Mindfulness, Meditation and Yoga Calendar
Skillful Discourse on Cultural Appropriation in Mindfulness Practice
Jan 31, 2024 05:15 PM
to
06:15 PM
Registration Deadline: Jan 31, 2024 06:00 PM
Join us for a guest lecture by Dr. Ranjini George including meditation practices and guided writing prompts.
Peace is Every Step
In discussing cultural appropriation, how can we adopt skilful means (prajna, wisdom), engage in fierce action with a heart of compassion, and experience what Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh calls interbeing or inter-are. Too often, our discourse thrives on the energy of anger, emphasizing separation and judgement, in lieu of reconciliation. Drawing on Buddhism and the Greco-Roman philosophy of Stoicism, guided by writing prompts and meditation practices, we will work with our anger (what the Stoics call "temporary madness") using the "good medicine" of the 10 Gifts of Apollo, and cultivate ways to look at ourselves and others with the eyes of compassion, respect, and understanding. We will explore strategies to cultivate genuine warm heartedness and an experience of oneness.
Ranjini George holds a PhD in English Literature from Northern Illinois University, USA; an MA in English Literature from St. Stephen's College, New Delhi, and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia, Canada. She was an Associate Professor of English at Zayed University, Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, where she founded the Teaching with the Mind of Mindfulness series. She currently teaches in the Creative Writing, Mindfulness, and Arts and Sciences programs at the School of Continuing Studies (SCS), University of Toronto, classes such as Stoicism and the Good Life, Buddhism and the Good Life, Pilgrimage to the Sacred Feminine and Meditation and Writing. In 2019, she received the Creative Writing, SCS, University of Toronto Excellence in Teaching award. Her book, Through My Mother's Window: Emirati Women Tell their Stories and Recipes was published in Dubai in December 2016.
Lecture to start promptly at 5:15 p.m.
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