Meditation Instructors: Do you have one?

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche describes how important it is to receive personal instruction from teachers. Like many Buddhist teachers, he uses the analogy of learning how to bake bread to describe meditation instruction. As he says in the film  An Uncommon King, you might have your grandmother’s recipe for bread but you’ll never make bread as good as hers unless she shows you herself. You can read a lot of books about meditation and there are wonderful online sources too, but meditation instruction is a live event. There’s something that happens in a human-to-human, face-to-face exchange that connects us with a lineage of teachers and students.  An instructor can help find the best way for you to make the practice your own, the best way for you to make bread.

Leanne Lang and Chris Luginbuhl take their oaths as MIs, December 2015

Leanne Lang and Chris Luginbuhl take their oaths as MIs, December 2015

Whether you’re new to meditation or have been practising for awhile, meeting one-to-one with a meditation instructor (MI) can be so helpful in supporting your practice. Shambhala meditation instructors are senior Shambhala Buddhist practitioners specially trained and authorized to help people deepen, expand, and stabilize their understanding and experience of meditation. This relationship is based on friendship, mentoring, and confidentiality. Arrangements are entirely individualized; they can range from a meeting or two to clarify points of practice to an ongoing relationship involving more regular meetings. If you’d like to connect with an instructor, enquire to [email protected]. The Toronto centre now has two brand new authorized meditation instructors: Chris Luginbuhl and Leanne Lang. Ask them a question!