Sean Feit Oakes, PhD

Welcome, and blessings on your path

Sean Feit Oakes, PhD, teaches Buddhism and Yoga focusing on the integration of meditation, trauma resolution, and social justice. He received teaching authorization from Jack Kornfield, and wrote his dissertation on extraordinary meditative states. His current research explores identity, ancestry, and rebirth, and working with the body in contemplative inquiry.

Read more about Dr. Oakes (“me”), here.

If you benefit from the material collected here, you can support us with a gift of any amount. Thank you for your generosity.

Stay connected! All practice offerings online.

Insight Meditation Satsang Tuesdays 7:30-9:30pm (Pacific)

Uposatha Days New, Full & Quarter moons 7:30-9am (Pacific)

This month at Satsang (Sept 2020)

This month we’ll begin by focusing on Mindfulness of the Body: The 4 Cardinal Elements/Qualities. Building on the initial foundations of mindfulness of the body, the specific mindfulness instructions given by the Buddha unfold as an experiential inquiry into the nature of our organism and its relationship to the ecosystem and other beings. The inquiry is deconstructive: stripping away the stories and judgments we carry about bodies, and seeing them as natural, impersonal processes.

The practice of perceiving the body in relation to the elements cultivates the important insight that our bodies are not fundamentally different from the bodies of other beings, particularly other animals, and that our ability to think and feel can distract us from this basic biological truth. All of this is building toward the insights into impermanence, dissatisfactoriness, and selflessness, known as the 3 characteristics/marks.

Satsang is now online for the immediate future, on the Zoom platform. All are welcome to join, in the spirit and practice of Gift Economy, supporting us to make the resources of the Buddhist tradition available as freely and widely as possible.

Most Recent Talks

“Strive on!” (skillfully). Learning the Dance of Right Effort

“Even two mountains of gold are not enough…”: Livelihood, scarcity, & the dukkha of individualism

“Do not ignore the effect of Right Action”: Ethics, kamma, and the Eightfold Path

Speech like flowers, speech like honey: The discipline & art of Right Speech

Intro to the History of Yoga: Philosophy, Practice, Transformation

for Yoga teacher training programs

Intro to the History of Yoga is a 20-hour online course, approved by Yoga Alliance, to fulfill the foundational yoga history and philosophy curriculum in yoga teacher training programs. This curriculum provides a deep dive into the ocean of ideas, practices, and culture that evolved into modern Yoga and equips graduates with a deep understanding and reverence for the culture and traditions from which these transformative practices arose.

5 Recollections for Daily Practice

I am of the nature to age, I have not gone beyond aging.
I am of the nature to sicken, I have not gone beyond sickness.
I am of the nature to die, I have not gone beyond dying.
All that is mine, beloved and pleasing, will become otherwise, will be separated from me.
I am the owner of my actions, heir to my actions, born of my actions, related to my actions, abide supported by my actions.
Whatever action I do, for good or for ill, of that I will be the heir.

(AN 5.57, tr. Forest Saṅgha)