With Bill Mac Millen and Denise "DiDi" Dorsey

Date: August 23
Registration Deadline: August 21
Suitability
Anyone wishing to better understand and more skillfully work with anger. This workshop is open to both members and non-members and is offered in person and online.

Description

Today, perhaps more than ever, our minds may often dwell with dissatisfaction and even anger over the state of the world. We may even feel justified with these feelings. However, the afflictive emotion of anger – including the range of emotions from low level irritation, frustration, resentment and jealousy to full blown rage – is one of the most destructive forces we face as human beings. This is true of anger experienced in our personal lives as well as societal anger that wreaks so much havoc upon people everywhere.

We have each acquired our own personal anger patterns due to our conditioning in life; we certainly don’t consciously choose to be irritable, resentful or angry. Thus, we can be gentle and understanding of ourselves as we are today, while at the same time knowing that with mindfulness we can create new conditions that will help to uproot anger and bring more joy into our lives.

Buddhist psychology offers much wisdom for working skillfully to transform anger through the practices of mindfulness and the cultivation of understanding and patience. The workshop will include instruction, reflections and practice opportunities through interactive exercises.

Mind Your Anger Class Objectives

Course Instructors

Bill Mac Millen has been a practitioner with the Florida Community of Mindfulness and a student of FCM's teacher Fred Eppsteiner since 2013. Aspiring to be of service to the community, he is on the Leadership Council overseeing the area of Center Care, a member of Thich Nhat Hahn's Order of Interbeing (OI), and assists in leading a number of FCM offerings to both members and guests.

Denise "DiDi" Dorsey has been a member of the Florida Community of Mindfulness (FCM) since 2020. Her impetus to join was to become part of a community that meditated together and followed a path of loving kindness and service. DiDi's community work includes being part of the Flower Team, the Kitchen Team, and the AV Team. 
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.

With Fred Eppsteiner and Angie Parrish

Date: September 6

Registration Deadline: September 4
Suitability
Anyone wishing to better understand and more skillfully work with anger. This workshop is open to both members and non-members and is offered in person and online.

Description

In our modern age, creating and maintaining harmonious, caring, emotionally mature, and loving relationships seems to be a chronic challenge for many. Whether these relationships are of the intimate variety or familial or societal, establishing rewarding and meaningful relationships seems to be a challenge that demands never ending ‘work’. For many persons following a spiritual path, their relationships with family members, co-workers, and others are often viewed as an obstacle or diversion from the "real spiritual work” they are undertaking.

This four hour workshop will present an opposing view. Rather than an obstacle to spiritual growth, relationships will be shown to be a remarkably relevant path to developing all the positive emotions and mind states that spiritual and meditative practice promise. Actually, relationships are perhaps one of the most direct and experiential means to developing a truly wholesome and selfless life.

The objectives for this workshop are for participants to have the opportunity to:

The workshop leaders will use their training in Buddhism, mindfulness, meditation, counseling, plus their own personal journeys with relationships to create an environment for workshop participants to learn practical and easily applicable means to facilitate the workshop’s goals. Presentations, mindfulness practice, and guided experiential meditations will all be utilized during the workshop.

Course Instructors

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 40 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.

Angie Parrish has been a student of Buddhism and mindfulness for over 20 years. After a 1999 retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh, she became a student of Fred Eppsteiner's and a member of the Florida Community of Mindfulness. Angie brought the fruits of her experience in mindfulness and meditation into her professional career as an employee benefits consultant for a wide variety of organizations, including many employee training programs.

Angie is a Dharma Leader with FCM, having been given permission by FCM’s teacher Fred Eppsteiner to share the Buddha’s teachings with the sangha. She is also a Qualified Teacher of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and is a frequent teacher of mindful living classes. 

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 $40. A reduced rate of $20 is available for individuals needing financial support.

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.

Save the date

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.