What we’re about
Mindfulness Meditation Los Angeles offers Online and I’m Person Classes and Retreats. MMC is dedicated to providing crystal-clear teaching on mindfulness and insight meditation practice that is practical, approachable and livable. As the Buddha said: "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense."
With this in mind, this meetup offers non-mystical, non-institutional and ritual-free teaching on the philosophy practice and benefits of mindfulness meditation - a very practical approach to mindfulness. We may spend time caring for our bodies: time in gyms, on jogging trails or in yoga classes. All with the intention to be more physically healthy and happy. The mind can be developed in the same way - towards happiness and health. With mindfulness meditation, we seek to train our minds towards a lasting happiness not dependent on external circumstances.
Every meditation session begins with development of shamata - the practice of calm abiding. The second part of the meditation session uses the calm mind as a base for vipassana or insight and the development of wisdom. People may enter the classes at any time, with any level of experience, or from any meditation background as the teachings are non-sectarian - all are welcome. All courses and classes are offered by personal generosity only.
The principal meditation focus is mindfulness of breathing, of feeling tones and of mind. These are in concert with loving kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity practices. The instructors accomplished Western practitioners with substantial experience in deep meditation retreat. They approach meditation training from the perspective of one engaged in modern daily life, earning a living, facing everyday challenges and "walking the walk" with a daily practice of their own. We also offer monthly weekend retreats and longer-length retreats each year. The focus of all of these is a deeper engagement with the core practices of Buddhism: mindfulness, awakening and methods leading directly to realization.
Our intention is to share authentic mindfulness teaching in a manner that is both joyful and applicable to your life. Please feel free to contact us with questions or simply drop in for an evening to get a firsthand experience, drop-ins and beginners are always welcome - and may you be happy!
Michael Gregory has been the Director of Mindfulness Meditation Centers since its inception in 2000 as well as the Executive Director of the Beyond-Therapy. He has been actively practicing meditation for more than twenty five years, completed many years of both solitary and group retreats, and led large retreats for more than a decade. Michael has been actively counseling individually as well as lecturing to packed halls full of educated and experienced professionals, and is a well known and highly regarded lecturer, and former Buddhist monk. Michael has an outstanding ability to communicate deep, sophisticated knowledge of the mind and it's processes with ease, directness, and humor. Over the past few years Michael has expanded his lectures to include major university talks in both psychology and religious studies departments as well as in corporate executive, leadership, mediation, and wellness programs.
Michael has joyfully instructed a continuous stream of educated and experienced practitioners of all levels and backgrounds in Thailand, India, Hong Kong, Europe and the United States. He has led hundreds of meditation retreats on almost every subject matter related to mindfulness, in addition to leading meditative journeys throughout Thailand, Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, and India - further connecting students and friends with their studies and practice. Michael currently directs the practicing and teaching schedule at Mindfulness Meditation Centers, Colorado and Florida centers, as well as on-line meditation classes at www.mindfulnessmeditationcenters.com
Formerly, Michael served as the business manager of a Colorado hospice and also as a the Coordinator for the Boulder Homeless Shelter food voucher program, and MMC's prison outreach program in several rural counties of Colorado.
Michael was ordained as a Buddhist monk in the Thai forest tradition, the Burmese Mahasi tradition, and then was ordained in the Tibetan tradition by H.E. Gylatsab Rinpoche at Rumtek monastery in Sikkim. He has completed many years of meditation retreat in the Thai forest tradition of Ajahn Chah, the Anapanasati tradition of Buddhadassa Bhikku, and the jhana traditions of Mahasi Sayadaw and Pa Auk, as well as extensive experience in the Tibetan traditions. Michael has been privileged to receive from the lineage holders the major empowerment cycles in both the Mahamudra and Dzogchen traditions.
Visit www.mindfulnessmeditationcenters.com for more information or visit Michael Gregory's personal blog on mindfulness at www.mindfulnesssbeyondtherapy.com
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You can watch some of our teachings on https://vimeo.com/mindfulcommunity
