Part 1, Kirtan Kriya

Part 2, Personal Journey

Part 3, Meditation for Addiction

Karena Virginia Introduces Meditation Practices from Kundalini

Karena is a deeply spiritual yoga teacher, motivational speaker, healer, miracles counselor and spiritual coach. As a child she was highly sensitive to angels and perceived the deep human need for sharing and uplifting one another. She began her path as spiritual teacher while working in the entertainment industry as a television actress and model recognizing that heart centered compassion was the tool for happiness. Karena incorporates the Law of Attraction and physics to co-create with Spirit, and become a magnetic being of pure love and miraculous force. Her theory on “Ask, Believe and Receive” has helped thousands of people attract the life of their deepest desire. Karena’s comforting wisdom reminds us to align, ask and allow. She encourages everyone to connect powerfully with their personal truth through love, compassion, inner beauty and radiance.

She has been a certified yoga instructor in the Kundalini and Hatha schools for nearly twenty years. Karena released the acclaimed Kundalini Yoga video “Abundance and Miracles” in 2013 and released her itunes app “Relax and Attract with Karena” in 2014. She writes for The Huffington Post as well as her own blog, and was recently featured on Veria Living and Bravo TV. Her teaching encompasses subjects as wide as yoga, fulfillment, fertility, meditation, deep relaxation and angelic connection. Karena shares a radiant healing presence and heart centered awareness that inspires all to live a life of miracles, love, light and joy.

Part 1, Rainbow Meditation

Part 2, His Hippie Trail

Michael Daner Introduces Rainbow Meditation and Talks about His Hippie Past

Michael Daner’s path has been varied and eclectic. As a youth he remembers wondering what happened to the magic recounted in the bible. He started with an interest in science fiction, psychic phenomena and the occult which culminated in exploring the meditative arts and the mystical quest. This included travels to Afghanistan, India, Kashmir and Nepal in the early 1970's on the Hippie Trail that started in Amsterdam and ended in Kathmandu. He did find some of the biblical style magic but of course his ultimate lesson was that the opportunities to become awake and aware are present wherever he happen to be and within whatever it is he is doing.

In Goa India in 1970, inspired by the profoundly peaceful and beautiful setting, he began practicing yoga and meditation. He explored Bhakti Yoga (path of the heart) as a devotee of Neem Karoli Baba. He also studied a pinnacle path of Tibetan Buddhism known as Dzogchen (Great Perfection) with Namkhai Norbu. Finally, he taught Mindfulness in NYC for 14 years at NY Insight.

Part 1, Calligraphy

Part 2, Personal Journey

T. Kenjitsu Nakagaki Teaches the Practice of Calligraphy

Rev. Dr. T. Kenjitsu Nakagaki, D. Min. is a Buddhist priest, ordained in the 750-year-old Jodoshinshu tradition of Japanese Buddhism. He is President of the Buddhist Council of New York, a Vice President of The Interfaith Center of New York, Clergy-on-Call for Columbia University, Community Clergy Liaison for the NYC Police Dept., and Religious Advisor to the Japanese-American Lions Club. Since 1994, Rev. Nakagaki has organized an Interfaith Peace event to commemorate the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings. He organized the annual 9-11 WTC Memorial Floating Lanterns Ceremony from 2002-2011.

Rev. Nakagaki was ordained in 1980 at the Nishi Honganji Temple in Kyoto, Japan. In 1985, he was sent to the US as an overseas minister, serving first with at the Seattle Buddhist Church, (1985-1989), the Parlier Buddhist Church (1989-1994), and the New York Buddhist Church (1994-2010).

He is the author of two books in Japanese: “No Worry, No Hurry, Eat Curry: New York Bozu Indo o Aruku” (A Buddhist Monk Walks in India, published by Gendai Shokan, 2003), “Manhattan Bozu Tsurezure Nikki” (Diary of Manhattan Monk, published by Gendai Shokan, June 2010), and "Manji to Hakenkreuz" (Svastika and Hook-Cross, published by Gendai Shokan, June 2013).

Part 1, Shift into Freedom through Panoramic Awareness

Part 2, Personal Journey

Loch Kelly shares Shift into Freedom through Panoramic Awareness

Loch Kelly, M.Div., LCSW is the author of Shift into Freedom: The Science and Practice of Open-Hearted Awareness, which was named a Top 10 Book of the Year by Spirituality & Health Magazine. He is an educator, psychotherapist and recognized leader in the field of meditation who was asked to teach by Mingyur Rinpoche and Adyashanti. Loch has counseled family members of 9/11, and is the founder of the non-profit Open-Hearted Awareness Institute. Loch collaborates with neuroscientists at Yale, UPenn and NYU to study how awareness training can enhance compassion and wellbeing.

Part 1, Shamatha Breath Meditation

Lodro Rinzler shares Shamatha Breath Meditation from the Shambhala tradition

Lodro is a practitioner and teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist lineage. He began meditating as a child and sat retreats as a teenager, even going as far as attending a silent month-long retreat during which he shaved his head and took monastic robes and vows.

When he left for college he received two heirlooms from his parents. From his father, a mala which he had used to recite mantras. From his mother, her father’s flask. He utilized both greatly in the four years ahead. During that time Lodro became a Vajrayana student of Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. He also established Buddhist House, an eighteen person dorm at Wesleyan University which hosts a large meditation room. He began teaching meditation at that time.

After leaving college he was recruited to the position of the Executive Director of the Boston Shambhala Center. He began leading numerous workshops at meditation centers and college campuses throughout the United States. Lodro served as the Head of Development for Shambhala internationally before founding the Institute for Compassionate Leadership, The Daily Dharma Gathering, and MNDFL.

Part 1, Tea Meditation

Part 2, Dharma Drum

Venerables Chang Hu and Chang Xiang talk about tea meditation and the Chan Buddhist Tradition

Chang-Hu Fashi and Chang Xiang Fashi both bring a wealth of experience to their current positions as Resident Teachers at the Dharma Drum Retreat Center.

Chang-Hu Fashi first took the Three Refugees in 1988. In the years since, his Buddhist studies have focused on the Chinese Chan and he has become very experienced in the various introductory methods within the Dharma Drum Lineage of Chinese Chan. His commitment to spreading Chan has taken Chang Hu Fashi all over the globe from Europe to Southeast Asia, where he has been both student and teacher in over 160 meditation experiences. Chang Hu Fashi has a deep interest in a multitude of subjects, including incense-meditation, tea-meditation, Buddhist arts, photography, botany, and the contemplation of artistic renditions based on Buddhist scriptures. His current responsibilities at DDRC are information organization/distribution and maintenance of equipment.

Chang Xiang Fashi entered the Dharma Drum Mountain Sangha University in 2004 and received his full ordination in 2006. He is fluent in Mandarin, Taiwanese, and speaks English. He joined the DDRC community in 2011 and has over four years of experience leading meditation activities. Chang Xiang Fashi also served as the Sangha University Student Services Health Services Manager, Planning Department Leader, as well as student counselor. His time as cook for the retreats has resulted in his current position as Kitchen Supervisor and Director at DDRC.

Part 1, Her Personal Journey

Part 2, Connecting with Your Spirit Guides

Part 3, Connecting with Your Psychic Abilities

Calise Simone with Connecting with Your Spirit Guides and Psychic Abilities

Born and raised in Australia, Calise is a New York based Psychic Medium, a Certified Spiritual Advisor with the Lisa Williams International School of Spiritual Development and a Certified Intuitive Consultant with the Holistic Studies Institute of New York. Calise comes from a lineage of Mediums and Intuitives dating back many generations.

Calise has been featured on FUSE TV and Calling Out Radio for her psychic work and described by celebrity Clairvoyant Medium Lisa Williams as "A very gifted medium".

Calise takes a patient, tailored and compassionate approach towards her clients. During a reading, Calise communicates information directly from spirit and interprets impressions she receives on topics including love, relationships, family, career, life path and self-fulfillment.

Calise reads for clients all over the world including Australia, New Zealand, England, Switzerland, Virgin Islands, Japan, South Africa, Ireland, United States and Peru.

Part 1, Body Scan Meditation

Part 2, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction

Paulette Graf on the Body Scan Meditation and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction

Paulette Graf trained in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction at the Center for Mindfulness founded by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, as well as his professional training at Omega Institute.

With a BA in Psychology and a background in fine arts, she has pursued the field of meditation for more than 30 years. She studied contemplative curriculum at Naropa University; practiced Zen, Vipassyana, and Shambhala Buddhist traditions, and is a Shambhala meditation instructor.

In New York she has taught at numerous organizations and institutions including Barnard College, the Salvation Army, the Shambhala Meditation Center, Kings County Hospital, the META Center, and East West Yoga.

Part 1, Deep Listening

Part 2, Her Life

Pauline Oliveros on Deep Listening and Her Life

Pauline Oliveros is a senior figure in contemporary American music. Her career spans fifty years of boundary dissolving music making. In the '50s she was part of a circle of iconoclastic composers, artists, poets gathered together in San Francisco. Recently awarded the John Cage award for 2012 from the Foundation of Contemporary Arts, Oliveros is Distinguished Research Professor of Music at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, and Darius Milhaud Artist-in-Residence at Mills College.

Pauline Oliveros is the founder of "Deep Listening," which comes from her childhood fascination with sounds and from her works in concert music with composition, improvisation and electro-acoustics. Pauline Oliveros describes Deep Listening as a way of listening in every possible way to everything possible to hear no matter what you are doing. Such intense listening includes the sounds of daily life, of nature, of one's own thoughts as well as musical sounds. Deep Listening is my life practice," she explains, simply. Oliveros is founder of Deep Listening Institute, formerly Pauline Oliveros Foundation, now the Center For Deep Listening at Rensselaer.

Part 1, Olivia Olkowski, Candle Healing Technique

Part 2, Her Journey

Olivia Olkowski on the Candle Healing Practice and Her Journey

Olivia Olkowski is trained in many indigenous healing modalities and is a Peruvian Pachakuti Mesa holder (Shaman), and is a lineage holder of many Mayan teachings (Curandra).

Her compassion enables her to aide clients in their journey to self-healing and realization. Many clients have healed from their ailments, emotional and physical traumas, and have found peace during their transition to their higher vibrational state.

Her training as a certified Master in BTB Feng Shui opened up her world to shamanic traditions, aided in her development of psychic sensitivity to the earth’s energies and the energies of the unseen worlds of dimensions, that impact our daily lives.

Olivia is certified in powerful ancient Mayan healing techniques that can restore your body’s electromagnetic field, DNA, repair protective energy fields, and remove dense entities. She is also certified as a Divine Intervention and Light Language Practitioner.

Olivia is a Japanese Onnetsuki Practitioner, a Shinkiko Energy Healer and trained in Japanese Traditional Acupuncture. She is authorized to do hands-on-healing as a Minister of the Sacred Flame of Light.

She has studied intensively with many master healers and teachers— Barry Gordon, Steven Post, Edgar Sung, HH Thomas Lin Yun, Alex Stark, Starr Fuentes, Jodi Serota, Dr. Kazuko Hilliyer Tatsumura, Dr. Cohoi Kurahara and Don Bernaditio of Peru, to name a few.

Part 1, Jonathan Bradley on Diamond Way Buddhism

Part 2, Buddha Meditation

Jonathan Bradley on Diamond Way Buddhism and Meditation on the Buddha

Jonathan Bradley has been a student of Lama Ole Nydahl since 1997. He is the Co-executive Editor of Buddhism Today Magazine and the President of the New York Diamond Way Buddhist Center. Asked to teach by Lama Ole, Jonathan travels within the network of over 600 Diamond Way Buddhist Centers worldwide. Jonathan has participated in numerous group and solitary meditation retreats and received many teachings and empowerments from significant lamas in the Karma Kagyu lineage, including HH the 17th Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje and Kunzing Shamar Rinpoche. Jonatahan has been invited to speak about Buddhism at NYU and Columbia University, has authored several articles about Buddhism, and is sometimes quoted in the press. Originally from Vermont, Jonathan came to NYC in 1992 to study theater at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts from which he holds a BFA in theater. He lives with his wife Liz in Queens and works for a major arts organization in NYC and is currently finishing an MBA degree.

Part 1, Amma Thanasanti's Personal Path

Part 2, Insight Meditation

Part 3, Meditation Toolbox

Amma Thanasanti Bhikkhuni on the Buddhist Meditation Practice of Insight

Amma Thanasanti Bhikkhuni has been meditating for over 30 years and a Buddhist nun for over 20 years. She has been teaching internationally for over 15 years and is a guest in the Insight Dialogue teachers training. Her work spans rigorous understanding of Buddhist teachings, non-dual meditation, depth psychology, subtle body energies, and the Divine Feminine. She teaches meditation as an art and skill, integrating body, heart and mind with finesse and compassion. She founded Awakening Truth whose mission is to create a Bhikkhuni training monastery and ways monastics and lay practitioners can work together to support whole life practice. Currently she is based at the Shakti Vihara hermitage in Colorado Springs.


http://www.awakeningtruth.org

Part 1, Transmission Meditation

Part 2, Ageless Wisdom

Vanessa Francis and Judy Kretmar on Transmission Meditation and The Ageless Wisdom

Transmission Meditation is a potent group service activity that "steps down" the great spiritual energies streaming into our planet. In doing so the transforming energy is made accessible to humanity.

Simple to perform with no special expertise needed, Transmission Meditation is a safe, scientific, non-denominational way to to serve humanity. At the same time it provides a "hot house' for personal spiritual growth. Transmission Meditation does not interfere with any other spiritual practices and can in fact enhance them.

Judy Kretmar is a long time student of the Ageless Wisdom teachings and a correspondent for Share International Magazine. She has been practicing Transmission Meditation for over 25 years and hosts a Transmission Meditation group in Brooklyn, New York.

Vanessa Francis was introduced to Transmission Meditation in London in 1997. It has been her primary meditation practice ever since. Vanessa moved to Philadelphia in 2000 to study singing and happily joined a Transmission Meditation group there. In 2003 she moved to New York City, became a yoga teacher and currently hosts one of the many Transmission Meditation groups in and around the city.

http://www.transmissionmeditation.org
http://www.share-international.org

Part 1, His Personal Story

Part 2, Guided Journey

Part 3, Unguided Journey

Itzhak Beery on Shamanic Practice

Itzhak Beery bridges the many sacred indigenous traditions elders entrusted in him with a relevant and essential present-day shamanic approach to living in our digital age. He empowers people around the world to reconnect to their innate shamanic gifts. He shares the conviction that we are all shamans and are able to interact and learn from the unseen and seen worlds, in order to live in balance with our communities, nature and ourselves. Itzhak was initiated into the Circle of 24 Yachaks by his Quechua teacher in the High Andes of Ecuador and in Brazil by Amazonian Kanamari Pagè. Itzhak Beery is the author of The Gift of Shamanism, Visionary Power, Ayahuasca Dreams, and Journeys to Other Realms. His work has been featured in a variety of worldwide publications including the NY Times, radio, TV and films. He is also the founder of www.ShamanPortal.org, co-founder of the New York Shamanic Circle, and is on the faculty of New York Open Center. His forthcoming book, Shamanic Transformations, featuring stories by leading contemporary shamans, will be released in September 2015.

www.itzhakbeery.com

Part 1, Kirtan, Hindu Chanting

Part 2, His Personal Journey

Devadas on the Practice of Kirtan / Hindu Chanting

Devadas is a kirtaniya, composer and songwriter hailing from Brooklyn, New York who began singing as a teenager, performing on street corners in his hometown of Portland , Maine . After moving to New York City, he had the good fortune to meet his Guru, Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (Amma), and under Her inspiration has been leading kirtans at satsangs, yoga studios, meditation centers and temples all over New York , the U.S. and India. In 2013, Devadas made his Mantralogy debut with Brooklyn Mellows, an homage to the late great kirtaniya Aindra Das, which features a collection of musicians and singers from the vibrant New York City kirtan scene and beyond, including Anjula Saraswati Prasad, Terrence Pompey, Nina Rao, Mark Gorman, Genevieve Walker and others. He’s also released “Bhajans”, an album of traditional chants as well as three albums of original devotional compositions, “Ocean – Songs for Amma”, “Shine Shine On” and “Milton’s Glen,” working with luminaries such as Krishna Das and Wah along the way. As a composer, he’s collaborated with indie rocker J Mascis to score the soundtrack to the feature documentary One Track Heart / The Story of Krishna Das and as a producer, worked with Nina Rao on her 2013 release Antarayaami – Knower of All Hearts. He’s also regularly produced sacred music events to benefit his Guru’s Embracing the World humanitarian charities, and along with fellow chant artists Gaura Vani, Jahnavi Harrison and Dave Stringer, is working with the Call and Response Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing kirtan and sacred music to under-served groups of people.
http://www.devadasmusic.com

Part 1, Open Awareness Practice

Part 2, Her Personal Journey

Myoshin Kelley on the Buddhist Meditation of Open Awareness

Myoshin Kelley attended her first meditation retreat in 1975 at the age of 20. Through the ensuing years she has received dharma instructions from several renowned Buddhist meditation masters in the Theravada, Zen, and Vajrayana traditions. She has practiced extensively with the Burmese meditation masters Chanmyay Sayadaw, Sayadaw U Pandita, and Sayadaw U Tejaniya. In the early 1990s Myoshin received meditation instruction from the Soto Zen master Hogen Yamahata. Her desire for long-term meditation practice has taken her to Burma on several occasions. In 1994 she accompanied her husband, Edwin, to the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in Barre, MA, where she was trained as a meditation instructor by Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzburg. Since then she has been teaching meditation in a number of places throughout North America. In 2003, she was appointed the teacher in residence at the Forest Refuge, the long-term practice center at IMS. Myoshin was introduced to Vajrayana teachings in 1993 and met Mingyur Rinpoche in 1998 when he first visited the US with his brother, Tsoknyi Rinpoche. Since then she has practiced with Mingyur Rinpoche in North America and Asia benefiting from his skillful, lucid instructions on the profound teachings of Mahamudra. She moved to Minneapolis in 2010 to help support Mingyur Rinpoche in his worldwide vision and leads programs internationally and locally. www.tergar.org

Part 1, Metta/LovingKindness Practice

Part 2, Her Personal Journey

Sharon Salzberg on the Buddhist Meditation of Metta / Lovingkindness

Sharon Salzberg has been meditating in the Buddhist tradition for over 40 years. She is the author of many books on meditation and is the co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society. www.sharonsalzberg.com

Part 1, Mindfulness in Everyday Life

Part 2, His Personal Journey

Donald Fleck on Mindfulness in Everyday Life

Donald Fleck is a licensed psychotherapist and is trained in the use of mindfulness in psychotherapy. His main mindfulness teacher is Thich Nhat Hanh, and he is active in a sangha following those teachings. He also has studied the work of leading Buddhist psychologists: Tara Brach, Jack Kornfield, Ron Siegel and Mark Epstein, and the work of psychologists who brought these teachings into the medical world: Jon Kabat-Zinn, Zindel Segal, Mark Williams, and John Teasdale. As a 70-year old he likes the phrase, "Younger next year," and has bought a book by that title.

www.learnmindfulnessnyc.com

Part 1, Centering Prayer

Part 2, Meditation on Scripture,Lectio Divina

Part 3, His Personal Journey

Father Michael Holleran on the Christian Meditation Practice of Centering Prayer and Lectio Divina

Fr. Michael is a priest of the Archdiocese of NY, and spent 22 years as a contemplative Carthusian monk, in France, England and the US. He is also a Sensei in the White Plum Asanga of the Zen tradition.

www.michaelkholleran.org

Part 1, Meditation from the Yoga Tradition

Part 2, His Personal Journey

Rudra Shwatz on Meditation Practices at Integral Yoga

Reverend Sam Rudra Swartz is an ordained interfaith minister and certified in Integral Yoga as a Hatha Yoga, Meditation, and Raja Yoga Teacher. He received his Bachelor of Music in Brass Performance, Tuba Concentration from Boston University’s College of Fine Arts Music School in 1996. In 2004, Rabbi Joseph Gelberman from the All-Faiths Seminary in New York City ordained him as an interfaith minister. He received certifications in Hatha Yoga in 2011, having participated in Integral Yoga Institute of San Francisco’s program called Accessible-Yoga Teacher Training, Meditation Teacher Training from Satchidananda Ashram Yogaville Virginia, and Raja Yoga Teacher Training from Integral Yoga of San Francisco in 2012. He is an active teacher at the Integral Yoga Institute in New York teaching Hatha Yoga Level I, Gentle (Adaptive) Yoga, Meditation, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Interfaith Scripture Studies, and serves as the Ashram Manager performing a variety of administrative tasks.

www.iyiny.org

Part 1, Introduction to Meditation

Part 2, Her Personal Journey

Mary Myers on an Introduction to Meditation

Mary Myers has been a peace activist since 1995, working with Marianne Williamson and many others to create a cabinet-level U.S. Department of Peace. Since 2001, she has been practicing with the Community of Mindfulness founded by Thich Nhat Hahn, and teaching mindfulness. Her primary interest is in developing ways that people can use mindfulness as a foundation for creating first Peace in Themselves, and then Peace in the World. Recognizing that personal healing is an essential foundation for the ability to create interpersonal peace, she became a therapist in 2007 and specializes in the ways neurobiology has helped us understand the healing process. A large part of her work these days includes individual counseling and offering Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy courses, designed to teach people how to avoid depression relapse and train their minds in the direction of well being.

www.MindfulnessForHealing.comiyiny.org