Renowned meditation teacher and writer Sharon Salzberg will teach a half-day retreat this Saturday, Oct. 8, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Crossroads Elementary School in Santa Monica as part of InsightLA’s 2011 Speaker Series.
The Santa Monica-based meditation and teaching center recently received a “Best of LA” award from LA Magazine for its Mindfulness Basics course.
A pioneer teacher of insight and loving-kindness meditation in the United States, Salzberg discovered meditation in India as a teen-ager after a childhood filled with loss and turmoil.
Since 1974, she has led meditation retreats worldwide and is part of the most elevated discussions on meditation, science and religion, featured on panels with the Dalai Lama, other Nobel Laureates and the world’s top neuroscientists.
“Compassion and Forgiveness: A Day of Reflection” will focus on how people can lead wiser, more balanced and kinder lives through self-compassion and forgiveness, and explore ways to step out of our ordinary dynamics of separation and self-judgment.
Salzberg is co-founder and a guiding teacher of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Mass., one of the Western world’s most respected centers for learning and deepening meditation practice.
She also co-founded the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies and The Forest Refuge for self-directed long-term retreats.
Salzberg is author of eight books, including the best-selling “Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness” and “Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience.”
Her latest book, “Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation,” maps out a 28-day program to
deepen concentration, mindfulness, compassion, creativity, resilience and balance.
InsightLA is a non-profit organization founded by psychologist and meditation teacher Dr. Trudy Goodman and dedicated to mindfulness training.
InsightLA offers many classes including Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), an eight-week program developed by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn who is known for proving scientifically the efficacy of meditation.
InsightLA has hosted events featuring spiritual teachers including Thich Nhat Hanh, Robert Thurman, Jack Kornfield and Joseph Goldstein. In November, the Speaker Series will feature Stephen and Martine Batchelor.
For more information, and to register, visit www.insightla.org.
Ticket prices for the Sharon Salzberg event are available on a sliding scale from $35 to $75. Crossroads Elementary is located at 1715 Olympic Blvd., Santa Monica.
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