We begin 2019 with a series on foundational practices: what the Buddha often taught as the beginning of a series of "progressive instructions." This is a style of teaching that …
Welcome, and blessings on your path.
This site contains resources for Buddhist practice, trauma healing, and social action, as well as Dr. Oakes’ teaching schedule. If you benefit from the material collected here, you can support us by donating through Patreon.
Sean Feit Oakes, PhD
This month at Satsang (Jan 2018)
New Time: Tuesdays 7-8:30pm
starting Jan 8
Hi friends,
As the Christian New Year turns, we start with an earlier and shorter time for the Tuesday meditation group. We’ll also move from the room we’ve been in to the little Heart Room, which is being remodeled and getting a sweet altar and refresh. Moving to the new room allows us to start at 7, which we’re hoping will make the group easier for folks to fit in.
Topics in the wings for 2019 include:
- samādhi – working with anxiety & distraction
- anattā – Buddhist approaches to identity & culture
- sīla – social action as contemplative discipline
As always, talks and practices weave together personal, relational, and systemic inquiry, exploring the inseparability of individual and collective liberation.
Insight Meditation Satsang
Tuesdays, 7-8:30pm
Namaste Yoga + Wellness
2820 7th st, Berkeley
Most Recent Talks
Liberation and Finality: Does this Path have an end?
A series of talks on the difficult descriptions of liberation in the Theravāda system: the Four Paths and Fruits. We talked mostly about Stream-entry, emphasizing some of the most mysterious …
Thanksgiving, Gratitude, and Converting (or not) Your Parents
On TG week, a talk about gratitude, focusing on the very traditional practice of being grateful for our parents (no matter how they voted), and how it's impossible to repay …
Wildfires, Unrighteous Rulers
The worst fire ever in California history in terms of death toll (the "Camp Fire") just burned down the entire town of Paradise, outside of Chico. And the president, as …
Dive into the ocean of ideas, practices, and culture that evolved into modern yoga. Designed for serious students of yoga and meditation, this is a university-level introduction to Yoga history from an engaging scholar-practitioner.
An exploration of one of the most gorgeous and enigmatic Mahāyāna Buddhist texts, The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom, or “Heart Sūtra.” The course, hosted by our friends at The Sutra Project, combines a new practitioner-oriented translation by Dr. Oakes and Dr. Christopher Wallis
Teaching Schedule
Ongoing
Meditation & teachings on individual & systemic liberation
*New Time!* Tuesdays 7-8:30pm, ongoing (Namaste Yoga+Wellness, Berkeley)
A beautiful 6-month 200-hour yoga training integrating Buddhist meditation and mindfulness-based yoga āsana taught by Djuna Mascall, with me, Leslie Booker, Tias Little, Anne Cushman, and Mark Coleman as supporting teachers.
January-June, 2019 (Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Woodacre)
Embodied Awakening: Trauma, Healing, and Collective Liberation
Weekend intensive
Embodiment as the heart of practice weaves together the healing of individual and collective traumas. In this study and practice weekend, we will explore nervous system physiology, individual practice and collective action, and connection to suffering and its alleviation as an integral expression of the Buddhist path.
March 9 – 10, 2019 (Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Woodacre)
(co-teaching with the fabulous Leslie Booker)
Buddhism and Yoga, two of the diverse lineages of South Asian spiritual practice, are much more related than commonly thought. New historical evidence reveals a deeply interwoven relationship between these ancient siblings, and we will explore this history through learning practices shared by both.
April 27, 2019 (Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Woodacre)
Moving into Meditation:
Mindful Yoga & Embodied Dharma
6-day retreat (reg opens 5/29/19)
I’m delighted to be joining my colleagues Anne Cushman, Leslie Booker, and Dawn Mauricio for a 6-day retreat integrating mindfulness-oriented Yoga āsana with Insight Meditation (vipassanā).
Sep 30 – Oct 6, 2019 (Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Woodacre)