Equanimity: Finding Balance in Difficult Times

Equanimity: Finding Balance in Difficult Times

Equanimity (upekkhā) is a highly valued quality in Buddhist teachings. But what is equanimity? How do we cultivate it in our meditation practice? Even more, how do we access it in daily life, especially in times like these, when there is so much uncertainty, fear, and sadness over the suffering in the world?

Through talks, meditations, and prompts for inquiry, we will explore the development of equanimity in our formal practice and aspects of equanimity that can be applied pragmatically to our life off the cushion. This course is appropriate for both new and experienced practitioners.

About James Baraz

James Baraz is a founding teacher of Spirit Rock Meditation Center. James started the Community Dharma Leader program, the Kalyana Mitta Network, and the Spirit Rock Family Program and helped create the Heavenly Messengers Training Program. James has been leading the online course Awakening Joy since 2003. He serves as a guiding teacher to One Earth Sangha, a Virtual EcoDharma Center devoted to Buddhist responses to Climate Change. He co-authored Awakening Joy and Awakening Joy for Kids.

His books include Awakening Joy with Shoshana Alexander and Awakening Joy for Kids with Michele Lilyanna. For more information, visit awakeningjoy.info.

About Spirit Rock & Insight Meditation

Spirit Rock is a spiritual training institution in the Insight Meditation tradition grounded in the Buddha’s teachings in the Pāli discourses. Our vision and mission is to bring people to a depth of realization of the Buddha’s path of liberation through direct experience, and to provide practitioners with teachings to manifest wisdom and compassion in all aspects of their lives, for the benefit of all beings. We welcome practitioners of all backgrounds and levels of experience to join communities of learning, support, and connection in our spiritual sanctuary and refuge.

This course is part of Spirit Rock’s new Dharma Institute, which offers in-depth study of the teachings and practices of the Buddha and the Insight Meditation lineage, along with professional trainings and continuing education. 

Spirit Rock was founded in 1986 by a group of Insight Meditation teachers, including Jack Kornfield, who, along with Sharon Salzberg, Joseph Goldstein, and Jacqueline Schwartz, founded Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in Barre, MA, in 1976. These centers, along with Gaia House (Devon, UK), are among the first centers teaching Insight Meditation (vipassanā) in the West. Read more about the founding of Spirit Rock and IMS in Jack Kornfield’s article “This Fantastic, Unfolding Experiment.” 

Insight Meditation is based in Theravāda (“The Way of the Elders”) Buddhism, as practiced in Sri Lanka, Burma (Myanmar), and Thailand, though our teachers carry many different lineages within—and outside—Theravāda. Our primary practices are based in the Mahāsī lineage of Burmese vipassanā and the Thai Forest Saṅgha lineage of Ajahn Chah. Read more aboutour Buddhist Lineage and listen to talks from teachers about the roots of our practice.

Questions?

Visit Help for additional information and guidance. After visiting the Help page, if you still need support with the Online Learning Platform, email OLPsupport@spiritrock.org.