The Breath of Compassion

Tonglen with Mira Kingsley

October 7-9, 2011

If you can breathe… you can be happy! In this weekend workshop you will learn the ancient healing technique of “Tonglen” or Giving and Receiving. This simple but powerful meditation practice opens the heart, dissolves difficulties between people, and transforms physical and mental illness. Tong Len meditation works quickly to deepen compassion for ourselves and others, bringing greater joy to all aspects of our lives.
Listen to the audio from Lama Mira’s teachings:

Mira Kingsley Bio:

Mira grew up the daughter of a scholar of Eastern Philosophy and from an early age was steeped in the beauty of the Buddha’s teachings. At the age of 21, she took herself into a Trappist nunnery for silent retreat. She has been dedicated to living a spiritual life ever since, focusing her studies primarily in Buddhism, the Yogic traditions and Christianity.

Her practice of Mahayana Buddhism has been guided by her heart Teacher, Venerable Sumati Marut. Under his excellent tutelage, Mira has taken the foundational and higher vows of the Gelugpa Lineage, the lineage of the Dalai Lamas. She has completed the 36 courses of the Asian Classics Institute open and advanced curriculum. The curriculum is based on the 20-year Tibetan monastic course of study, which is equivalent to a Masters of Theology in the West. She is a staff writer for Awakening Journal (www.awakeningjournal.org), an online journal that shares the spiritual traditions and benefits of retreat. Mira teaches Dharma regularly at Mahasukha Center in Los Angeles (www.aci-la.org), Santa Barbara and around the world. Her classes are known for their poetry and play.

Mira connects her spiritual practice directly with her arts practice. As a dancer, choreographer and theater director she has worked professionally for more than 20 years at major venues world wide including Broadway, the Metropolitan Opera, and Carnegie Hall. Her artistic work integrates many disciplines but is always based in the power of the human body as a pathway to the divine. She believes that the arts and spiritual traditions serve a united purpose in providing radical models for transformation and increased wonder, wisdom and joy in the world. She’s been teaching dance as a sacred art around the U.S and internationally for more than a decade and currently serves as a full-time Professor of Dance at University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB).