Sounds True Presents: Good Medicine
What you'll learn
- Practice Tonglen and mindfulness meditation so they can move through difficult experiences, expand their level of compassion for the self and others, and begin to accept and transform pain.
Requirements
- All you need to take this course is an open mind and an open heart, as well as a computer or mobile device with an Internet connection.
Description
This course is taught by Pema Chödrön, a renowned Tibetan Buddhist nun, teacher, and author who's been able to inspire millions of people who seek peace during trying times.
You'll gain access to a valuable meditation practice called Tonglen, which can be used to transform any kind of negativity.
This elegant yet simple Buddhist remedy for suffering has been used for 1,000 years, and you’ll learn how to apply it to your daily life so you can shift from pain to compassion.
Learn how to start using the difficulties you face in life as a means to befriend yourself, accept the past, and widen your compassion to awaken your heart.
Use Tonglen Practice to Transform Suffering and Pain into Compassion and Joy
- Understand the Four Stages of Tonglen and How to Apply it to Your Life Immediately
- Dive into the Ancient Teachings of the Buddha, Atisha, and Geshe Chekawa
- Practice Mindfulness and Expand Your Compassion While Transforming Pain
Become More Accepting of Yourself and Your Challenges
Throughout this course, you'll be given valuable insights into how you can use Tonglen to not only recognize, but also accept, the obstacles you face.
This practice was taught by the Buddha, and it can be used to heal pain and suffering. By understanding Tonglen, you'll be able to transform the poisons in your life into medicine that you can use to enhance your life.
Most importantly, you'll learn how to use mindfulness meditation and Tonglen as a means to develop a foundation for compassion for yourself and others.
You'll practice Tonglen's four states, which include the personal, relational, and universal, so you can integrate this practice into your everyday life and expand your compassion outwardly to the whole universe.
Contents and Overview
This course begins with an introduction to compassion and what it really means, before diving into Tonglen, a breathing meditation dating back to the 11th century.
You can't feel compassion towards others until you accept yourself, so you'll also learn about Maitri, which translates to "unconditional friendship with oneself."
To see yourself clearly, you need to practice mindfulness meditation, so you'll discover how to meditate while recognizing your connection with others.
In order to experience what it's like to practice mindfulness awareness, you'll move through a guided meditation with Pema.
As you advance through the course, you'll dive deeper into Tonglen by learning about other ancient teachers, like Atisha and Geshe Chekawa. You'll know Tonglen's history so you can effectively apply it during difficult times.
The Lojong Teachings are also touched upon so you can truly train the mind to move through your suffering and use it as an opportunity to open your heart.
Before you know it, you'll be ready to learn the more complex stages of Tonglen according to Trungpa Rinpoche, including how to visualize the breath and how to practice for yourself and others.
You'll then move through a guided meditation for a family member.
Finally, you'll tackle the many techniques for applying Tonglen to your everyday life, and you'll experience a guided meditation for someone or something you love.
By the conclusion of this course, you'll have a thorough understanding of Tonglen and how to actually apply this ancient teaching to modern day life.
You'll be able to accept yourself and your human experience without clinging to your ego so you can open your heart, accept pain, and change the way you relate to others.
Who this course is for:
- Anyone who wishes to learn how to accept or learn about their suffering and use it as a medicine to feel more compassion, empathy, and joy.
Course content
- Preview04:10
- 17:31Maitri: The Basis of Compassion
- Preview10:03
- 09:27Practice Tonglen
- 10:00Guided Mindfulness Awareness Meditation
Instructors
![Pema Chödrön](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 64 64"%3E%3C/svg%3E){kind=avatar}
- 4.7 Instructor Rating
- 8,918 Reviews
- 61,567 Students
- 3 Courses
Ani Pema Chödrön was born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown in 1936, in New York City. She attended Miss Porter's School in Connecticut and graduated from the University of California at Berkeley. She taught as an elementary school teacher for many years in both New Mexico and California. Pema has two children and three grandchildren.
While in her mid-thirties, Ani Pema traveled to the French Alps and encountered Lama Chime Rinpoche, with whom she studied for several years. She became a novice nun in 1974 while studying with Lama Chime in London. His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa came to Scotland at that time, and Ani Pema received her ordination from him.
Pema first met her root guru, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, in 1972. Lama Chime encouraged her to work with Rinpoche, and it was with him that she ultimately made her most profound connection, studying with him from 1974 until his death in 1987. At the request of the Sixteenth Karmapa, she received the full bikshuni ordination in the Chinese lineage of Buddhism in 1981 in Hong Kong.
Ani Pema served as the director of Karma Dzong in Boulder, Colorado until moving in 1984 to rural Cape Breton, Nova Scotia to be the director of Gampo Abbey. Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche gave her explicit instructions on establishing this monastery for western monks and nuns.
Ani Pema currently teaches in the United States and Canada and plans for an increased amount of time in solitary retreat under the guidance of Venerable Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. She is also a student of Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, the oldest son and lineage holder of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche.
Ani Pema is interested in helping establish Tibetan Buddhist monasticism in the West, as well as continuing her work with western Buddhists of all traditions, sharing ideas and teachings. Her non-profit, The Pema Chödrön Foundation, was set up to assist in this purpose.
She has written several books: The Wisdom of No Escape, Start Where You Are, When Things Fall Apart, The Places that Scare You, No Time To Lose,Practicing Peace in Times of War, How to Meditate, and Living Beautifully. All are available from Shambhala Publications and Sounds True.
- 4.6 Instructor Rating
- 16,655 Reviews
- 122,917 Students
- 19 Courses
Sounds True was founded in 1985 by Tami Simon with a clear mission: to disseminate spiritual wisdom. Since starting out as a project with one woman and her tape recorder, we have grown into a multimedia publishing company with more than 80 employees, a library of more than 600 titles featuring some of the leading teachers and visionaries of our time, and an ever-expanding family of customers from across the world. In more than two decades of growth, change, and evolution, Sounds True has maintained its focus on its overriding purpose, as summed up in our Vision Statement:
Sounds True exists to inspire, support, and serve personal transformation and spiritual awakening.
Sounds True is an independent multimedia publishing company that embraces the world's major spiritual traditions, as well as the arts and humanities, embodied by the leading authors, teachers, and visionary artists of our time. Our approach to publishing is not dependent on a single format or technology—rather, we strive with every title to preserve the essential "living wisdom" of the author, artist, or spiritual teacher. It is our goal to create products that not only provide information to a reader or listener, but that also embody the essential quality of a wisdom transmission between a teacher and a student.
Throughout the years, Sounds True has developed a guiding philosophy that we call "multiple bottom lines." Our dedication to this principle is embodied in our Mission Statement:
The mission of Sounds True is to find teachers and artists who serve as a gateway to spiritual awakening and to produce, publish, and distribute their work with beauty, intelligence, and integrity. We treat our authors, vendors, and partners in the same way we would want to be treated. We work flexibly and efficiently together to create a cooperative, loving environment that honors respectful authenticity and individual growth. We maintain a healthy level of profitability so that we are an independent and sustainable employee-owned organization.
The three essential bottom lines for Sounds True are the integrity of our purpose, the well-being of our people, and the maintaining of healthy profits. All three of these priorities are important in the decisions we make as a company. It is our conviction that each of these bottom lines must be healthy for the company to prosper as a whole.
In our history as a publisher, Sounds True has produced a wide variety of formats in order to fulfill our goal of disseminating spiritual wisdom.