The Patterns that Bind and the Way of Freedom

The Patterns that Bind and the Way of Freedom: Understanding and transforming habitual patterns and beliefs with mindfulness.

Each one of us has ways of avoiding experience that we have learned or developed over time. We use them to protect or distance ourselves from unpleasant, overwhelming, or threatening feelings, thoughts, behaviors, and experiences. In Western psychology these patterns are referred to as psychological defenses. These defensive patterns are not inherently problematic, but when unseen they can greatly limit or restrict the scope of our life, awareness, and personal freedom. 

The way of mindfulness orients us towards meeting our moment-to-moment experience with wisdom, clarity, intimacy, and care. It is a gradual cultivation that allows us to slowly replace our patterned defenses with a more reliable protection, a stable heart that can meet life fully as it is. 

In this class we will nurture a steady and continuous practice of mindfulness over six-weeks and include our patterned and habitual defenses in what we see and investigate. You will learn about and be invited to explore some classical defenses from both Western and Buddhist psychology. In meeting your life as it is, you will inevitably notice the strategies you habitually employ to avoid reality and/or cope with feelings and experiences you don’t yet know how to meet. Each of us has our own unique patterns and experience and thus the true curriculum for these six weeks will be your own moment-to-moment experience both on the cushion and in your work, relationships, and daily activities.