Mindfulness and Embodiment

Mindfulness of body is connected with the earth. It is an openness that has a base, a foundation. A quality of expansive awareness develops through mindfulness of body—a sense of being settled and of therefore being able to afford to open out. —Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, The Heart of the Buddha.

You are invited to a special talk that explores a somatic approach to our meditation practice as well as practical instruction on how to release habitual patterns of tension and relax more fully into the meditation posture. 

Erika’s book, Sitting: The Physical Art of Meditation, will be available for purchase. A percentage of proceeds will be donated to the center.

About the teacher: 

Erika Berland has been a Meditation Instructor since 1986 and a Shambhala Training Director since 1989. She created and directed a two-year Meditation Practicum for Naropa University’s MFA Contemporary Performance Program that integrated meditation, somatic movement training and dharma art principles from 2004-2020. She is part of the founding faculty of Naropa University’s Mindful Compassion Course, a secular training offered by CACE (Center for the Advancement of Contemplative Education) and has been teaching in that program since its inception in 2017. She is the author of “Sitting: The Physical Art of Meditation” published in 2017 and has presented numerous workshops based on her book throughout the US and Canada. Her current workshops and resources for practitioners can be found on erikaberland.com. She is a Certified Practitioner of Body-Mind Centering®, Registered Somatic Movement Therapist and practiced as a Licensed massage therapist for over 20 years.