This program will be held online via Zoom. All registrants will receive the link to join the program in their Order Confirmation email.
“Wisdom arises from [spiritual] practice;
Without practice it decays.
Knowing this two-way path for gain and loss,
Conduct yourself so that wisdom grows.”
--The Dhammapada 281 (translated by Gil Fronsdal)
In one Buddhist discourse, the Noble Eightfold Path is compared to “an ancient road, traveled by the Awakened Ones of former times.” The idea is that the Buddha didn’t create the path; instead, he rediscovered it for all of us. This workshop will be an opportunity to learn more about and explore this path together in combination with ways we can use it to enhance our own personal journey of recovery.
The plan is to go through each of the eight path factors of Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration to see how they can transform our lives in recovery. They have the capacity to help us cultivate more mindfulness, wisdom and compassion, thereby reducing pain and suffering here and now.
This half-day online workshop will also serve as a way for us to gather again as a recovery community or sangha to support each other. It will include: several periods of guided meditation, short lectures, small group discussions, and Q&A.
This workshop is open to anyone dealing with addictions of any kind, as well as those who love them.
Full and partial scholarships are available.
Note: Walt will be teaching a prior workshop -- The Four Noble Truths of Buddhist Recovery -- on Saturday, January 23rd.
Walt Opie has been in recovery since 1987 and is a current participant in the Insight Meditation Society’s 2017-2021 Teacher Training Program. He is a graduate of the Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leaders training program, mentored by Kevin Griffin (author of One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the Twelve Steps). Walt has led sitting groups for people in recovery since 2011. He has also served as a volunteer prison dharma teacher for over five years. His most influential teachers include Bhikkhu Anālayo, Sayadaw U Tejaniya, Ajahn Sumedho, Joseph Goldstein, and Gil Fronsdal. His writing appears in the book collection Still, In the City: Creating Peace of Mind in the Midst of Urban Chaos edited by Angela Dews (Skyhorse Publishing, 2018).