Awaken in Toronto

Instructor: Lama Linda
Dates: January 7,14, 21, 28
New Link to Zoom:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87469872916?pwd=dW45sm68Mj6aOeNWT2TYvJk32Wo4OX.1
Meeting ID: 874 6987 2916 Password: 108108

This series of classes will proceed through the following topics:
January 7 - Grounding the Practice: Intention and Opening Prayers
We learn how to begin meditation with clear intention, refuge, and lineage connection. Opening prayers are introduced as a way to create a stable, sacred container for practice.

January 14 - Bodhicitta: The Heart of Vajrayana
We explore bodhicitta as motivation and method, learning simple ways to cultivate compassion and the aspiration to awaken. Students practice weaving bodhicitta into the beginning and end of every session.

January 21 - Choosing a Meditation Method
We review key Vajrayana meditation options—such as mindfulness, deity practice, mantra, and compassion—and learn how to choose a method suited to one’s temperament, needs, and developmental stage.

January 28 - Creating a Complete Personal Practice Session
All elements are brought together: opening prayers, intention setting, bodhicitta, chosen meditation method, and dedication. Students learn to design a balanced, adaptable daily practice they can sustain on their own.

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 explored consciousness and awakening for more than 30 years. She trained with Namgyal Rinpoche—the first Canadian-born Rinpoche—from 1995 until his passing in 2003, grounding herself in Theravada and Vajrayana Buddhist practices. She later continued her studies with Qapel (Doug Duncan), a successor in the Namgyal lineage, and received permission to teach under his guidance. She is the co-founder and leader of the Awaken in Toronto Sangha, where she teaches weekly online classes on consciousness and awakening principles, and leads retreats 4 times a year.
A registered social worker specializing in illness, dying, and death, Lama Linda also maintains a thriving private psychotherapy practice, has presented widely at conferences, and has been interviewed extensively on end-of-life topics. In 2021 she published her first book, 21 Days to Die: The Canadian Guide to End of Life. A mother, wife, and friend to many, she encourages her students to use their relationships as gateways to love more deeply and explore dharma more fully. She is devoted to weaving Buddhist teachings with Western psychotherapeutic approaches to support transformative change. www.lindahochstetler.com

Instructor: Lama Linda
Dates: January 7,14, 21, 28
New Link to Zoom:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87469872916?pwd=dW45sm68Mj6aOeNWT2TYvJk32Wo4OX.1
Meeting ID: 874 6987 2916 Password: 108108

This series of classes will proceed through the following topics:
January 7 - Grounding the Practice: Intention and Opening Prayers
We learn how to begin meditation with clear intention, refuge, and lineage connection. Opening prayers are introduced as a way to create a stable, sacred container for practice.

January 14 - Bodhicitta: The Heart of Vajrayana
We explore bodhicitta as motivation and method, learning simple ways to cultivate compassion and the aspiration to awaken. Students practice weaving bodhicitta into the beginning and end of every session.

January 21 - Choosing a Meditation Method
We review key Vajrayana meditation options—such as mindfulness, deity practice, mantra, and compassion—and learn how to choose a method suited to one’s temperament, needs, and developmental stage.

January 28 - Creating a Complete Personal Practice Session
All elements are brought together: opening prayers, intention setting, bodhicitta, chosen meditation method, and dedication. Students learn to design a balanced, adaptable daily practice they can sustain on their own.

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 explored consciousness and awakening for more than 30 years. She trained with Namgyal Rinpoche—the first Canadian-born Rinpoche—from 1995 until his passing in 2003, grounding herself in Theravada and Vajrayana Buddhist practices. She later continued her studies with Qapel (Doug Duncan), a successor in the Namgyal lineage, and received permission to teach under his guidance. She is the co-founder and leader of the Awaken in Toronto Sangha, where she teaches weekly online classes on consciousness and awakening principles, and leads retreats 4 times a year.
A registered social worker specializing in illness, dying, and death, Lama Linda also maintains a thriving private psychotherapy practice, has presented widely at conferences, and has been interviewed extensively on end-of-life topics. In 2021 she published her first book, 21 Days to Die: The Canadian Guide to End of Life. A mother, wife, and friend to many, she encourages her students to use their relationships as gateways to love more deeply and explore dharma more fully. She is devoted to weaving Buddhist teachings with Western psychotherapeutic approaches to support transformative change. www.lindahochstetler.com

Instructor: Lama Linda
Dates: January 7,14, 21, 28
New Link to Zoom:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87469872916?pwd=dW45sm68Mj6aOeNWT2TYvJk32Wo4OX.1
Meeting ID: 874 6987 2916 Password: 108108

This series of classes will proceed through the following topics:
January 7 - Grounding the Practice: Intention and Opening Prayers
We learn how to begin meditation with clear intention, refuge, and lineage connection. Opening prayers are introduced as a way to create a stable, sacred container for practice.

January 14 - Bodhicitta: The Heart of Vajrayana
We explore bodhicitta as motivation and method, learning simple ways to cultivate compassion and the aspiration to awaken. Students practice weaving bodhicitta into the beginning and end of every session.

January 21 - Choosing a Meditation Method
We review key Vajrayana meditation options—such as mindfulness, deity practice, mantra, and compassion—and learn how to choose a method suited to one’s temperament, needs, and developmental stage.

January 28 - Creating a Complete Personal Practice Session
All elements are brought together: opening prayers, intention setting, bodhicitta, chosen meditation method, and dedication. Students learn to design a balanced, adaptable daily practice they can sustain on their own.

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 explored consciousness and awakening for more than 30 years. She trained with Namgyal Rinpoche—the first Canadian-born Rinpoche—from 1995 until his passing in 2003, grounding herself in Theravada and Vajrayana Buddhist practices. She later continued her studies with Qapel (Doug Duncan), a successor in the Namgyal lineage, and received permission to teach under his guidance. She is the co-founder and leader of the Awaken in Toronto Sangha, where she teaches weekly online classes on consciousness and awakening principles, and leads retreats 4 times a year.
A registered social worker specializing in illness, dying, and death, Lama Linda also maintains a thriving private psychotherapy practice, has presented widely at conferences, and has been interviewed extensively on end-of-life topics. In 2021 she published her first book, 21 Days to Die: The Canadian Guide to End of Life. A mother, wife, and friend to many, she encourages her students to use their relationships as gateways to love more deeply and explore dharma more fully. She is devoted to weaving Buddhist teachings with Western psychotherapeutic approaches to support transformative change. www.lindahochstetler.com

Instructor: Lama Linda
Location & Dates: Sian Ka’an Biosphere, Tulum, Mexico, January 31-February 7, 2026

What if your sense of self wasn’t something solitary or separate—but a living, breathing part of the whole? This weeklong meditation retreat invites you to discover the profound freedom and joy that comes from Interbeing: the awareness that we are not isolated individuals, but intimately connected to all life.
Drawing from the wisdom of Thich Nhat Hanh, who coined the term Interbeing, we will explore the deep teachings of presence, non-self, and compassion. Joanna Macy’s Work That Reconnects will help us face our grief for the world, honor our longing for change, and step into our sacred role as participants in the healing of the Earth. Vajrayana Buddhist teachings bring in a spacious and luminous perspective—encouraging us to see the self as an evolving matrix of patterns, not a fixed identity, and to meet this realization with joy, creativity, and community.

This retreat takes place at the Xo Ko'in Retreat Centre in the Sian Ka’an Biosphere near Tulum, Mexico. See their website for more information about the Retreat Centre and registration and to book your stay: Interbeing Retreat Information

The teachings are offered on the ancient basis of Dana, also known as "give from the heart" or "pay what you choose." The teacher does not receive payment from the retreat centre. This allows you to pay according to your heart, and to pay what you value. Dana for Lama Linda can be sent by e-transfer to dana@awakenintoronto.org or by PayPal to https://paypal.me/awakeningintoronto

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 currently studies Vajrayana Buddhism with Qapel (Doug Duncan) who resides at Clear Sky Meditation and Retreat Centre in Cranbrook, BC. 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 loves to weave together her Buddhist practices with Western psychotherapeutic practices to help students make transformative changes in their lives. www.lindahochstetler.com.