With Fred Eppsteiner

Dates: Friday, November 14, 7:00-9:00 pm & Saturday, November 15, 8:30 am - 5:30 pm

Registration Deadline: November 7 for in-person, November 12 for online.
Suitability
Anyone wishing to become more aware of and be free of the stories that unnecessarily bind them and cause them suffering. This workshop is open to both members and non-members and is offered in person and online.

Description

No matter how we may appear to others outwardly, often our internal world is an endless jumble of narratives and stories. Stories about ourself and others. Stories about our supposed past and imagined future. Stories about the world. Good stories and bad stories. Uplifting stories and depressing stories. On and on and on. Lost in these stories about ourselves and life (ruminating/obsessing), we are unconsciously conditioning our mind states and emotional states, and effecting our relationship with ourself and others. What to do?

In this workshop, Fred will help participants clearly identify the stories that consume and bind their inner life and present them with an alternative way of being that allows greater freedom, openness, and satisfaction. Based on Buddhist psychology and mindfulness and meditative techniques, Fred will offer participants a clear and practical path to begin living in real life. Without the distracting inner voice of the story-making self constantly narrating our life, emotional stability and inner peace becomes more readily available to us.

Course Instructor

Our Teacher Fred Eppsteiner will be using his training as a family therapist, plus his experience as a meditation and Dharma teacher, to create a challenging and opening environment for workshop participants to learn practical and easily applicable means to facilitate the workshop’s goals. Theoretical and psychological presentations, mindfulness practice, and guided experiential meditations will all be utilized during the workshop.

Fred has been a student of the psychology of Buddhist meditation for over 50 years, and was a psychotherapist for more than 30 years. He has trained extensively in the Buddhist meditative traditions the U.S. and Asia. He received permission to teach from Thich Nhat Hanh in 1994 and is the editor of two books: The Path of Compassion and Interbeing.

Fees

This workshop is presented by the Florida Community of Mindfulness at our Practice Center, 6501 N. Nebraska Ave in Tampa. The fee for this workshop is $115 In-person and $100 Online. Reduced rates are available for individuals needing financial support.

Cancellation Policy:  An administrative fee of $20 will be charged for in-person registrations cancelled after November 8.

Contacts for More Information
If you have any questions about this class, please e-mail us at info@floridamindfulness.org or call 813-237-0746.

With Marilyn Warlick, Diana Fish and Alex Lerner

Date: November 22

Registration Deadline: November 20
Suitability
This workshop is open to both members and non-members and is offered in person and online, no Buddhist experience needed. It’s especially meaningful if you wish to support a loved one who is aging, ill, or simply want to prepare together for life’s most certain transition. .

Description

Is there someone close to you, a parent, partner, or dear friend, whose eventual death you quietly worry about? Or perhaps you sense it’s time to prepare together, to talk more openly about what matters most when death comes.

Embracing the Great Transition is a daylong workshop offering space to explore how preparing for death can become one of the greatest gifts we give ourselves and those we love, the gift of presence, peace, and mutual understanding.

Throughout the day, Alex, Diana, and Marilyn will guide reflections, mindfulness practices, and conversations to help us open to impermanence, approach difficult topics with compassion, and begin creating written guidance for ourselves and our loved ones. These practical and heartfelt tools can ease fear and confusion when the time of dying comes.

We’re also grateful that our teacher Fred Eppsteiner will join us to offer a special teaching on Buddhist wisdom about death and dying, wisdom that helps us meet loss not with fear, but with awareness and love.

Come spend a day in reflection and connection, discovering how embracing death with honesty and love can help us live, and relate, with deeper peace, clarity, and compassion.

Course Instructors

Marilyn Warlick is a retired LCSW having  worked  in various areas of service within the VA Health Care System; Homelessness, Substance Abuse, and Clinical Coordinator for Programs for Returning Veterans from their combat tours of duty, also End of Life Care. Her involvement with Florida Community of Mindfulness (FCM) began in 2000, in 2009, she completed a pilgrimage with her FCM teacher and  members to India.  In 2010 she received ordination in the Order of Interbeing. She had been a mentor and a facilitator for Death  Cafes and assists in various FCM Programs including Buddhist Wisdom for Death and Dying. 

Reverend Diana Fish, BCC, is an interfaith palliative care chaplain at BayCare’s Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater, FL. Diana joined FCM upon moving to Florida and was ordained into the Order of Interbeing in 2019. In 2018 she was ordained as a Buddhist Chaplain by Roshi Joan Halifax, Abbott of Upaya Zen Center and author of Being with Dying. After completing Clinical Pastoral Education at Tampa General Hospital in 2019 she was hired as a Staff Chaplain. She received board certification by the Association of Professional Chaplains in 2021.

Alex Lerner  has been practicing with Florida Community of Mindfulness since 2005 and became OI ordained in 2015. He is a mentor for other practitioners at FCM and is frequently holding workshops with a special interest in Neuroscience and the Dharma. He teaches meditation and mindfulness in the FCM Prison Dharma Program. For his career in clinical medicine, he was focused on healing the body. After his retirement from medicine, he developed an interest in understanding the mind.

Fees

This workshop is presented by the Florida Community of Mindfulness at our Practice Center, 6501 N. Nebraska Ave in Tampa. The fee for this workshop is $75. A reduced rate of $40 is available for individuals needing financial support.

Please bring your own vegetarian lunch. Water and tea will be provided.

Contacts for More Information
If you have any questions about this class, please e-mail us at info@floridamindfulness.org or call 813-237-0746.

Dates
This is a Self-Paced Course for FCM Members - Enroll Anytime and Complete on Your Schedule
Suitability
Individuals at any stage of practice, from beginner to more experienced, who wish to establish a strong foundation of "Right View"  for practicing on the Buddhist path 

Description

The Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind Toward Dharma - Precious Human Life, Impermanence, Defects of Samsara, and Cause and Effect - are an essential foundational teaching in Buddhist practice. Without a deep understanding and integration of these teachings, we will not build the strong foundation needed to support our continued development on the spiritual path.

In this five-module course, our study and contemplation of the Four Thoughts will guide us in turning away from the distractions of samsara—the endless cycle of suffering—and toward the path of genuine liberation. When understood deeply and practiced sincerely, these reflections have the power to illuminate the mind with wisdom, dissolving the delusions and misunderstandings that give rise to suffering.

This 5-part, self-guided, pre-recorded audio course will help you to::

• Gain both an intellectual understanding of the Four Thoughts and a heartfelt recognition of the nature of existence.
• Learn how to reflect on these contemplations and bring them into our life experiences.
• Awaken a sense of clarity and urgency about why we practice the Dharma.
• Be inspired to turn our minds toward the Dharma so that we can focus on what truly matters and begin to align our lives with wisdom and compassion.

The course includes recorded talks by Fred, readings, guided meditations, reflection questions, and suggested practice opportunities. A participant Discussion Forum is also provided for sharing insights with the course mentors and other participants in the course.

This course is open to members of the Florida Community of Mindfulness. It is a Self-Paced course, conducted entirely online, with access to a Course Mentor. Total expected time to complete the course is estimated at 10-15 hours, but participants complete the course on their own schedule.
Course Instructors
Fred Eppsteiner has been a student of the psychology of Buddhist meditation for over 50 years and was a psychotherapist for more than 30 years. He has trained extensively in the Buddhist meditative traditions the U.S. and Asia. He received permission to teach from Thich Nhat Hanh in 1994 and is the editor of two books: The Path of Compassion and Interbeing. He is the founding teacher of the Florida Community of Mindfulness.
Fees

This course if offered on a donation-basis. Participants select an amount, if any, that they would like to offer to support future programs at FCM.

Contacts for More Information
If you have any questions about this course or whether it is appropriate for you, please e-mail us at info@floridamindfulness.org or call 813-237-0746.