Description
Do you truly understand the extraordinary, wild improbability of being alive, aware, and awake right now? Do you hesitate to make changes, putting off what’s truly important to you because you can always get to them later?
Recognizing that our time here is brief can help us appreciate life and begin to see what the important things are. One of the things the Buddha encouraged us to do was to reflect on our own impermanence. In the light of that impermanence, it’s important that we take responsibility for our lives.
In this interactive workshop, we will explore practices that will encourage us to remember the value of our rare human existence. We will be invited to get to know, and to step out of our habits, inclinations, and tendencies. With mindfulness we can begin to align our intentions, daily actions, and relationships with our deepest values. When we are mindful of our daily thoughts, actions, and habits, we can transform our precious life into acts of love and understanding.
This workshop will include guided meditations, contemplative exercises, and supportive group sangha discussions to assist us in understanding how to lead a deliberate, meaningful life. This Precious Life.
Attending an in-person workshop
- CIMC is a refuge. Out of compassion for those with chemical sensitivities, please avoid using scented products like lotions, deodorant, after-shave, hair products, perfume, clothes laundered with scented detergent or dryer sheets—before you come to the Center.
- Please arrive at least 15 minutes early to check in and to find a comfortable place in the meditation hall.
- Parking at CIMC is limited; we suggest taking public transportation to the Center whenever possible.
- All phones, pagers, beeping watches, and other electronic devices must remain completely turned off while you are at the Center.
- Please leave your shoes on the shoe shelves on the first floor and keep your valuables with you.
- Lunch will not be provided. Participants are invited to bring a vegetarian meal to the Center or may buy lunch in the neighborhood. A list of local restaurants and food stores will be available.
- No food or beverages, including water, are allowed in the meditation halls.
- We strongly recommend that you dress in layers since the temperature in the meditation hall varies throughout the day. The hall thermostat is set to a comfortable temperature range; however, we recommend you give yourself a range of clothing options, as individual preferences for warmth or coolness differ widely and cannot be accommodated.
- Masks are optional. Some masks are available at the entrance of the Center.
- CIMC provides zafus (round cushions), zabutons (large mats), meditation benches, blankets, and chairs. At the end of the program, we request that you brush off your zabutons and plump up your zafus. All other items should be returned neatly to where they belong.
- Hearing Assistive Devices are available in the Meditation Hall. The wireless receiver has a standard headphone jack, and we provide headphones and neck loops.