Class Details
The Certainty of Uncertainty
with Betty Holmes
Tuesday evenings, June 4 - July 16, 2013
6:45pm - 8:15pm
Cost: $60 for members, $70 for others
Register online or via the sign-up sheet in the foyer
As with all our offerings, financial assistance is available.
Questions of doubt, uncertainty and and indecision arise for most of us every day, especially at key times of change in our lives. In the face of the discomfort and unease of not knowing, we often find ourselves pushing for answers and holding tight to ideas. These moments of uncertainty, however, can instead become great opportunities to open and deepen in our practice. In these nitty-gritty real-life situations where there is nothing concrete to hold on to and no certainty about the future, we can instead connect with possibility and potential and the ground of non-dual wisdom.
This 7 week class will explore new ways of relating to uncertainty. Drawing from various Buddhist traditions, we will practice meditative and yogic techniques for creating intimacy with uncertainty, for relaxing with groundlessness, and for trusting the space underlying insecurity and doubt.
Bring a question, a problem or a decision from your real life, and we will work with it experientially in our practice together.
Betty Holmes has been a devoted practitioner of Tibetan and Zen Buddhism for over 15 years. She served on the founding board of AZC and was instrumental in the founding of the Houston Zen Center. In 1997, she created Tenzo, a Buddhist retreat center in the Texas Hill Country where meditation retreats and teachings were offered. It was there in 1998 she met her Zen teacher, Reb Anderson. A psychotherapist by profession, Betty integrates the Internal Family Systems model with Buddhist wisdom and compassion practices in her work with clients.
"Fearless & Free to be You and Me."
with Glenn Noblin
Thursday evenings, June 6 - July 18, 2013
6:45pm - 8:15pm
Cost: $60 for members, $70 for others
Register online or via the sign-up sheet in the foyer
As with all our offerings, financial assistance is available.
Are you fearless enough to face your fears, to be who you really are, to welcome the inevitable disruptions and changes in your life, and to live and love and work wholeheartedly? For most of us the honest answer would probably be, "Well, no, at least not completely."
Living without fear does not mean not ever feeling fear. It just means that we don’t let it control and diminish our lives.
This 7-week class will offer an opportunity to gain a deeper awareness of how fear can diminish our lives and how we can move beyond fear to a more vibrant and satisfying life. Each week there will be an introduction to an area of life where fear may be an issue, exercises designed to move us beyond fear, and discussion.
Glenn Noblin is a retired ordained United Methodist minister and licensed clinical social worker. He has had a lively interest in Zen since 1967 when he was first introduced to it in a college course. Glenn started practicing at the Austin Zen Center in 2006. Before this he had practiced at the Maria Kannon Zen Center in Dallas, Texas for 10 years. He has served as a member of the AZC Board of Directors. Glenn received Dharma Entrustment as a lay teacher in 2012.
Sheng Zhen Healing Qigong 1
with Laura Gillis
Saturdays, June 8 – July 27, 2013 (No class July 6th)
12:45pm - 2:00pm
Cost: $60 for members, $70 for others
Register online or via the sign-up sheet in the foyer
As with all our offerings, financial assistance is available.
"As you do the movements, as you relax the body more and more, you will begin to feel your qi flow...what rules the qi?...an open heart...an open heart provides the key to a life of perfect well-being." - Master Li Jun Feng
Sheng Zhen Qigong
Qigong is the cultivation and exchange of Qi (vital energy) with the universe. Sheng Zhen Qigong classes consist of learning a series of gentle, simple movements, called forms, which help to promote circulation, improve body strength, reduce stress and facilitate a more calm, relaxed and balanced state of being.
Healing Gong 1
This form is performed seated in a chair, making it accessible for people of all abilities. The focus of this form is to help remove disease from the body and to help balance yin and yang energies.
This class will be taught by Laura Gillis, a licensed yoga teacher and graduate student of acupuncture who has been studying with Master Li Jun Feng for the past few years.
Ongoing Educational Opportunities
Natural Wisdom & Compassion with Betty Holmes
Mondays at 6:45pm-8:15pm
No cost for the class. Donations gratefully accepted.
Betty Holmes, a longtime Zen and Dzogchen practitioner, teaches the rediscovery of our innate wisdom and compassion through guided meditation.
Wednesday Night Book Group
Wedneday evenings, 7pm-8:30pm
This group studies various Buddhist books in a warm, fun and contemplative atmosphere. You need not have read the book beforehand. No cost for this group, but any donations are gratefully accepted.
Next Step Meditation Instruction
Next Step is for people who have attended a Beginner's Instruction class, and who are interested in bringing what they have learned to the zendo. Next Step is an hour and a half class where we will go over the forms and ceremonies in Soto Zen. We'll have a refresher of meditation instruction and will touch on things like how to move around in the zendo, bowing, chanting, and service. We'll also cover kinhin (walking meditation) as well. There will be time for questions and answers. We will meet in the main building (3014 Washington Square). There is no charge for the class, though a $5 donation is gratefully received. To register or for further information please call the office at 512-452-5777
Dharma Talks
Kosho McCall, June 1, 2013,
Are You Interested in the Tea or the Teapot?
Guest Practice
Interested in either starting or deepening your Zen practice in a residential setting with others? Our Guest Practice program is a short term opportunity (one to four weeks) that includes meditation, study, work practice and discussions with other practitioners about Zen Buddhism.
JustThis
Vulnerability in Practice
Practice makes us vulnerable. We are led to let the carapace of protection drop and to soften into a new way of being. What of our old protective habits of fear and retreat, anger and blame? This issue of JustThis speaks of the joys and sorrows of opening to our vulnerability.
http://justthis.austinzencenter.org
