Click on each event title to access the audio recordings
Weekly talks from Auckland Insight 2022
A selection of talks and guided meditations given at the weekly meetings of Auckland Insight
Healing the heart, refining the mind, finding freedom
In the Buddha’s teaching, going on retreat can be understood as a powerful form of “taking refuge,” by temporarily retreating from our external responsibilities to take care of our inner life.
The peaceful natural environment of Te Moata supports deep rest and renewal, which in turn, supports the strengthening of our inner resources, our connection with sangha/community and our capacity to live with more ease and freedom in whatever circumstances we find ourselves in.
This nine-day retreat highlights teachings on the seven factors of awakening and the practical understanding of anattā or not-self
Celebrating Vesak and the Auckland Insight community
A series of short talks and guided meditations on the theme of Vesak and sangha or community
Auckland Insight, Auckland, Aotearoa / New Zealand 22 May 2022
Four-week insight meditation retreat – Forest Refuge
co-teaching with Caroline Jones 1-30 April 2022
Insight Meditation Society – Forest Refuge, Barre, Massachusetts USA
Theme: Seven Factors of Awakening
Talk: Finding (moments of) ease in the midst of it all
Exploring how we get caught in busyness, stress and overwhelm, with suggestions for helping to find moments of ease and equanimity in the midst of it all
Meditation: orienting to ease
Beginning by establishing awareness of the body, then connecting with breathing and opening to spaciousness and ease
Healing the heart, refining the mind, finding freedom
Talks and guided meditations from a nine-day insight retreat
Sydney Insight Meditators, New South Wales, Australia
30 December 2021 – 7 January 2022
Celebrating Vesak and the Auckland Insight community
A series of short talks on the theme of Vesak and spiritual friendship
Auckland Insight, Auckland, New Zealand
30 May 2021
Living a Life of Mutual Benefit: Exploring the Noble Eightfold Path
A series of talks on the Noble Eightfold Path
Auckland Insight, Auckland, New Zealand
18 February – June 2021
Nine-day insight meditation retreat
Finding the Heart of Freedom
March 2021
Te Moata Retreat Centre, Tairua, New Zealand
An introduction to brahmavihara practice
A series of talks and guided meditations on the four brahmavihara qualities of kindness, compassion, appreciative joy and equanimity
Online for Insight San Diego, California, USA
26-28 February 2021
Finding the Heart of Wisdom
A seven-day insight meditation retreat weaving together a range of different insight meditation techniques to both strengthen the heart, and open the mind. Building on a foundation of mindfulness and insight practice, we cultivate the heart qualities of kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity, so that we can respond more wisely and compassionately to whatever life brings us.
Assisted by Di Roberts and Julie Downard
23-30 January 2021
Staveley Camp, Canterbury, New Zealand
Intro to Insight Meditation
A series of talks for beginning meditators, given to the Mahurangi West community
October-November 2020
Mahurangi West, Auckland, New Zealand
Practising in Challenging Times
A series of talks given for Auckland Insight
March-April 2020
Auckland, New Zealand
(photo from Project Another Country by Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan at Auckland Art Gallery)
Five-day metta retreat – IMS
co-teaching with Oren Sofer, nakawe cuebas and Jessica Morey
14-19 February 2020
Insight Meditation Society, Barre, Massachusetts USA
Four-week insight meditation retreat – Forest Refuge
co-teaching with Caroline Jones
1-30 November 2019
Insight Meditation Society – Forest Refuge, Barre, Massachusetts USA
Six-week insight meditation retreat
co-teaching with Guy Armstrong, Carol Wilson, Annie Nugent, Brian LeSage, assisted by Dawn Scott and Devin Berry
10 September – 22 October 2019
Insight Meditation Society – Retreat Centre, Barre, Massachusetts USA
Nine-day insight meditation retreat
Strengthening the two wings of Awakening: Wisdom and Compassion
August 2019
Blue Mountains Insight Meditation Centre, NSW Australia
Six-week study and practice course
Transforming Fear into Fearlessness
The Four Noble Truths that form the heart of the Buddha’s teaching invite us to examine our relationship to dukkha: stress, distress, unsatisfactoriness, suffering. Most of us though, have an instinctive resistance to suffering, so we need to practice working skilfully with the different levels of fear that often show up along the path to freedom. As we learn how to release ourselves from the confines of these fears, we’re able to live with greater ease, happiness, and peace, and to connect with the wisdom and compassion that are our true nature.
June – July 2019
Sydney and Blue Mountains Insight Meditation Centre, NSW Australia
Four-week insight meditation retreat
co-teaching with Caroline Jones
5-31 December 2018
Insight Meditation Society – Forest Refuge, Barre, Massachusetts, USA
Six-week insight meditation retreat
co-teaching with Rebecca Bradshaw, Greg Scharf, Winnie Nazarko, Brian LeSage, DaRa Williams, assisted by Dawn Scott
23 October – 4 December 2018
Insight Meditation Society – Retreat Centre, Barre, Massachusetts, USA
Seven-day insight meditation retreat with Gil Fronsdal
24 February – 3 March 2018
Insight Retreat Center, Scotts Valley California, USA
A silent mindfulness retreat exploring the Four Noble Truths, with alternating sitting and walking meditation, instruction, dharma talks, work meditation, and practice discussion with the teachers – Gil Fronsdal, Jill Shepherd, and Oren Sofer.
Nine-day insight meditation retreat with Joseph Goldstein
2-11 February 2018
Insight Meditation Society, Barre Massachusetts, USA
The Path to Awakening: Insight Meditation retreat
Insight meditation (vipassana in Pali, the language of the original Buddhist teachings) is the simple and direct practice of moment-to-moment mindfulness. Through careful and sustained observation, we experience for ourselves the ever-changing flow of the mind/body process. This awareness leads us to accept more fully the pleasure and pain, fear and joy, sadness and happiness that life inevitably brings. As insight deepens, we develop greater equanimity and peace in the face of change, and wisdom and compassion increasingly become the guiding principles of our lives.
Noble Eightfold Path study course
Six-week study course
15 January – 19 February 2017
Blue Mountains Insight Meditation Centre, NSW Australia
The path to freedom laid out by the Buddha is a very holistic one, comprising ethical action, meditative development and wisdom. Although the Buddha emphasised the importance of developing all three of these aspects together, meditation practice is often given the most importance and the other two aspects are sometimes overlooked.
During this six-week course, we explored the Noble Eightfold Path as a comprehensive training to integrate dharma understanding into our daily lives. This integration then supports the deepening of insight and wisdom, which in turn, refines our capacity to live skillfully in the world, with greater ease and freedom.
Recordings plus recommended reading list
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To offer dāna* to Jill Shepherd from Australia or New Zealand, you can make direct payments online to her bank accounts in those countries.
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* Dana is the Buddhist word for offering generosity. Traditionally, the Buddha’s teachings are given freely, and people are invited to contribute to the teacher and/or meditation centre to help support the continuation of the teachings.
Jill Shepherd: insight meditation 