Dharma Hub Calgary

How letting go of control leads you to greater freedom

When?

Monday evenings, from 7:00 to 8:00pm / November 25th, December 2nd, December 9th, December 16th 

Where?  

123 – 10 avenue SW. (Media room on the second floor.)

Who can benefit from these classes?

• People wishing to explore who they are and ways to feel more grounded and empowered, instead of led by automatic responses.

• People interested in connecting with themselves, exploring behavioural patterns, and becoming more conscious.

• People wanting to feel supported on their journey to self-understanding and growth.

Do you sometimes feel like there is a lack of purpose in your life?

Does it seems like something is missing?

What is it that limits you from feeling connected and free? 

You may feel sometimes that when you give your best it’s still not enough. The thing is, you are not doing anything wrong. You simply need to learn a bit more about the beliefs that impacts your thoughts, emotions and behaviours to make more conscious decisions. 

When we are conscious, we have choice. Do you want the choice or want to be driven by patterned and conditioned habits?

We have all been hurt. No doubt about it. But, now, what do you choose? Do you wish to continue to repeat the same old ways of approaching things? How would you like it to be different?

This series will help you to become more conscious of how habits drive you in order to avoid suffering.

What would make you feel empowered and responsive? How can you drop being reactive and needing to be in control all the time?

I suggest we look closer, together.

Most of us run on patterns of ego protection. How can you actually let go and be vulnerable when all around you are messages that you are not enough, that you should be different, to keep busy all the time because there is so much to do? Moreover, when most people around you are also hurt and protecting themselves, these are not auspicious conditions to go deep or express vulnerability. 

The fact is, to avoid hurt, we try to control everything. We try, in vain, to shape things around us so that we don’t feel the hurt. This process is sucking the energy out of you. This approach is no longer working, and you probably know it. You know that you need to look deeper, to the source of that anxiety. 

This strategy of trying to control everything is not working. It’s too heavy. You feel confused, stressed out, victim or martyr in regards to how you feel and what it makes you do.

Stepping back for a moment

Have you connected with a sense of spaciousness/letting go today? 

This is not a luxury. It is essential. This connection with the freedom that is always present in your being is what gives you the power to pursue your next step with enthusiasm and purpose. It is an essential foundation for you to feel content, energized and able to embrace your highest purpose and goals. It allows you to tap into an unlimited fountain of clear energy, available 24/7, for free.

What we’ll explore during the series :

• What the costs are of the protections we put around ourselves
• What control is and how it manifests in our lives
• Where the hurt is coming from and its impact on our relationship with ourselves, others, and our daily activities 
• How to create a fresh and auspicious momentum in our lives through journaling and short meditations
• Guidance to re-direct our concentration towards empowering ourselves, through awareness, compassion, and loving-kindness put into practice. 

Teacher’s bio :

Maryline Fortier is a spiritual seeker, life-long student and passionate Aries. She has been studying and practicing meditation, mindfulness and transformational journeys with spiritual mentors for over 15 years. 

Maryline has dedicated her life to personal transformation and channeling her energy towards supporting others to increase self-awareness and happiness in their lives. She has received her main training at the wonderful Clear Sky Center.

Maryline practices awakening-in-action by living, studying and training in a conscious community – the Dharma Hub and Clear Sky Center – and by teaching meditation and mindfulness.

Maryline is also an entrepreneur whose business, Mindful French, teaches French as second language and mindfulness to elementary kids. She is also a Montessori teacher-in-training at Calgary Montessori School.

Whatever we focus on in this moment determines where our attention goes in the next.

Anxiety, stress, loneliness – when these or other negative states are present, why do we continue to focus on the things that created them?

Together, let’s train ourselves to direct our minds to simply focus on the now, a timeless practice that actively reduces the suffering of craving. Why? Simple meditative concentration leads to bliss, and bliss leads to joy.

What the classes will look like

In each class of this four-week series, we will start with movement or laughter exercises to bring us to a state of playfulness. This kind of activity shows us how we can be the architect of our states rather than letting our habitual or karmic patterns rule our day.

As part of the teaching section, Andy will draw some key points from the book, The Craving Mind, in which the author, psychologist and long-time meditator Judson Brewer, aims to inspire us to use the root cause of addictive behavior (a certain action leads to a perceived reward) to consciously create meditative mind states instead of suffering.

Each class will include a guided meditation and interactive exercises.

The series will take place over 4 consecutive Mondays.

Joy-n us: Register in this moment.

About the Instructor

Andy Rogers discovered the wisdom teachings of Doug Duncan and Catherine Pawasarat, and the Vajrayana lineage, while living in Japan. He moved to Canada 10 years ago to be near the teachers at their meditation center in Bull River, BC.

In January 2019, Andy moved to Calgary. He lives with fellow students in a conscious household that is focused on continual growth and bringing the teachings of awakening, also called The Great Healing, to others. He attended a laughter yoga retreat in the UK with the Laughing Yogi, Joe Hoare, and has learned with his teachers that joy is a choice that can quickly take him out of his story and into freedom.

Attendance and Registration

The early bird administrative fee for the series is $48. There will be a dana bowl at each event for offerings to the instructor. (Learn more about dana here: https://www.dharmahub.ca/dana-generosity-exchange/)