These online courses are designed to support practitioners in the midst of daily life, so practice and experience can impact how we interact with others, our world, and ourselves. This “in the world” focus encourages the integration of the teachings into all the places we meet and engage our world.
The Foundation Series with Reggie Ray and Caroline Pfohl are go-at-your-own-pace courses designed to introduce students to the main practices offered in the Dharma Ocean lineage.
The Sutrayana Series are more scholarly and intensive 12-week courses, in two parts. The series is one of several prerequisites for any student who wishes to apply to the Entering the Vajra World course.
More information is provided below about the specific courses in these series.
Autumn 2021 Course Offerings
Registration for our autumn online courses is currently open:
- The Boundless Heart and Loving the Self – Dates: September 7 – November 14 – For more information, please visit the course invitation page.
- Awakening the Body – Dates: September 14 – November 22 – For more information, please visit the course invitation page.
- Sutrayana Hinayana – Dates: October 2 – December 18 – For more information, please visit the course registration page.
- Meditating with the Body – Dates: November 2, 2021 – May 1, 2022 – For more information, please visit the course registration page.
Access Your Course Library
You can access your library of online courses here. Accounts are created when people register for their first course.
Course Descriptions
The Foundation Series
The four courses in the Foundation Series are designed to introduce participants to the foundational somatic meditation practices of the Dharma Ocean lineage. The courses are sequential, with each course building upon the material of the preceding one. Therefore participants must take each course sequentially, beginning with Awakening the Body and ending with The Vajrayana.
Awakening the Body: The Way of Somatic Meditation
Dates: September 14 – November 22, 2021
For more information and to register please visit the course welcome page here.
This course leads us in exploring the view and practice of somatic meditation and how it reveals the joy, altruism, and creativity that resides at the core of our being. Designed for beginning and advanced students alike, the training focuses on a series of powerful somatic meditation practices drawn from Tibetan and East Asian Buddhism and spiritual Taoism. To learn more about the course, please visit the Awakening the Body information page here.
Prerequisites: This course is open to all and is required for enrollment in subsequent Foundation Courses.
The Somatic Practice of Pure Awareness: The Tantric Style of Embodied Meditation
Dates: January 17 – March 28, 2022
Registration opens: November 23
This course teaches the simplest and also the most advanced teaching — the essence — of the Tibetan tantric tradition. Pure Awareness is our most fundamental nature that is neither born nor dies and underlies all of the experiences of our human life. To learn more about the course, please visit The Somatic Practice of Pure Awareness information page here.
Prerequisites: Completion of one of these trainings: Awakening the Body online course, Your Breathing Body Volume I audio program, Meditating with the Body five-month training program, The Awakening Body book and audio training, or a Dharma Ocean residential retreat intensive such as the Winter Meditation Intensive.
Boundless Heart I – The Somatic Practice of Bodhicitta: Loving the Self
Dates: September 7 – November 15, 2021
For more information and to register please visit the course welcome page here.
This first bodhicitta course explores ultimate bodhicitta as well as maitri, loving-kindness, toward oneself. A somatic understanding of the ultimate or dharmakaya, and an ability to appreciate the sacredness of our own being, are essential in order to love others and to be of benefit to the world.
Prerequisites: Completion of The Somatic Practice of Pure Awareness course or a Dharma Ocean residential meditation retreat intensive.
Boundless Heart II – The Somatic Practice of Bodhicitta: Connection, Communication, and Love
Dates: March 1 – May 9, 2022
Registration opens: November 16
This second part of this course allows us to refine our somatic awareness by further tapping into the subtle warmth and wisdom of our heart. Through embodied bodhicitta (or awakening heart) practices, we discover the heart as the source of wisdom within our body. This course explores relative bodhicitta.
Prerequisites: Completion of The Boundless Heart I.
The Vajrayana
Dates: TBA
Registration opens: TBA
Soon, we hope to offer a series of short courses introducing the history, view, and practice of the Vajrayana tradition in Indian and Tibet for those interested in learning more about this tradition.
These final courses of the foundation series will also provide an introduction to the integration of the somatic approach into the totality of our lives that is offered in the Vajrayana path of practice.
Prerequisites: The Vajrayana courses will require prior participation in all four Foundation Series programs listed above.
Sutrayana Series
Sutrayana is the Tibetan classification of “yanas” — vehicles — which are Buddhist modes of practice and study that lead to the realization of one’s true nature.
Tibetan Buddhism affirms that without a good intellectual and conceptual understanding of Buddhist philosophy, what we call “the view,” we default to ego’s opinions and to spiritual materialism. Moreover, the understanding of the Hinayana philosophical ground and the extensive teachings of Mahayana, especially on emptiness, are an absolutely necessary foundation for meditation practice and especially the Vajrayana. This Sutrayana courses offer an introduction to the teachings of the Three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma, and provide opportunities to address gaps in our conceptual understanding, which then benefit our ongoing practice and our confidence in fully living the journey.
Dharma Ocean’s Sutrayana curriculum provides a thorough introduction to the classical Hinayana and Mahayana teachings, the philosophical underpinnings of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. The curriculum for each course includes lectures, assigned readings, study questions, exams, and live teaching sessions with a Dharma Ocean instructor. Participants examine the foundational perspectives of this lineage and learn how to integrate these ancient teachings into daily life as modern people. In addition, to help further clarify “the view” of our practice tradition, the Sutrayana courses offer opportunities for contemplation, participation in discussion groups, and engagement with meditation instructors.
There are no prerequisites for Sutrayana Part One: The Hinayana. However, Sutrayana Part Two: The Mahayana requires the successful completion of part one. Both are necessary for those who are interested in the Vajrayana stage of the journey and intend on applying for the Entering the Vajra World online course (for more information, please see the Dharma Ocean Training and Path document here). Sutrayana students who are interested in the Vajrayana are required to actively participate in discussion groups and pass the course oral and written exams.
Sutrayana - Part One: The Hinayana
Dates: October 2 – December 18, 2021
Registration is open here.
Part One of the Sutrayana series is an online offering where practitioners can deepen their understanding of the view of the teachings of the "first turning of the wheel of dharma."
Prerequisites: This course is open to all and is required for students interested in registering for Sutrayana - Part 2: The Mahayana.
Sutrayana - Part Two: The Mahayana
Dates: February 19 – May 14, 2022
Registration opens: TBA
The second part of the Sutrayana study course provides an in-depth exploration of the view of the second and third turnings of the wheel of Dharma.
Prerequisites for this course: Completion of Sutrayana - Part One: The Hinayana.
Additional Courses
Meditating with the Body: Touching Enlightenment
Dates: November 4, 2021 – May 1, 2022
Registration is open here.
Meditating with the Body is a training program developed by the Buddhist scholar and meditation teacher Dr. Reggie Ray. In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the body is considered to be the gateway to enlightenment — to discover the body is to discover awareness and our own most direct and effective path to profound spiritual transformation.
Designed for beginning and experienced meditators alike, this in-depth training focuses on a series of transformative body-based meditation practices drawn from Tibetan Yoga. The comprehensive five-month program cultivates learning and discovery through systematic study, intensive practice, group retreats, and integration of the practices into daily life.
Prerequisites: This course is open to all.
Somatic Descent: Communicating with the Soma
Dates: April 5 – June 7, 2022
Registration opens: January 18, 2022
Somatic Descent builds on what you have learned and practiced in The Somatic Practice of Pure Awareness course. Through weekly study, practice, and discussion, you will learn how to stay rooted in the Soma’s way of knowing whether on or off the cushion. And you will deepen your capacity to apply the Soma’s wisdom to any aspect of your life that you choose to explore – or that the Soma brings to your attention.
Prerequisites: Completion of The Somatic Practice of Pure Awareness course or a Winter Meditation Intensive.
Our Continuing Journey
Dates: Spring 2022
Registration opens: TBA
The inspiration for the course is to review and deepen in the practices learned in the Awakening the Body and The Somatic Practice of Pure Awareness online programs. The curriculum includes live gatherings every other week with meditation instructors, readings Reggie's book from Shambhala Publications The Practice of Pure Awareness, revisiting each of the practices that were offered in the Pure Awareness course, and study questions for contemplation.
Prerequisites: Completion of The Somatic Practice of Pure Awareness course.