Mountain Stream Meditation invites you to a 5-Week Series
Buddhism Beyond Patriarchy
Teacher: Gavrila Nikhila
Location: In Person - Join us at the Nevada City Insight Center, 710 Zion St, Nevada City, CA 95959.
Dates: Five consecutive Wednesdays, May 13, 20, 27 and June 3 & 10
Time: 6:30 - 8:30 pm
Cost: Our programs are offered on a sliding scale
$40 - ($8.00/Class: Partial scholarship price)
$75 - ($15.00/Class)
$100 ($20.00/Class)
$125 ($25/Class)
Pre-registration is encouraged by noon on Tuesday, May 12.
To register, please visit https://square.link/u/EFvmt5b0
Your emailed payment receipt is your registration confirmation.
Scholarships: 1-2 work/trade scholarship positions available. In exchange for free attendance, you will work directly with Gavrila for weekly class set-up and support. Email Lauren for details. Lauren@mtstream.org
If you are in need of a full scholarship and are unable to offer service, no one will be turned away for lack of funds ~ please still come! Email Lauren for details.
If you would like to contribute to our scholarship fund, please donate here.
Series Description: While the Buddha’s teachings themselves offer the path of freedom to all, regardless of gender, identity, class, or ability, systems of oppression have limited access to specific practitioners throughout history and still do today. From the first women requesting to join the Buddha’s monastic order over 2600 years ago, we can still see and feel the ripples of identity-based exclusion in current day sanghas across the globe.
There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, “Morning, [folks]. How’s the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, “What the hell is water?” - David Foster Wallace
Depending on one’s own identity, you may not even know you are practicing within a system informed by patriarchy. In this series we will reflect upon and examine together the role of patriarchy in Buddhism from then until now. As sangha, we will wake up together as we become conscious of this history, and the ongoing seen and unseen impacts of patriarchy, in order to reclaim and extend the true liberation of these teachings for all.
Session 1: Building the Container and Setting the Foundation - Grounding into the Theravada lineage, co-creating the culture for our series, and defining language used within the series.
Session 2: Herstory of the Nuns, Past and Present - Meeting our Buddhist foremothers, reflecting on herstory, and discovering the circumstances of present day Buddhist nuns.
Session 3: Non-belonging in Our Practice || Finding Belonging within Practice - Exploring stories of inclusion and exclusion in practice, reflecting on our own belonging in practice.
Session 4: Expansive and Directive Buddhist Concepts - Learning profound feminine concepts offered in the Buddha’s teachings, engaging with them, and emphasizing the yin of practice.
Session 5: Carrying the Torch - Meeting current torch carriers of inclusion in the Dharma, connecting with our own seeds of inspiration, and reflecting on our time together.
Each session will include chanting, meditation practice, didactic exploration, and community reflection.
Dana: During the course, there is an opportunity to offer a financial donation to Gavrila as part of the Buddhist practice of dana (the practice of giving and receiving). All offerings are gratefully received and support the continuation of the Buddha’s teachings. GAVRILA NIKHILA DONATION (DANA)
Bio: Gavrila Nikhila is a dedicated dhamma practitioner, singer, and contemplative dreamer. Her journey through grief and the complexities of being human inspired her to study suffering and its cessation, leading her to teach mindfulness for over a decade and become a somatic psychotherapist. Working with diverse individuals, she believes that embodiment and mindfulness are accessible to everyone. Gavrila emphasizes awareness, ancestral wisdom, and innate wholeness in her collaborative approach to transformation. She co-founded the Trauma Aware Mindfulness Collective and is a guest teacher for various sanghas. Gavrila offers meditation series for youth with Spirit Rock Meditation Center and young adults with Dharma Gates. In collaboration with Lotus Compass, Gavrila serves as the mindfulness guide on annual trips on the Camino de Santiago. Gavrila identifies as a queer, Ashkenazi Jewess.
For more on Gavrila's therapeutic work visit connectedrootstherapy.com.
For more on trainings and insights, visit wholecompleteperfect.com.
