With Fred Eppsteiner and Angie Parrish

Date: September 6

Registration Deadline: September 4
Suitability
Anyone wishing to develop more meaningful and fulfilling relationships that also support our spiritual and emotional growth. 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, emotionally stable, and loving relationships seems to be consistently a challenge for many. Whether these relationships are of the intimate, familial or societal, establishing rewarding and meaningful relationships seems to be an endeavor that for many demands never ending ‘work’. Sometimes persons following a spiritual path believe that their relationships with family members, co-workers, and others are an obstacle or diversion from the personal “transformative 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 effective path for developing all the wholesome emotional and mental states that spiritual and meditative practice promise. Relationships are perhaps the most direct and experiential means for 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 practices, 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 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.

Angie Parrish has been a student of Buddhism and mindfulness for over 25 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 Instructor with FCM, having been given permission by FCM’s teacher Fred 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 class and retreat leader at FCM.

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.

With Fred Eppsteiner

Dates: Wednesday Evenings, October 15, 22, 29 & November 5

Registration Deadline: October 12
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

Stress and anxiety are seen by many as a "given" in today's world, but in fact they are neither normal nor healthy. Actually, stress and anxiety compound difficulties in our lives, creating greater challenges for our mental and physical wellbeing, relationships, work fulfillment, and more.

Many people who come to our community or our classes/workshops are often plagued by low to high levels of stress, worry/anxiety, depression, and/or a feeling that their life is out of control. Within the matrix of our current environment wherein social, environmental and political crisis are becoming the norm, these challenges are only intensified.

Transforming Stress and Anxiety is a four-week program that will provide participants with practical and effective mindfulness practices to help reduce their stress and mental confusion, and support greater emotional health and personal well-being. The weekly meetings will help participants integrate these practices into daily life. Led by FCM's founding teacher Fred Eppsteiner, the focus of the program will be:

1. Transforming our view of the world, people and ourselves so we can live fully based in reality without either being overwhelmed and stressed by life nor endlessly needing escapist diversions
2. Learning specific mental skills and competencies to support one's ability to live with greater clarity, intelligence and ease in daily life
3. Learning how to identify and support our individual path of self-development.

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 $100. A reduced rate of $50 is available for individuals needing financial support.

Cancellation Policy: Full refund prior to Class 1. No refunds after Class 1.

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.