Ken Bradford - Difficult Divine Messengers: Befriending the wolfpack of anxiety, guilt & despair
Date: Sunday, May 19, 2024
Time: 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Cost: Sliding Scale $60 - $90. No one turned away for lack of funds. Limited partial scholarships are available.
Where: In Person only, Nevada City Insight Center, 710 Zion St, Nevada City, CA 95959
Registration required:
To register, visit https://square.link/u/dHOeGfsI. Your emailed payment receipt is your registration confirmation.
For questions email juanita@mtstream.org
Description:
The Buddha spoke of sickness, old age & death as Divine Messengers that inspired him to seek a deeper awakening. These physical wake-up calls are joined by psychological sister emissaries of anxiety, despair & guilt. If we listen properly to what these existential messengers have to say, they have special power to open us to the essential nature of our mind.
But if we identify with these disturbing mindstates, thereby solidifying a story of me, rather than awakening us, they entrap us in compulsive thinking and negative self-talk. When that happens, divine messengers can turn demonic, as lucid existential anxiety dulls into fear & worry, genuine remorse degrades into self-blame & shame, and the sadness of heartfelt despair devolves into heartless, self-criticizing depression.
Leading up to the daylong, there will be 3 evening talks & discussions – In-person and Virtual - addressing each messenger:
March 11, 6:00 to 7:30: Existential anxiety vs. Neurotic worry & fear
April 8, 6:00 to 7:30: Sadness & despair vs. Numbing depression
May 13, 6:00 to 7:30: Genuine guilt vs. Toxic shame
This daylong is devoted to more deeply opening to and befriending these difficult mindstates. Through self-inquiry, guided and open meditation and discussion, we will explore the difference between being opened by emotions versus being dominated by them. This is difference between letting e-motions flow in heightened wakeful awareness, versus grasping on and making ourself ill by identifying with them or trying to block them.
Bio- Ken Bradford is a contemplative yogin, author and Dharma teacher integrating a wide arc of Buddhist, Dzogchen and psychological thought and practice. His heart teachers include Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, Joseph Goldstein, Ruth Denison and Tsoknyi Rinpoche, among others. Formerly, he maintained a psychotherapy practice in the San Francisco Bay area and was Adjunct Professor at John F. Kennedy University and CIIS. His publications include Opening Yourself: The Psychology and Yoga of Self-liberation (2021); The I of the Other: Mindfulness-Based Diagnosis & the Question of Sanity (2013); and Listening from the Heart of Silence: Nondual Wisdom and Psychotherapy, Vol. 2 (2007, with John Prendergast); as well as numerous peer-reviewed articles intertwining psychology and spirituality. Website: www.authenticpresence.net
Dana: During the daylong, there is an opportunity to offer a financial donation to Ken 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.
What to bring: Please bring a bag lunch.