Coming Home to Ourselves
“Coming home to Ourselves” is a series of six encounters designed to help you attend to your inner landscape with presence and compassion.
This is a powerful introduction to the life-changing practices of
mindfulness and compassion.
It is offered freely and by donation; all are welcome!
Join us by filling out the form at the bottom of the page.
James Joyce said of his character Mr. Duffy that he “lived a little distance from his body”. We’re all a bit like Mr. Duffy: we tend to run away from ourselves. We might have an idea in mind of how we’re supposed to present to the world, and would rather not deal with the parts of us that don’t serve that image; or we might simply feel nervous about looking inwards. Either way, we end up shunning our inner world and disconnecting from ourselves. We can then remain caught in a life on autopilot, one that we didn’t really choose, and we suffer.
“Coming home to Ourselves” is a series of six encounters designed to help you attend to your inner landscape with presence and compassion. We will begin to develop the skills to welcome body sensations, emotions, thoughts and beliefs - just as they are - and respond to them with an open heart.
Through it all, the fundamental truth of our human experience may begin to shine through: rather than the ups and downs of the waves of our experience, we are the ocean itself. We are the water, seeing itself as such and coming home to the realization of its true nature. This is the ground for profound growth and transformation.
Each meeting will include a talk, meditation, sharing and Q&A. You will be challenged and supported to develop and practice skills that can serve you for a lifetime, in a safe and encouraging environment. This isn’t your mindfulness app experience!
We will meet every Saturday from 11am to 12:30pm Eastern Time (US/Canada) from May 7th to June 11th, 2022. This corresponds to 5 - 6:30pm in Italy, and 6 - 7:30pm in Israel.
The course is open to all and offered by donation, as customary in Buddhist tradition. Your generosity makes it possible.
Course Outline
May 7th
Introduction to Mindfulness
Cultivating an open, non-judgmental awareness of the present moment is the first step towards understanding our experience more fully, and respond wisely to what arises. In this session, we will practice techniques to train our mind to return to wise, clear seeing.
May 14th
Mindfulness of the Body
Pain, aging, body image - the reasons we turn away from our bodies are many. In this session, we will learn safe ways to be present for what arises in the body, listen to its wisdom, and bring compassion to it when there is suffering.
May 21st
Mindfulness of Emotions
Welcoming our emotions, allowing them to be just as they are, and responding with a loving heart: in this session we will learn powerful techniques to make peace with our emotions and nurture ourselves into wholeness.
May 28th
Mindfulness of Thoughts and Beliefs
Our mind produces thoughts like our mouth produces saliva - it’s just what it does! And yet, we often confuse the thoughts in our head with reality. What are the core beliefs driving our behaviour - and are we conscious of them? What would our lives look like if we believed otherwise?
June 4th
The Wise Heart
In Buddhist tradition, mindfulness and compassion are depicted as two wings: both are needed to fly. In this session we explore the practices of compassion and lovingkindness, which help us find the open, loving heart within each one of us.
June 11th
Bringing your Practice into the World
The practices of mindfulness and compassion are so much more liberating when we integrate them into our speech and actions. How do our lives transform when we live in alignment with our deepest truth rather than on autopilot?
Federico Petrelli is a candidate for certification as a Mindfulness Meditation Teacher through Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield’s MMTCP program. In addition to teaching mindfulness at federicopetrelli.com, he helps those affected by neurological disorders rewire their nervous systems and regain quality of life, at hopefordystonia.com.