by April Koester | Aug 28, 2025 | Classes, 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, October 4th, 2025 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 | 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
by April Koester | Apr 30, 2024 | Listen to Dharma Talks
Short Moments, Many Times a Day.
In this meeting of our sangha, we learn a variety of ways to incorporate moments of meditation throughout the day. This is not a substitute for our daily sitting practice, but a way to extend that practice throughout our daily activities. The format of the session will veer from our usual practice, as we practice a 4-5 short meditations. So make sure to join us at 7:00 for a brief commentary on mindfulness which will be followed by a variety of short-form practices. This session was facilitated by Lezlie Laws.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:51:45 — 80.1MB)
by April Koester | Apr 30, 2024 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This week’s dharma talk explores the 7th step in the teaching of the Buddha called “The Noble Eightfold-Path.” This 7th step is Right Mindfulness. We will explore this key practice that has been described as the watch guard of the mind and an aid to recognize, prevent and release craving and clinging that causes suffering. We will also present an overview of the four foundations of mindfulness discussed in the Buddha’s teachings that are documented in the Satipatthana Sutta. Each of these foundations will be explored in further depth in the upcoming weeks. April Koester gave this talk.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:04:13 — 48.7MB)
