Skip to content

Details

Instructor: Lama Linda
Dates: February 18, 25, March 4, 11
New Link to Zoom:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87469872916?pwd=dW45sm68Mj6aOeNWT2TYvJk32Wo4OX.1
Meeting ID: 874 6987 2916 Password: 108108

This four-part series introduces Holistic Clearing Meditation, a method taught by Namgyal Rinpoche for recognizing and releasing the patterned ways the mind organizes experience. By exploring strengths, negatives, lacks, and the balancing of all three, we learn to free the energy tied up in habitual reactions and open into clearer, more spacious awareness.

### February 18 — Clearing Strengths

We begin by examining our strengths—the qualities we identify with, cling to, or use to reinforce a sense of self. Students learn to appreciate these capacities without grasping, allowing strengths to become flexible, joyful, and available rather than fixed or limiting.

### February 25 — Clearing Negatives

This class focuses on the difficult emotions, memories, and reactive tendencies we push away. Through gentle inquiry, we explore how meeting negatives directly dissolves resistance, restores resilience, and releases the weight of old patterning.

### March 4 — Clearing Lacks

Here we explore the subtle territory of lacks—places of numbness, absence, hunger, or “not enoughness.” By bringing curiosity to these empty zones, we awaken clarity, energy, and creativity where there was previously dullness or avoidance.

### March 11 — Balancing All Three

The final session integrates strengths, negatives, and lacks into a single, balanced field of awareness. Through holistic clearing practice, we learn to rest in an open, panoramic presence that is not pushed or pulled by any category.

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 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

You may also like