Lodro Rinzler coming to town—asks what kind of person we’d like to be when we grow up?

Lodro Rinzler’s first book, The Buddha Walks into a Bar . . . (published a couple years ago and written while Rinzler was in his twenties), has sold over 40,000 copies and continues to sell several hundred copies a week. Much of the book’s success is due to Rinzler’s frank and popular advice column that appears in the Huffington Post, and it’s this column that was the basis for his next book. Watch the trailer for The Buddha Walks into the Office. Rinzler hopes that his books and the frank experiences they share will play a part in developing this new “kindness” generation, where spirituality thrives on a personal level, where our conscience and values are heightened and enlightened without the necessity of any religious affiliation at all. As he hints at in this book, he has no expectations other than, for those readers who can relate, that they can be assured they’re not alone in finding spirituality without religion.

Rinzler will be in Toronto the first weekend of May at the Shambhala Meditation Centre.

• Determining Who You Want to Be at Work. 1 May, 7–9 pm. A discussion of Buddhism, his new book The Buddha Walks into the Office, and how meditation practice can directly affect our work life. Rinzler will talk about the idea of right livelihood and how we can become who we want to be, as opposed to what we want to do when we grow up.
• The Buddha Walks into a Bar: A Guide to Life for a New Generation Saturday 2 May, 10 am–5 pm. (The Friday night talk is included in the price of this day-long program). Would you describe yourself as spiritual but not religious? Disillusioned by the state of the world? Are you sick of your job (and just started last Tuesday)? Do you like drinking beer and going on dates and hate being preached at? Join 32-year-old Shambhala Buddhist practitioner Lodro Rinzler for a full day of meditation and teachings. This meditation retreat offers traditional Buddhist practices in a contemporary context, teaching you how to face a chaotic world with an open heart.
• The Art of Being Human. Special program for youth aged 13–18. Saturday 2 May, 7–9 pm and Sunday 3 May. Mindfulness for teens meets a great need to find physical and mental calm in these demanding times. Like adults, kids are too busy—they are tired and they juggle a dozen balls at once, socially and emotionally at home and in school. Research shows that through mindfulness kids become kinder to themselves and others, more confident, and less judgmental. By practising mindfulness, teens can learn to pause for a moment, to catch their breath and get a sense of what they need. They develop space to grow and be themselves.

A columnist for the Huffington Post and Marie Claire, Lodro Rinzler has been featured in numerous publications, including Bloomberg Businessweek, Real Simple, Tricycle, and the Shambhala Sun. He is the founder of the Institute for Compassionate Leadership, and was also a member of Barack Obama’s senatorial and presidential campaign team. The former executive director of the Boston Shambhala Center, Rinzler currently teaches at the New York Shambhala Meditation Center and lectures throughout North America. He is the author of the bestselling book, The Buddha Walks into a Bar . . . . He lives in Brooklyn.

Find out more about Lodro Rinzler at his website. Or listen to an interview with Lodro Rinzler on CBC’s Tapestry. And sign up for one of these sessions!