Ways of Looking: A 6-week Meditation Course

What if your deepest happiness and freedom had less to do with what happens, and more to do with how you're relating to what happens?
 

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes” ~ Marcel Proust

This six-week meditation course, suitable for experienced meditators as well as beginners, will help you to look at the world through new eyes. The Buddha, like Proust, understood the importance of this. At the heart of his teaching is the subtle and surprising insight alluded to above. He found that how we relate to our experience is actually far more significant in determining how happy or sad or stressed we feel, than the experience itself.

Over the duration of this course we will explore this idea in depth, using the conceptual framework of ‘ways of looking’ as developed by the late meditation master Rob Burbea. We will pick up and practise with a different lens each week and pay attention to the effect it has on our perception of the world - for instance, whether it brings more ease, freedom, and joy into the experience. Each session will include a short talk, some meditation instruction, a guided practice, and plenty of time for questions and comments.

Between sessions there will be also an encouragement to continue playing with these ways of looking, both formally in meditation (for at least 20mins each day) and more informally during daily life. This is entirely optional, but will allow you to make the most of the course.

Dana

Mark is part of a Buddhist tradition in which teachings are offered freely, within a culture of ‘dana’ or generosity. For that reason there is no fee for this course. If you would like to support Mark in his livelihood, and support the continued free sharing of these teachings, he will gratefully accept any donations, large or small. He will give details during the course, of how donations can be made. Those not able to contribute financially are just as welcome onto this course as those who are. 

Course Dates

All sessions will be held 7-9pm UK time

Tuesday 8th April
Tuesday 15th April
Tuesday 22nd April
Tuesday 29th April
Tuesday 6th May
Tuesday 13th May

Mark will also offer two follow-up support sessions after the main course has ended. These drop-ins are optional and will be held at 7-8pm UK time:

Tuesday 20th May
Tuesday 27th May

Mark Ovland

Mark began practising meditation in 2008. Since then he has lived and worked in various monasteries and retreat centres around India and the UK, and spent a further two years on intensive silent retreat. He was a close student of meditation master Rob Burbea and was blessed to have lived with and assisted Rob during the last years of his life.

Aside from offering retreats and teachings in traditional Buddhist settings, Mark has also taught in schools, universities, prisons, and the workplace. In 2013 he co-founded Freely Given Retreats, a charity in the UK that runs weeklong silent meditation retreats on a donation basis. He believes that no one should be excluded from these opportunities and teachings due to a simple lack of money.

Mark's relationship to psychedelics
The path Mark teaches does not involve the use of psychedelics, and by leading courses for the Psychedelic Society he is not intending to make any link between psychedelics and Buddhism. He does however recognise that Buddhist philosophy and practice can potentially help to contextualise experiences that are brought about by psychedelic use and is happy to speak with participants on this question should it be raised within the context of the course material. 

 

REFUNDS: Please note that we do not arrange refunds or exchanges. We welcome swapping or reselling your tickets with people you know.