SELF PACED ONLINE COURSES

Course Descriptions

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 inside the Dharma Ocean lineage. They are shaped 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 four courses in the Foundation Series 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 are encouraged to take each course sequentially, beginning with Awakening the Body and ending with Somatic Descent.

Regular live gatherings with senior Dharma Ocean teachers and mentors are offered to support those with a Foundation Yanas membership who participate in online courses. Students are encouraged to bring any questions relating to practice and study. Dates for the gatherings will be posted to the Event Calendar.

Ground Yana

Awakening the Body – The Foundations of Buddhist Meditation

The Buddha taught mindfulness of the body as the entry point to the awakened state. In this course we will learn this pristine way of being, which underlies the whole somatic tantric path. In connecting with our bodies in this very deep way, we are opening to the full range of our human experience and possibility. The entire spiritual journey unfolds from this opening.

What you will learn in this course:
To increase your somatic awareness, becoming much more present in your body.
To release tension and stress, enabling true relaxation.
To connect with profound peace, the body’s most natural state.
To discover the meditative state that is the basis of life and enlightenment itself.

Meditation Yana

The Somatic Practice of Pure Awareness

This course builds on the practices of Awakening the Body, providing very precise training in the sitting practice of meditation. By developing the posture of pure awareness, our body becomes aligned, relaxed and resilient, which enables us to recognize and rest in the natural state of openness. No matter what lineage of meditation you practice, or if you are new to the practice, this course will be a great resource.

What you will learn in this course:
To settle into the sitting posture of meditation in a dignified and refined way.
To connect with your own unconditional awareness, the essence of the meditative state.
To welcome and hold experiences that emerge from the depths of the Soma.
To stabilize your awareness so that you can begin to live your life more freely and fully.

Yana of Great Compassion

Boundless Heart and the Practice of Compassion

This Mahayana course helps us connect with our bodhicitta (awakening heart) for the benefit of ourselves and others. Once the veils of conceptual thinking are relinquished, the heart can behold everything just as it is, utterly without judgement, and with tender appreciation. The natural response of our heart is maitri, or unconditional friendliness toward ourselves and loving kindness toward others. 

What you will learn in this course:
To connect with the empty, open luminosity that is the awakened state, a state of love.
To unfetter your heart, opening fully to its unconditional love and unlimited compassion.
To know the sacredness of your own being, accepting everything that you are.
To extend your loving tenderness to others and the world.

Yana of Somatic Descent

Somatic Descent: The Wisdom of the Body

In this tantric approach to meditation, the body is the location and source of wisdom. In Somatic Descent, we will learn how to fully enter our somatic awareness and bring that wisdom into our everyday life. We will discover that the body can be a dependable teacher and guide, offering profound and reliable insight into all aspects of our human existence from the most ordinary to the most transcendent.

What you will learn in this course:
To tap into the universal wisdom of the body.
To bring any sort of question to the body and receive its response.
To accurately discern what the body is communicating.
That the wisdom of the body can be a trustworthy guide to life.