by April Koester | Mar 30, 2026 | Classes, News
Proposal for April 2026 Study Group
From Peter Carlson:
These are trying times, so I have decided to revisit the Tibetan lojong training system as the focus for the next study group. This system was created centuries ago to provide a set of aphorisms to guide and express the development of compassion, expressed even toward those whose behaviors are conflicted with your values and ethics. The slogans within the system are intended to provide prompts for recognizing opportunities to “turn poison into medicine”—the challenges of life experience can be transformed into self-compassion and then expressed out into the world, particularly in regard to troubled relationships.
The recommended reading involves “Start Where You Are-A Guide to Compassionate Living”, by Pema Chodron, an American teacher and author who is a very well-respected contributor to the Westernization of Tibetan Buddhism. The reading will be supplemented by documents regarding lojong I have prepared and updated for this series of discussions.
There will be 8 meetings, which could occur on Saturday and/or Sunday afternoons from 3-4:30 via Zoom. I intend to have the first meeting on the weekend of April 25, ending on the weekend of June 20. There will not be a meeting on the weekend of June 13, as I will be celebrating my 80th birthday at a party on that weekend! I want to cap the number of participants in each group to 7, which will provide enough time for me to have a teacher/student dialogue with each person during each meeting.
As has been the case for several years, I require no fee for facilitating the group but ask you to consider donating $160 to the Orlando Insight Meditation Group, a nonprofit corporation; the money will be dedicated to furthering the goal of financing future OIMG projects.
I ask participants to commit to 45 minutes per day of meditation during the series of meetings, as the primary principle of Buddhism is to train the mind towards increasing serenity, clarity and kindness/compassion for oneself and others. If that amount of time is challenging, the lojong training can be applied to increasing your ability to sit longer!
If you want to be in the group, please let me know via email through peter@orlandoinsightmeditation.org of your commitment, including your preferred day, Saturday or Sunday; your willingness to accept either day will help me balance the number of folks at each meeting. If you have to miss a meeting, that is ok, just let me know. Please provide your phone number as well—I will correspond primarily through email but might need to contact you. My phone will not accept calls from anyone who is not on my contact list.
I will be on a self-retreat April 3-10, and unavailable to respond to your contact attempts. It will be helpful for you to express your commitment before then if possible.
I wish you well. Peter
As in previous groups, the fee for the series is recommended to be $160, payable to OIMG, either through the website or via check sent to Peter Carlson, 1818 Carrigan Avenue, Winter Park, FL, 32789. If you don’t have $160, pay what you can afford, knowing that this contribution is a core funding project for our Sangha’s activities. Peter is offering facilitation services freely, as has been the case for a few years now. Participants can make their payment after receiving confirmation from Peter about their application.
Thank you for your interest. We wish you well.
by April Koester | Mar 23, 2026 | News, Retreats
A basic Buddhist concept acknowledges that the mind is in a constant flow state, changing from moment to moment. This day of practice provides support for training the mind to more skillfully manage how these changes occur, interrupting unwholesome self-creating processes and building new processes that are more wholesome, through practicing mindfulness of breathing meditation. The retreat is suitable for beginning as well as more practiced meditation students.
Please bring your own lunch. There is a refrigerator and microwave on-site. A limited number of meditation cushions will be available; it is recommended that if you have your own, please bring it. There will also be chairs available.
The retreat will be led by Peter Carlson who has been teaching meditation for over 30 years. For more information about Peter, click here.
When: Saturday, April 18th, 2026 9:00am – 5:00pm
Where: Oneness Yoga Retreat Center located at 218 W. Lewis Road, Apopka, FL (not far from Kelly Park)
Fee: $60 to the Orlando Insight Meditation Group; the fee will be split evenly between OIMG and the retreat center. (NOTE: The teacher takes no fee. Those attending will have the opportunity to make a voluntary contribution to him at the end of the day to express gratitude for the teaching and what was learned.)
For questions: please email April.
by April Koester | Sep 11, 2025 | News
Proposed Topic for the October 2025 Study Group
As many of you know, we have enjoyed the benefits of an ongoing series of 8-week Dharma study groups for several years, and it is time to organize the next one. There have been several requests for a repeat of an excellent book, “Stepping Out of Self-deception”, by Rodney Smith, so we will again focus on it. During previous study groups, I have described the book as a series of chapters that invite repeated interested contemplation and discussion, so it is worth revisiting, even for those who have previously read it. I know of two well-respected committed meditators who gave themselves a year to read, contemplate, and discuss the contents.
For those of you who were in the most recent series of meetings, I regret not giving you “first dibs” on this series, as my email group addresses were lost when I had to transfer everything to the new computer, so this is a general announcement rather than in the past about the next series, which I plan to start on the weekend of October 11, ending the weekend of November 29. There are two options, Saturday or Sunday, from 3-4:30 PM, through Zoom meetings. The number of participants in each group is capped at 7, so if you want to participate, let me know which day you prefer via email, but understand that if attendance is low, the meetings will only occur on one of those days, and you may have to be more flexible if necessary. Don’t assume that because you were in the recent groups, that you are automatically in one of the next groups also—you must confirm the commitment via email, and include your phone number. I will respond to your email confirming your participation and send a document with more specific information about the group process and discussion trajectory.
My plan is to have a “mini-consultation” with every participant during each meeting. Circumstances may not allow that, but I will do my best to speak with each person. We can talk about a concept from the book or your meditation practice. I strongly encourage each person to commit to 45 minutes of meditation every day during the course—if that is challenging for you, that can be a fruitful opportunity to develop consistency of practice. Real success integrates the concepts we read or hear about with the direct experiential confirmation available through dedicated meditation practice.
As in previous groups, the fee for the series is recommended to be $160, payable to OIMG, either through the website or via check sent to me, Peter Carlson, 1818 Carrigan Avenue, Winter Park, FL, 32789. If you don’t have $160, pay what you can afford, knowing that this contribution is a core funding project for our Sangha’s activities. I am offering my facilitation services freely, as has been the case for a few years now.
Please contact me with any questions and email your commitments with your phone number ASAP in order to enroll even if I already have that information; I need the email address and phone number in case we need to reschedule a meeting.
I look forward to getting started with the meetings and I wish you well. Peter
For more information call 407 339-5444 or email peter@orlandoinsightmeditation.org
by April Koester | Apr 17, 2025 | News
I have decided that the recommended reading for the next intensive study group is “The Issue at Hand—Essays on Buddhist Mindfulness Practice” by Gil Fronsdal. The book can be bought through Amazon or downloaded for free through this URL: https://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/books-articles/the-issue-at-hand/. The book is not very long and is divided into small chapters, but what the author writes is very congruent with my views about the Dharma and meditation practice. I think it will be fun and quite beneficial to have a series of discussions regarding what you are reading and how it applies to your meditation practice. As usual for this series, I encourage you to commit to daily meditation practice of at least 45 minutes—if that is hard for you, let’s talk about it! I hope to have individual interviews with each participant during every meeting, with time for general comments and questions between the interviews.
The format for the series of meetings is well-established: 8 weekly meetings on Saturday or Sunday afternoons from 3-4:30. I suggest a voluntary donation to the Orlando Insight Meditation Group of $160, paid either through the OIMG website or by sending a check made out to the Orlando Insight Meditation Group, sent to Peter Carlson, 1818 Carrigan Avenue, Winter Park, FL, 32789. If that is not affordable, please donate as much as you can, as this is the primary source of income for OIMG. I am not asking for any personal donation to me for the series.
Please respond to peter@orlandoinsightmeditation.org, as I would like the meetings to begin the weekend after the one-day retreat on May 10, which means the first meeting weekend would be May 17/18, and the last meeting July 5/6. The preferred number of participants in each group is 7, with the expectation that some folks will occasionally have other commitments and will miss a meeting. Please let me know which day you prefer but be willing to attend on a different day if that seems valuable for the group dynamics. We will not schedule the first meeting until I decide we have an appropriate number of participants; if there are not enough commitments, the meetings will occur on either Saturday or Sunday
Please contact me with any questions and email your commitments with your phone number ASAP in order to enroll even if I already have that information; I need the email address and phone number in case we need to reschedule a meeting. I wish you well. Peter
For more information call 407 339-5444 or email peter@orlandoinsightmeditation.org
by April Koester | Mar 11, 2025 | News
The Psychology of Awakening
Buddhist Mindfulness of Breathing Meditation
Taught by
Peter Carlson
Presented by
The Orlando Insight Meditation Group at the
University Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
11648 McCulloch Rd, Orlando, FL 32817, near the UCF campus
Saturdays, 9:30-11 AM, April 12-May 3
These are stressful times, and years of careful research regarding mindfulness of breathing meditation practice has shown the benefits of this mental discipline for:
Relaxing muscle tension in the body
Experiencing greater emotional calmness
Reducing stress reactivity
Clarifying thought processes
This course is an introduction and review of Buddhist mindfulness of breathing meditation, providing students with effective training in stress management through an important teaching of the Buddha, “The Four Foundations of Mindfulness”.
There is no charge for this course, but donations of $60 are welcome, which will be shared 50/50 between OIMG and UUUF. There is no preregistration required, and we can only accept cash or checks made out to the Orlando Insight Meditation Group, a nonprofit corporation founded in 1993, by Peter, who has been teaching meditation since 1988.
For more information call 407 339-5444 or email peter@orlandoinsightmeditation.org