Ongoing: Start Your Week Well – Monday Morning Online Sitting
with the Auckland Insight Meditation Community
Start your week well by joining Auckland Insight for a regular Monday morning Zoom sitting hosted by Guiding Teacher, Jill Shepherd
Mondays 7:30- 8:00 am NZT. Everyone is welcome.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3011573331 Meeting ID: 301 157 3331
Start Your Week Well – Monday Morning Online Sitting
with the Blue Mountains Insight Meditation Centre community
Start your week well by joining BMIMC for a regular Monday morning Zoom sitting hosted by Jill Shepherd and others from the BMIMC community
Mondays 7:30-8:00 am AEST. Everyone is welcome.
Register here to get the Zoom link
Five-week online study and practice course
Cultivating resilience in challenging times:
Learning from the “heavenly messengers”
This five-week online course offers an opportunity to develop and strengthen our inner resources of kindness, compassion, calm and clarity, through an exploration of what are traditionally known as “the four heavenly messengers.”
In Buddhist teaching, these are four archetypes that symbolise the existential challenges we face, and the way to overcome those challenges. The four are a sick person, an aged person, a dying person, and a contemplative.
At first glance, these messengers might not sound so heavenly, but by learning how to relate to their messages skilfully, they help us to live our lives with more ease, happiness, and peace.
Each two-hour class will include a short dharma talk, some silent meditation practice, dyad (pairs) practice, and small group discussion.
During the five weeks of the course, you will be invited to maintain a regular sitting practice and keep a practice journal, to help inform the discussion during each meeting.
Because this is a group learning process, participants are asked to make a commitment to attend all five sessions of the course, and to allow at least two hours a week for personal study and reflections to be shared with the group.
The course is best suited to people who have sat at least one seven-day silent meditation retreat, but prior Buddhist study is not necessary.
Feel free to contact Jill if you have any questions about this.
Registration fee for all five sessions: $75 + dāna*
Times and dates:
(check online here to confirm your time zone)
Option 1
Auckland NZT 1:30-3:30 p.m. Sunday afternoons
14 June – 12 July
Sydney AEST 11:30-1:30 p.m. Sunday mornings/afternoons
14 June – 12 July
San Francisco PDT 6:30-8:30 p.m. Saturday evenings
13 June – 11 July
New York EDT 9:30-11:30 p.m. Saturday nights
13 June – 11 July
Singapore SGT 9:30-11:30 a.m. Sunday mornings
14 June – 12 July
_______________________________________________
Option 2
Auckland NZT 7:00-9:00 p.m. Sunday evenings
14 June – 12 July
Sydney AEST 5:00-7:00 p.m. Sunday evenings
14 June – 12 July
San Francisco PDT midnight-2:00 am Sunday mornings
14 June – 12 July
New York EDT 3:00-5:00 a.m. Sunday mornings
14 June – 12 July
Singapore SGT 3:00-5:00 p.m. Sunday afternoons
14 June – 12 July
London UKDST 8:00-10:00 am Sunday mornings
14 June – 12 July
_______________________________________________
Option 3
Auckland NZT 10:30-12:30 p.m. Monday mornings
15 June – 13 July
Sydney AEST 8:30-10:30 a.m. Monday mornings
15 June – 13 July
San Francisco PDT 3:30-6:30 p.m. Sunday afternoons
14 June – 12 July
New York EDT 6:30-8:30 p.m. Sunday evenings
14 June – 12 July
Singapore SGT 6:30-8:30 a.m. Monday mornings
15 June – 13 July
More info and to register: here
Insight Dialogue Asia Pacific Sangha’s 2026 Series on the Whole Life Path
offered by Beth Faria, Jill Shepherd and Anita Bermont
“The Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path provides a wiser way through life than any offered by our conditioning. It’s an intentional path through life’s tangle. And intention is necessary. Any change for the good must face the momentum that made things as they are now. Old habits run deep within us; we complicate, palliate, protect and meander. …
If we truly aspire to ending our personal ignorance and craving, supporting relationships rooted in mettā and compassion, and contributing to human flourishing and a just and humane society, then we need a fully immersive, always-on engagement with the Noble Eightfold Path. We need to engage the Buddha’s path as a whole-life path.” – Gregory Kramer
In 2026, the global Insight Dialogue community will celebrate the fifth anniversary of Gregory Kramer’s book, A Whole-Life Path. Here at IDAP, we’ll join that celebration by exploring the Noble Eightfold Path together, using Gregory’s book as a resource. We invite you to purchase this book (those in Australia may wish to purchase the book here or here, those in New Zealand here, and those internationally can find other options to purchase here), as a support for your practice and exploration. This is recommended, not required.
Over the course of the whole year*, we’ll discover how the eight factors can be strengthened in both silent and relational meditation and in every moment of our daily lives, powerfully supporting our progress on the Buddha’s path to freedom.
* We will offer a total of eighteen practice sessions, spread over three series of six meetings, with a one-month break between each series.
Series 2 (Jun 2 – Aug 18) will focus on Ethics: Wise Speech, Wise Action, and Wise Livelihood.
Series 3 (6 Oct – 15 Dec) will focus on the Meditative factors of the path: Wise Effort, Wise Mindfulness, and Wise Samādhi
Date and Time:
Series 2: 2 June 2026-18 August 2026
Series 3: 6 October 2026- 15 December 2026
Each series will run for 6 sessions on every other Wednesday (Australia, NZ and Asia)/Tuesday (North America), 10-11:30 am AET
Suitable for Asia Pacific and North American time zones. Please see your local time here.
Prerequisite:
Participants must have completed an ‘Introduction to Insight Dialogue’ course and/or an Insight Dialogue retreat of two days or more, so they have a working knowledge of the Insight Dialogue Guidelines.
Join an introduction to Insight Dialogue here.
Registration and attendance: You are invited to register one or more series. You are asked to commit to all 6 sessions of each series you sign up for.
Language: English
Dāna: The teachings are freely offered. Participants will be invited to offer dāna to support the teachers.
More information and to register: here
Registration now open!
Cultivating resilience in challenging times:
Learning from the “heavenly messengers”
This five-week online course offers an opportunity to develop and strengthen our inner resources of kindness, compassion, calm and clarity, through an exploration of what are traditionally known as “the four heavenly messengers.”
In Buddhist teaching, these are four archetypes that symbolise the existential challenges we face, and the way to overcome those challenges. The four are a sick person, an aged person, a dying person, and a contemplative.
At first glance, these messengers might not sound so heavenly, but by learning how to relate to their messages skilfully, they help us to live our lives with more ease, happiness, and peace.
Each two-hour class will include a short dharma talk, some silent meditation practice, dyad (pairs) practice, and small group discussion.
During the five weeks of the course, you will be invited to maintain a regular sitting practice and keep a practice journal, to help inform the discussion during each meeting.
Because this is a group learning process, participants are asked to make a commitment to attend all five sessions of the course, and to allow at least two hours a week for personal study and reflections to be shared with the group.
The course is best suited to people who have sat at least one seven-day silent meditation retreat, but prior Buddhist study is not necessary.
Feel free to contact Jill if you have any questions about this.
Cost for all five sessions: $75 + dāna*
Times and dates:
Option 1
Auckland NZT 1:30-3:30 p.m. Sunday afternoons 14 June – 12 July
Sydney AEST 11:30-1:30 p.m. Sunday mornings/afternoons 14 June – 12 July
San Francisco PDT 6:30-8:30 p.m. Saturday evening 13 June – 11 July
New York EDT 9:30-11:30 p.m. Saturday nights 13 June – 11 July
Singapore SGT 9:30-11:30 a.m. Sunday mornings 14 June – 12 July
Option 2
Auckland NZT 7:00-9:00 p.m. Sunday evenings 14 June – 12 July
Sydney AEST 5:00-7:00 p.m. Sunday evenings 14 June – 12 July
San Francisco PDT midnight-2:00 am Sunday mornings 14 June – 12 July
New York EDT 3:00-5:00 a.m. Sunday mornings 14 June – 12 July
Singapore SGT 3:00-5:00 p.m. Sunday afternoons 14 June – 12 July
London UKDST 8:00-10:00 am Sunday mornings 14 June – 12 July
Option 3
Auckland NZT 10:30-12:30 p.m. Monday mornings 15 June – 13 July
Sydney AEST 8:30-10:30 a.m. Monday mornings 15 June – 13 July
San Francisco PDT 3:30-6:30 p.m. Sunday afternoons 14 June – 12 July
New York EDT 6:30-8:30 p.m. Sunday evenings 14 June – 12 July
Singapore SGT 6:30-8:30 a.m. Monday mornings 15 June – 13 July
Register here
*The registration fee covers only a contribution to course administration and booking fees.
In keeping with Buddhist tradition, the teachings are offered on a dāna basis which means the teacher is not paid to offer this workshop. Instead, they rely on the generosity of the participants to help them continue to share their teachings with others, and there will be an opportunity at the end of each class to offer donations to support their ongoing teaching.