Awaken in Toronto

Instructor: Lama Linda
Dates: September 16, 23, 30, October 7
New Link to Zoom:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87469872916?pwd=dW45sm68Mj6aOeNWT2TYvJk32Wo4OX.1
Meeting ID: 874 6987 2916 Password: 108108

In Body, Speech, and Mind, Namgyal Rinpoche presents a practical and profound approach to spiritual development. Rather than viewing awakening as something separate from everyday life, he invites us to work directly with the body, speech, and mind as gateways to liberation. Every experience becomes part of the path. Every action, word, and thought becomes an opportunity to awaken.
This series explores how body, speech, and mind shape our experience of reality and how conscious work with each dimension can transform suffering into wisdom, confusion into clarity, and ordinary life into spiritual practice. Meditation sessions will be examples drawn from this classic book.

Insert link to slides

Classes are offered on the ancient basis of Dana, also known as "give from the heart" or "pay what you choose." This allows you to pay according to your heart, and to what you value. Dana can be sent by e-transfer to dana@awakenintoronto.org or by PayPal to https://paypal.me/awakeningintoronto

Teacher Bio: Lama Linda (Linda Hochstetler) has studied both mindfulness meditation and Vajrayana Buddhism for more than a quarter century. She trained in mindfulness meditation with Jon Kabat-Zinn in the 90s and studied under Namgyal Rinpoche (the first Canadian-born Rinpoche) from 1995 until his death in 2003. She has received permission to teach in the Namgyal lineage and studied Vajrayana Buddhism with Qapel (Doug Duncan) who resided at Clear Sky Meditation and Retreat Centre in Cranbrook, BC, before his death in 2024. Lama Linda is a registered social worker with a specialty in illness, dying and death. Along with a thriving private practice she has written and been interviewed on the subject of dying and death. In 2021 she authored her first book - 21 Days to Die: The Canadian Guide to End of Life. She is a mother, wife, and friend to many, and encourages students to use their relationships to love deeply and explore dharma fully. She enjoys weaving together her Buddhist practices with Western psychotherapeutic practices to help students make transformative changes in their lives. www.lindahochstetler.com.

Instructor: Lama Linda
Dates: October 14, 21, 28, November 4
New Link to Zoom:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87469872916?pwd=dW45sm68Mj6aOeNWT2TYvJk32Wo4OX.1
Meeting ID: 874 6987 2916 Password: 108108

Giving and Receiving explores the Buddhist practice of generosity as both an everyday way of living and a profound path of awakening. Across four classes, we will investigate dāna—the practice of giving freely—and Tonglen, the Vajrayana practice of giving and receiving. Tonglen invites us to breathe in suffering, difficulty, fear, and pain, and breathe out relief, compassion, spaciousness, and freedom. Rather than turning away from suffering or trying to protect ourselves from it, we learn to meet it with an open heart. Dāna extends this practice into our lives: What are we willing to give? What do we receive? What happens when giving is no longer based on getting something in return?
At the heart of the series is the simultaneous cultivation of compassion and emptiness. Through Tonglen, we discover that suffering is not something solid or separate that we must carry or fix; giver, receiver, suffering, and relief are all less fixed than they appear. We breathe in without grasping and breathe out without holding on. In this spaciousness, compassion becomes less about being a rescuer and more about participating in the natural flow of care. Each class will include teaching, guided meditation, and practical exploration, moving from generosity toward ourselves, to giving and receiving with others, to opening compassion to difficult people and situations, and finally toward a practice of boundless giving and receiving without a fixed sense of self.

Insert Link to slides

Classes are offered on the ancient basis of Dāna, also known as "give from the heart" or "pay what you choose." This allows you to pay according to your heart, and to what you value. Dāna can be sent by e-transfer to dana@awakenintoronto.org or by PayPal to https://paypal.me/awakeningintoronto

Teacher Bio: Lama Linda (Linda Hochstetler) has studied both mindfulness meditation and Vajrayana Buddhism for more than a quarter century. She trained in mindfulness meditation with Jon Kabat-Zinn in the 90s and studied under Namgyal Rinpoche (the first Canadian-born Rinpoche) from 1995 until his death in 2003. She has received permission to teach in the Namgyal lineage and studied Vajrayana Buddhism with Qapel (Doug Duncan) who resided at Clear Sky Meditation and Retreat Centre in Cranbrook, BC, before his death in 2024. Lama Linda is a registered social worker with a specialty in illness, dying and death. Along with a thriving private practice she has written and been interviewed on the subject of dying and death. In 2021 she authored her first book - 21 Days to Die: The Canadian Guide to End of Life. She is a mother, wife, and friend to many, and encourages students to use their relationships to love deeply and explore dharma fully. She enjoys weaving together her Buddhist practices with Western psychotherapeutic practices to help students make transformative changes in their lives. www.lindahochstetler.com.

Instructor: Lama Linda
Dates: October 14, 21, 28, November 4
New Link to Zoom:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87469872916?pwd=dW45sm68Mj6aOeNWT2TYvJk32Wo4OX.1
Meeting ID: 874 6987 2916 Password: 108108

Giving and Receiving explores the Buddhist practice of generosity as both an everyday way of living and a profound path of awakening. Across four classes, we will investigate dāna—the practice of giving freely—and Tonglen, the Vajrayana practice of giving and receiving. Tonglen invites us to breathe in suffering, difficulty, fear, and pain, and breathe out relief, compassion, spaciousness, and freedom. Rather than turning away from suffering or trying to protect ourselves from it, we learn to meet it with an open heart. Dāna extends this practice into our lives: What are we willing to give? What do we receive? What happens when giving is no longer based on getting something in return?
At the heart of the series is the simultaneous cultivation of compassion and emptiness. Through Tonglen, we discover that suffering is not something solid or separate that we must carry or fix; giver, receiver, suffering, and relief are all less fixed than they appear. We breathe in without grasping and breathe out without holding on. In this spaciousness, compassion becomes less about being a rescuer and more about participating in the natural flow of care. Each class will include teaching, guided meditation, and practical exploration, moving from generosity toward ourselves, to giving and receiving with others, to opening compassion to difficult people and situations, and finally toward a practice of boundless giving and receiving without a fixed sense of self.

Insert Link to slides

Classes are offered on the ancient basis of Dāna, also known as "give from the heart" or "pay what you choose." This allows you to pay according to your heart, and to what you value. Dāna can be sent by e-transfer to dana@awakenintoronto.org or by PayPal to https://paypal.me/awakeningintoronto

Teacher Bio: Lama Linda (Linda Hochstetler) has studied both mindfulness meditation and Vajrayana Buddhism for more than a quarter century. She trained in mindfulness meditation with Jon Kabat-Zinn in the 90s and studied under Namgyal Rinpoche (the first Canadian-born Rinpoche) from 1995 until his death in 2003. She has received permission to teach in the Namgyal lineage and studied Vajrayana Buddhism with Qapel (Doug Duncan) who resided at Clear Sky Meditation and Retreat Centre in Cranbrook, BC, before his death in 2024. Lama Linda is a registered social worker with a specialty in illness, dying and death. Along with a thriving private practice she has written and been interviewed on the subject of dying and death. In 2021 she authored her first book - 21 Days to Die: The Canadian Guide to End of Life. She is a mother, wife, and friend to many, and encourages students to use their relationships to love deeply and explore dharma fully. She enjoys weaving together her Buddhist practices with Western psychotherapeutic practices to help students make transformative changes in their lives. www.lindahochstetler.com.

Instructor: Lama Linda
Dates: October 14, 21, 28, November 4
New Link to Zoom:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87469872916?pwd=dW45sm68Mj6aOeNWT2TYvJk32Wo4OX.1
Meeting ID: 874 6987 2916 Password: 108108

Giving and Receiving explores the Buddhist practice of generosity as both an everyday way of living and a profound path of awakening. Across four classes, we will investigate dāna—the practice of giving freely—and Tonglen, the Vajrayana practice of giving and receiving. Tonglen invites us to breathe in suffering, difficulty, fear, and pain, and breathe out relief, compassion, spaciousness, and freedom. Rather than turning away from suffering or trying to protect ourselves from it, we learn to meet it with an open heart. Dāna extends this practice into our lives: What are we willing to give? What do we receive? What happens when giving is no longer based on getting something in return?
At the heart of the series is the simultaneous cultivation of compassion and emptiness. Through Tonglen, we discover that suffering is not something solid or separate that we must carry or fix; giver, receiver, suffering, and relief are all less fixed than they appear. We breathe in without grasping and breathe out without holding on. In this spaciousness, compassion becomes less about being a rescuer and more about participating in the natural flow of care. Each class will include teaching, guided meditation, and practical exploration, moving from generosity toward ourselves, to giving and receiving with others, to opening compassion to difficult people and situations, and finally toward a practice of boundless giving and receiving without a fixed sense of self.

Insert Link to slides

Classes are offered on the ancient basis of Dāna, also known as "give from the heart" or "pay what you choose." This allows you to pay according to your heart, and to what you value. Dāna can be sent by e-transfer to dana@awakenintoronto.org or by PayPal to https://paypal.me/awakeningintoronto

Teacher Bio: Lama Linda (Linda Hochstetler) has studied both mindfulness meditation and Vajrayana Buddhism for more than a quarter century. She trained in mindfulness meditation with Jon Kabat-Zinn in the 90s and studied under Namgyal Rinpoche (the first Canadian-born Rinpoche) from 1995 until his death in 2003. She has received permission to teach in the Namgyal lineage and studied Vajrayana Buddhism with Qapel (Doug Duncan) who resided at Clear Sky Meditation and Retreat Centre in Cranbrook, BC, before his death in 2024. Lama Linda is a registered social worker with a specialty in illness, dying and death. Along with a thriving private practice she has written and been interviewed on the subject of dying and death. In 2021 she authored her first book - 21 Days to Die: The Canadian Guide to End of Life. She is a mother, wife, and friend to many, and encourages students to use their relationships to love deeply and explore dharma fully. She enjoys weaving together her Buddhist practices with Western psychotherapeutic practices to help students make transformative changes in their lives. www.lindahochstetler.com.