Local Support Team & In-Between Courses 

Dhamma Modana has a team of local old students who step in to support and fill management responsibilities. The local support team is looking to train interested old students who are able to attend a minimum of 2 - Between Courses per year, no prior experience required but in-person training will be provided.  Between courses can be viewed at Dhamma Modana's Course Schedule. Training will include duties such as, welcoming new servers to the centre, communication with management and centre teacher, overseeing and assigning tasks.

Opportunities

If you live within a 2 hour drive from the Centre and are interested in serving on the Local Support Team, please contact [email protected]
If you are interested to stay longer at the centre in the sit, serve, serve program please contact [email protected].

June 2022

Question: I have been noticing my thoughts during my sittings and kinda throughout the day. More so after my first retreat March 2022. It seems like I have so many thoughts, some replaying recent interactions/event or thought patterns that seem to unfurl from something random or empty (sights, feelings in my body).

My question is, should I be practicing more heavier Anapana breathing to concentrate the mind during my sittings when I realize I am observing thoughts?

Answer: This is totally normal! The more time we practice Vipassana, the more aware we become of this mental chatter. It is actually part of the process and how the sankharas often come up--with thoughts.

Just keep bringing your awareness back to the physical bodily sensations as soon as you realize your mind has gotten pulled into the thoughts. It's a constant battle and some times it's harder than others. When you really feel the thoughts have won, you're right to try Anapana for a few minutes. But don't wait until the mind is totally quiet to try and do Vipassana--otherwise there's a risk you'll rarely get there!

Question: How should I let a part of my mind be aware that these sensations are changing?

Answer: This is an excellent question and one that we have to answer by practice. In other words, it is a repeated training of re-evaluation of the sensations. When you observe sensations you are continually trying to remember not to react and that the sensations are a manifestation of some change or another. In the same way that you "know" a sensation is pleasant or unpleasant, painful or dense, vibrating or tingling, you can also "know" impermanence or anicca, that is, that the sensation is a manifestation of change.

The automatic knowing about what a sensation is has been learned from childhood, and so the knowing that a sensation is impermanent also has to be learned. Since the knowing and labeling of sensations by characteristic was learned from the time we were born and acquired language, there have been decades of that reinforced learning. The understanding of anicca has to be learned now and newly and this is best done when we are sitting on our cushions and practicing Vipassana. While we got a late start on this, it's not too late to learn!

So don't get discouraged by the subtlety of this learning. It requires a constant turning of the mind to an appreciation of any sensation as a changing phenomenon, and this even if the change isn't itself apparent in the sensation.

If you have questions about your practice you may email 
at‑[email protected] indicating whether you prefer an email response or a phone call.