A one or two day workshop with renowned meditation teacher and neuropsychologist

Dr Rick Hanson
Experiential workshops in April - May, 2011
Melbourne and Sydney

Ricks workshops are engaging, practical and profound. He has a genius for putting complex information in a way that is user- friendly and immediately applicable. He brings together many years practice and teaching in meditation, Buddhism, developmental psychology and neurology.

Workshop One:
Deepening Equanimity
• The Neuropsychology of Inner Peace
Equanimity means not reacting to your reactions… and that is both a wonderful relief from upsets and traumas, and a profound resource for spiritual growth. In Buddhism, equanimity is one of the four Brahmaviharas (“Divine Abodes”), and it’s sometimes considered the foundation of the other three: compassion, loving-kindness, and sympathetic joy. Equanimity breaks the chain of suffering by helping you not react to the pleasant/unpleasant feeling tones of experience with craving and clinging. Your equanimity, a state of mind, is based on underlying states of your brain. Modern neuroscience is revealing new ways to cultivate those brain states – a potent combination with time-tested Buddhist practices.
This experiential workshop will offer user-friendly information with lots of practical methods:

• The Buddha’s teachings on equanimity
• The neurological machinery of emotional reactivity
• How equanimity works in your brain to prevent, cool, and heal destructive emotions
• Strengthening “top-down,” frontal lobe influences
• Training “bottom-up,” limbic system reactions to be less fearful and angry, and more peaceful, connecting, and constructive
• “Neurodharma” perspectives on healing from trauma

Workshop Two:
The Neurodharma of Love and Power
- Practical Tools for Empathy, Kindness, and Assertiveness
To be able to enter deeply into relationship, it is necessary to be able both to love and forgive - and to assert yourself skillfully. Coming to peace about grievances clears out ill will so you can assert yourself with compassion and wise speech. Self-assertion takes care of your own needs so compassion, kindness, forgiveness, and love can emerge without the sense that you are a doormat. We’ll get into the nitty-gritty of how to bring profound teachings from the contemplative traditions on interrelatedness, lovingkindness, and virtue into the messy real world of relationships with family members, lovers, friends, bosses, and co-workers. We’ll cover:

• The Buddha’s teachings on non-harming, wise speech, compassion and kindness, and releasing ill will – as well as his teachings on self-care, respecting your own needs, and looking out for your own happiness
• The primacy of relationships in evolution, and the deep capacities for both loving altruism and fearful aggression
• The neural machinery of emotional reactivity and developing grievances with others
• Why letting go and sticking up for yourself are both important
• The foundation of basic mindfulness, precepts, wise speech, compassion for oneself and others, and emotional self-care
• Forgiveness and assertiveness practices

Sydney
Sat, 30th April Workshop 1: Deepening Equanimity
Sun, 1st May Workshop 2: The Neurodharma of Love and Power
Colin Library, 1 Mary St, Hunters Hill NSW

Melbourne
Sat, 7th May Workshop 1: Deepening Equanimity
Sun, 8th May Workshop 2: The Neurodharma of Love and Power
Northcote Town Hall, 189 High Street, Northcote VIC 3070

You are welcome to book for one or both days.
9.30 – 5pm
BYO lunch, morning and afternoon teas provided
$198 per day or $360 for both days (inc GST)
(AABCAP and SIM discounts: $185 per day, $330 for both days)

Click here to download PDF info on the retreat.

Please contact the co-ordinator, Lewti, to discuss a discounted place if your circumstances require it: info@openground.com.au

PAYMENT
-	By EFT via internet banking (Account details below) Please record your surname in the reference field. Account details: Account Name: Openground Bank: ANZ BSB: 012-241 Account No: 4990-00818
-	By cheque or money order Please make cheques/money orders payable to "Openground". Post to: Openground 2/140 Elm St, Northcote VIC 3070
REGISTRATION
Click here to register for: Melbourne Sydney
Refund policy
	Refunds will be given up to one week before each workshop. Workshop places are transferable to another person.

Rick is also offering a retreat (2nd - 6th May, 2011, out of Sydney, In the theme of “No-self” organized by the Sydney Insight Meditators, For more info: http://sydneyinsightmeditators.org/