An Eight-Week Mindful Living Path Intensive
July 5 – August 30, 2021

The Buddha’s teachings on the Four Nutriments provide a template for living a life of intention by bringing mindfulness to our patterns of consumption to cultivate goodness and wellbeing in our lives.

In a spiritual path we are seeking to live a life of meaning, value, and purpose. The Buddha taught that the foundation for living such a life is our actions of body, speech and mind. The most important change we can make to support our journey of transformation is to cease acting in ways that create harm for ourselves and others and to begin creating new causes and conditions for actions that produce happiness and peace in our minds and bodies.

The Discourse on the Four Kinds of Nutriments describes how the habit energies we have developed around edible food, sensory stimuli (including all the ways we absorb information through conversations, reading, use of electronics etc.), volition (the energy that motivates our daily actions), and consciousness (the wholesome or unwholesome seeds that we cultivate and nurture in our mind’s consciousness) are responsible for our physical and mental wellbeing. The Buddha points out the simple truth that consuming things that are wholesome and nutritious leads to happiness and contentment while consuming things that are unwholesome often leads to dissatisfaction and disharmony in our body and mind.

In this Intensive, we will study, reflect on, and practice the Buddha’s teaching on the Four Nutriments and learn to bring intention to the daily myriad choices we make on how and what we consume. We do this to move ourselves in a direction that is congruent with our deepest values and aspirations, so we can truly be of benefit to ourselves and others.

Participants will be provided with a path of practice that will include readings, weekly meditations and daily life practices. Bi-weekly group mentoring video-conference calls on Zoom will provide individual guidance and support. Dharma talks will be offered via Zoom. A Forum in which Fred will answer questions and interact with participants will also take place via Zoom.

This Intensive will be particularly helpful for newer practitioners, but more experienced practitioners will derive significant benefit as well. 

Diane Powell will lead this intensive with support from Robbie Tisch. 

The commitments for this Intensive are listed below. Before registering for the Intensive please read the commitments and reflect carefully on whether you will be able to keep them.

Study & Practice:

• Spend a minimum of 30 minutes daily in formal meditative practice, study, and/or other practices related to this intensive
• Read Dharma texts assigned for the intensive
• Be present for the Dharma talks via Zoom
• Participate in your assigned bi-weekly mentoring group via Zoom
• Participate in a Forum with Fred via Zoom
• Participate in other practice opportunities with your Sangha during the Intensive, as possible.

Mentoring Groups:

When you register, please have your calendar with you so you can select preferences that best fit your schedule. For each group, please identify 1^st Choice; 2^nd Choice; Can do but not preferred; Cannot do. If there is more than one group that will work well for you, please mark all these as “1st Choice.” This will provide us with added flexibility in making group assignments.

• Group 1: Monday evenings, 6:00-7:00 pm             
  July 12, 26; August 9, 23
• Group 2: Tuesday mornings, 7:30-8:30 am                    
  July 13, 27; August 10, 24
• Group 3 Tuesday afternoons, 3:30-4:30 pm                  
  July 13, 27; August 10, 24
• Group 4: Tuesday evenings, 6:00-7:00 pm                    
  July 13, 27; August 10, 24
• Group 5: Wednesday evenings, 6:00-7:00 pm  
  July 14, 28; August 11, 25                                     
• Group 6: Thursday mornings, 7:30-8:30 am                  
  July 15, 29: August 12, 26

Fee:
The fee for this Intensive is $50. This is a suggested amount and participants are free to offer more or less depending on their individual financial situation. You may pay on-line or send your check made out to the Florida Community of Mindfulness (FCM) to Florida Community of Mindfulness, 6501 N. Nebraska Ave., Tampa, FL 33604.

Please note that participation in this Intensive is only open to members of FCM. For information on membership on our website please click here. 

If you have any questions about this Intensive or whether it is appropriate for you, please contact Diane Powell (Diane.powell2010@gmail.com).

Registration will be open June 7 – June 22.