by Peter Carlson | Apr 10, 2025 | News
During this talk, Lezlie Laws uses references to several books on contemplative stillness to develop greater conceptual understanding of the characteristic of the mind when unburdened by craving and clinging. She also shares the insights regarding stillness she realized while attending to the recent passing of her beloved dog Dash. This talk was preceded by a guided meditation entitled “Guided Stillness Contemplation”, which is posted within the Guided Meditation folder in the archives.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:07:31 — 61.8MB)
by Peter Carlson | Apr 10, 2025 | News
Lezlie Laws provides useful suggestions for cultivating insights regarding stillness, a stable and non-reactive characteristic of the mind during meditation practice. This recording is intended to provide support for discussion of stillness during the Dharma talk that followed this meditation titled “The Contemplation of Stillness”.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 45:10 — 41.3MB)
by Peter Carlson | Mar 13, 2025 | News
During this talk, April reviews what Buddhism calls “the Four Divine Abidings”: lovingkindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. She uses a translation of the Metta Sutta, the Lovingkindness Discourse as a guideline for her review. Her presentation includes questions and comments from those participating.
Here are April’s notes regarding the topic: The Four Divine Abodes Dharma talk notes (1)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:06:23 — 60.8MB)
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 Peter Carlson | Mar 6, 2025 | News
During this talk, Peter describes his favorite etymology of the word dukkha. He then talks at length about the concepts of duality and non-duality, described as a progression from the simple action of intending to monitor the sensations that occur while breathing to a realization that there is no enduring/autonomous self, and the direct realization of that manifests as non-duality. Other questions about meditation practice are also discussed.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:02:34 — 57.3MB)
by Peter Carlson | Feb 20, 2025 | News
One meeting each month is intended to provide an opportunity for those attending to ask Peter questions about Buddhist concepts and meditation practice. He has been studying and practicing Buddhism for over 40 years, and enjoys the dialogue involved in these discussions. Among the topics discussed during this talk are the importance of intentions that are associated with the targeted focused attention on various meditation subjects, and the relationship between ethics and spiritual development.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:01:03 — 55.9MB)
