The Making of a Self

Price Options:

Basic rate: £99

Standard rate: £109

Supporter rate: £129

Theme: 

Teachings from the Buddha related to modern life: How a rigid view of ourselves causes suffering, and ways to cultivate awareness and choice to enjoy a greater richness of, and presence in, our lives.

Our sense of self permeates into every sphere of our lives, day by day.

The choices we make, how we respond to events and experiences, the way that we relate to others. What we eat, where we work, how we live. 
We know that this illusion of a fixed self (which most of us have) can create suffering (dukkha) in our lives. For example, believing that there is only one way you are able to overcome a problem, or believing yourself to be someone who simply ‘can’t do that’, or ‘doesn’t understand that’, or ‘has to always do that, in order to..’. Whatever the fixed belief is about yourself – and there can be many. 
In this course, we’ll take a deeper look at how this sense of self is fabricated throughout our lives. Through the settings we have lived in, the people we have interacted with, experiences with have lived through and the behaviours, mechanisms and thought patterns we have developed.

The Buddha spoke of three primary ways in which a sense of self is fabricated:

• Through identification with the five aggregates - the Khanda: five mental and physical components which constitute a person: form, feeling tone, perception, mental formations and consciousness.
• Through the construction of a clinging to personality view
• Through mana (relational selfing) - the ways we position ourselves as being better than, worse than or the same as another

How could we hold it all a little more loosely?

The key is in the cessation of clinging through understanding.

This course will offer insight from the Buddha’s teachings, alongside real-life practical examples and suggestions. 
Do we in-fact need a sense of self to navigate our way through life, or should we be looking to cultivate no self or a non-self? What exactly would this look like and what is the difference between them?
What role do memories of the past play in our current sense of self? Can they be relied upon to be true? And should we and do we need to let them shape us so? 
All if this is a direct way of perpetuating distress in our lives. 
All of this can be released from clinging.

Further information 

Each session will include a short practice period, teaching, times for questions.

Schedule: 

3 consecutive Monday evenings from 6.30 to 8.30 pm UK time, on 16, 23 and 30th March. Realtime attendance is encouraged.

Recordings:

Recordings will be shared after each session.

Suitability:

Open to all - new and experienced practitioners alike.

 Cost:

• The price includes a fee for the teachers, no additional dana will be requested. 
• 3 rates available.
• If you are unable to afford the our standard course rate, please contact us here. We will make sure that no one is turned away because of lack of funds

Teachers:

[sc name="christina-feldman"]

[sc name="antonia-sumbundu"]

Praise for our teachers:

From previous courses co-taught by Christina and Antonia:

“It is so nice to be exposed to teachers of their calibre and trustworthiness. Antonia Sumbundu was outstanding: it was a great pleasure to be introduced to her. I wish she was local so we could visit over tea once in a while.” – Dhammapada Course Participant 2023

“I especially appreciated listening to experienced practitioners and teachers…. With wisdom and humour, they reminded us that the practice is about life as it is lived right now, not about some far off state we are striving towards.” – Dhammapada Course Participant 2023

Hear more from our teachers:

Christina Feldman is a published author of books on Buddhism including:
Mindfulness: Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Psychology with co-author William Kuyken
Boundless Heart: The Buddha’s Path of Kindness, Compassion, Joy and Equanimity
Meditation 
And many more.

She regularly contributes to meditation and Buddhist magazines and journals. You can read some of her articles here and here. 
You can also read more about her life and practice here on our website.

Antonia Sumbundu says: 
“In 2006 I meet Christina Feldman for the first time. It was at a retreat at Gaia House and Christina said: "I love speaking about Dana..." and then she gave the most beautiful dana talk. It stayed with me and inspired me. Until then I had never heard anyone speaking about generosity in such a moving and inspiring way and I recognized how the fruit of our practice is coming to expression in all aspects of our lives. That is like a guiding star for me. Looking to where there is openness, kindness and wisdom flowing in our lives is equally important as to look where we feel stuck, fear, holding back etc. We can bring it all to the path - all of it is our Path. It is an honor to be a student of the teachings and of life and I appreciate spaces where we can come together to practice and explore the teachings - we need it and the world needs it.”