM
COURSE EXCERPTS
COURSE SUMMARY
© Shambhala Publications. All Rights Reserved.
Photo credit: Margie Rodgers
Frequently Asked Questions
PRAISE FOR ALAN MORINIS
Review of Climbing Jacob’s Ladder: One Man’s Journey to Rediscover a Jewish Spiritual Tradition by Alan Morinis:
“Alan Morinis, in his spiritual journey, has struck a rich vein of Judaism. This offering feels like a heart-gift to us.”—Ram Dass, author of Be Here Now and Still Here
Review of Everyday Holiness: The Jewish Spiritual Path of Mussar by Alan Morinis
“A readable, engaging, friendly book. . . . [Morinis] writes as one besotted with the Jewish path, but not so intoxicated as to forget the conventions of the secular. He’s an accessible guide, and a sober one.”—Jewish Daily Forward
PRAISE FOR
ALAN MORINIS
A Personal Invitation
from Pema Chödrön
“The wisdom, the strength, the confidence—the awakened heart and mind are always accessible—here, now, always.”
~Pema Chödrön
Study with
Pema Chödrön
This self-study course offers a special opportunity to experience Pema Chödrön’s generous heart and deep wisdom. Featuring seven talks filmed in the intimate setting of Gampo Abbey, this is a rare opportunity to study with this extraordinary teacher.
As her theme for the course, Pema uses a short Buddhist text especially close to her heart, Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva. This classic text, which could be said to summarize the major themes of Pema’s teachings over the years, presents ways that we can work with our own hearts and minds.
Getting to the Heart of the Matter
RESILIENCE
WISDOM
COMPASSION
JOY
Learn how to use the difficulties of your life, such as loss, shame, and overwhelming emotions, as a means to awaken.
Explore how embodying the six transcendent actions—generosity, discipline, patience, exertion, meditation, and wisdom—can support your movement toward a more wise and open-hearted life.
Cultivate the attitudes of mind that connect you to compassionate engagement with the world.
Discover the joy and fullness that comes from leaving your comfort zone, untangling habitual attachments, and leaping into the present.
Starting wherever you find yourself now, you can unravel your personal preoccupations and strengthen your innate capacity for compassion, joy, and wisdom.
Plus
Lesson 1
Awakening Bodhichitta: The Aspiration to Be of Benefit
The only way to live the life of a chöpa, or dharmic person, is to start where we are. As we embark on this course together, we’re invited to leap directly onto the path of the bodhisattva—the warrior who aspires to wake up for the benefit of themselves and the world. We begin on this path by learning to recognize our own hang-ups and upheavals. We cultivate the perspective that we already have innate wisdom and compassion in our hearts and minds—and our work is to reveal it.
Lesson 2
Stretching Beyond Our Habits: The Wisdom of Leaving Our Comfort Zone
When we begin to abandon our habitual ways of seeing the world, we may experience glimpses of the groundless nature of reality. How do we cultivate bravery in this space beyond our comfort zone? In this lesson, Ani Pema introduces the practice of tonglen, which connects us with our inherent strength and increases our capacity for compassion under difficult circumstances.
Lesson 3
The Power of Letting Go: Adversity as a Gateway to Insight
The more we understand our own suffering, the more we can understand the suffering of others—but what about when others are the cause of your suffering? In this lesson, we’ll explore Tokmé Zongpo’s wisdom on working with the nitty-gritty of social interactions. Rather than take praise or blame personally, we can go deeper and ask: what it is that people are praising or blaming? Is there an intrinsic self? The implications of asking these questions may transform the way we interact with both friend and foe.
Lesson 4
Pleasant and Unpleasant: Integrating Every Experience Into the Path of Compassion
We’ve all heard the encouragement to “keep an open mind.” The teachings in this lesson take that advice to the next level, as Ani Pema guides us through Tokmé Zongpo’s wisdom on relating to the absolute nature of mind and egolessness. We’ll also explore gratitude as fuel for our practice of tonglen.
Lesson 5
The Six Paramitas: Skillful Means of the Bodhisattva
The six paramitas (transcendent actions) of generosity, patience, discipline, enthusiasm, meditation, and prajna are both the path and the fruition of enlightened activity. Living up to such high standards may seem daunting, but in this lesson Ani Pema shows us how we can begin to bring these skillful means into our everyday lives. She also offers us safeguards to ensure we don’t co-opt the paramitas to build up our ego!
Lesson 6
Awake in Every Moment: The Unconventional Path of Warriorship
On the path of the bodhisattva, we develop the capacity to work with our minds in every situation. As we deepen along the path, there may even come a time when we delight in our shenpa being provoked—an opportunity to practice! In the final verses, Tokmé Zongpo offers us wisdom for revealing our hidden faults and being of utmost benefit to others.
"I truly appreciate [Pema’s] manner of kindness and humor. She presents the material in a way that I can integrate into my daily life. I am a novice to many of the teachings but never feel overwhelmed or confused after a lesson. Thank you”
About Pema Chödrön
Recommended Reading List
Guided reading assignments from selections chosen by Pema
Fourteen Hours of Powerful Teachings
Watch Pema speak to her close students and friends in the main shrine room at Gampo Abbey, her home monastery
Home Practices & Contemplations
Home practices designed specifically to support your integration of the teachings into your daily life
Downloadable Audio Files
Listen on the go and take in this profound dharma where and when it works best for you—in the car, on a walk, or over the kitchen sink
Unlimited Access
On your computer, mobile device, or tablet—learn at your own pace wherever and whenever works best for you.
Bonus #1
Recordings of two Q&A Sessions with Pema Chödrön from the original course launch
Bonus #2
50% OFF the Recommended Readings from Shambhala Publications
Course Curriculum
Learn to Let Go of Fear and Live with Compassion and Courage
The Heart
Matter
of the
An Online Course
Pema Chödrön
with
100% SATISFACTION GUARANTEE
If for any reason you are not completely satisfied, please e-mail us within 30 days, and we will promptly refund your purchase price.
100% SATISFACTION GUARANTEE
If for any reason you are not completely satisfied, please e-mail us within 30 days, and we will promptly refund your purchase price.
Sign up today and experience the profound effect of these teachings in your own life!
100% SATISFACTION GUARANTEE
If for any reason you are not completely satisfied, please e-mail us within 30 days, and we will promptly refund your purchase price.
100% SATISFACTION GUARANTEE
If for any reason you are not completely satisfied, please e-mail us within 30 days, and we will promptly refund your purchase price.
Sign up today and experience the profound effect of these teachings in your own life!
100% SATISFACTION GUARANTEE
If for any reason you are not completely satisfied, please e-mail us within 30 days, and we will promptly refund your purchase price.
100% SATISFACTION GUARANTEE
If for any reason you are not completely satisfied, please e-mail us within 30 days, and we will promptly refund your purchase price.
Sign up today and experience the profound effect of these teachings in your own life!
"The quality of the videos was fantastic. I felt like I was attending the Yarne at the Abbey. The talks by Pema were absolutely wonderful and I’ll watch them many times."
~Participant
"I truly appreciate [Pema’s] manner of kindness and humor. She presents the material in a way that I can integrate into my daily life. I am a novice to many of the teachings but never feel overwhelmed or confused after a lesson. Thank you."
~Participant
The Heart
of the
Matter
An Online Course
with
Pema Chödrön
Getting to the Heart of the Matter
Study with Pema Chödrön
A Personal Invitation
from Pema Chödrön
100% SATISFACTION GUARANTEE
If for any reason you are not completely satisfied, please e-mail us within 30 days, and we will promptly refund your purchase price.
100% SATISFACTION GUARANTEE
If for any reason you are not completely satisfied, please e-mail us within 30 days, and we will promptly refund your purchase price.
Sign up today and experience the profound effect of these teachings in your own life!
SINGLE PAYMENT
PAYMENT PLAN
3 MONTHLY PAYMENTS OF
$299.00
$199
LIMITED TIME ONLY
$67
LIMITED TIME ONLY
100% SATISFACTION GUARANTEE
If for any reason you are not completely satisfied, please e-mail us within 30 days, and we will promptly refund your purchase price.
100% SATISFACTION GUARANTEE
If for any reason you are not completely satisfied, please e-mail us within 30 days, and we will promptly refund your purchase price.
Sign up today and experience the profound effect of these teachings in your own life!
SINGLE PAYMENT
PAYMENT PLAN
3 MONTHLY PAYMENTS OF
$299.00
$199
LIMITED TIME ONLY
$67
LIMITED TIME ONLY
Course Excerpts
Excerpt 1:
Outside Your Comfort Zone
Excerpt 2:
Making Friends with Groundlessness
