BRN Academy

Welcome to the Buddhist Recovery Network Academy!

The BRN Academy is a new incarnation of the former Healing and Insight Teaching Faculty, co-founded by Vimalasara (Valerie) Mason-John and Giles Collins. The Academy has invited some of the leading teachers in the field of Buddhist recovery. On the first Sunday of every month for an hour each teacher will explore the sharp edges of suffering through the lens of the Buddhist Teachings. The Academy brings together teachers from different Buddhist lineages and approaches. Themes like addiction, alcoholism, depression, stinking thinking and compulsive behaviours will be explored.

Events at this venue

Today

  • Liberate Yourself from Addictive Behaviors

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    BRN Academy

    Meditation and Dharma Talk with time for Q & AJoin the Teaching https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87579202512?pwd=b3PXF6s4kd3HHgoqSeZNzNDhzdcYnw.1      Meeting ID: 875 7920 2512 and passcode: 414176 Signup and Support herehttps://givebutter.com/DEC25More About the Teaching Are you navigating the challenges of recovery, seeking a deeper, more integrated path to healing? Join Vimalasara, co-founder of the groundbreaking 8 Step Recovery and...

  • Angulimala and the Wreckage of our Past

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    BRN Academy

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KskmIGMG_5o Many of us come into recovery, change our lives completely, and then get utterly surprised and disappointed when the closest ones around us still don’t trust or believe us. Some of us have to gruelingly trudge through legal repercussions for many years after committing to recovery.  These issues and an infinite of other problems commonly...

  • Facing Our Inner Demons – Online Summit 2025

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    BRN Academy

    Facing Our Inner Demons - BRN Online Summit A 2-day Buddhist recovery summit of tools, truth, and transformation. October 18th and 19th, 2025 8:30am – 12:00pm PDT 11:30am – 3:00pm EDT 4:30pm – 8:00pm UTC / UK / IRE Find out More and Register

  • Starting Over: Recovery and the Courage to Begin Again

    BRN Academy

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loJyLe_wOgc Recovery is not about perfection. It’s about beginning again—again and again. In this month’s BRN Academy talk Silasiri explores the courage and compassion it takes to let go of the past, return to the present, and choose a new way forward. The Buddha’s teachings remind us that each moment is a fresh start. With...

  • The Buddha’s Intoxications

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    BRN Academy

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QdPy16xHJA In this session, Vince explored Gotama's early life and his own "intoxications" with youth, health, and life itself, drawing parallels to the universal human journey of recognising the patterns that hold us back and embarking on a noble search for freedom.   The talk is based on chapter two of the RAFT to Freedom Workbook that is...

  • Building a RAFT: From Addicted Doctor to Freedom

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    BRN Academy

    BRN Academy with Dr. Cathryn Jacob - August 3, 2025 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzIFmeuR3tQ   Cathryn Jacob is a retired medical doctor who has dedicated herself to the study and teachings of Secular Dharma and early Buddhist teachings. Her recovery journey began with the 12-step program, where she became both a sponsor and teacher, but challenges with the concept...

  • Building a Foundation for Freedom

    BRN Academy

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMJ0EZVG0Uk When we are caught in addictive behaviors, we’re often acting from habits that have been strengthened over the years, and which can be difficult to break. The Buddha’s teaching on liberation and awakening, the Eightfold Path, also offers us a path to freedom from these habits.  When we intentionally use this path as a roadmap...

  • Who Is Myself?

    BRN Academy

    Exploring identity in the context of Dharma and recovery. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0aofOnrzls Meditation and Dharma Talk with time for Q & A

  • Returning to Our Luminosity: The Aggañña Sutta & Breaking Free from Binding Ways

    BRN Academy

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITJne0NH4fQMeditation and Dharma Talk with time for Q & A The Aggañña Sutta offers a striking lens through which we can understand how systems of power, craving, and division take root—both in the world and within ourselves. This teaching traces the movement from a time of luminosity and ease into a world shaped by grasping,...

  • How Buddhist Wisdom Helps Us Stay in Recovery – March Teaching with Walt Opie

    BRN Academy

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0pwyr3uysg The first two path factors of the Noble Eightfold Path, namely Right View and Right Intention, combine to be the wisdom factors. When we understand and develop these to a certain point, we start to see how they can help aim us in the right direction and guide our thinking. This leads to healthier,...

  • Meeting the moment with a Clear Heart with Carol Cano

    BRN Academy

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kz1zDTXg99s Meeting the moment of high stress with a clear heart involves embracing the challenge with a sense of calm and purpose. It’s about grounding yourself in the present, acknowledging the pressure without letting it overwhelm you. A clear heart means letting go of unnecessary tension, judgment, or fear, and instead responding with clarity, focus,...

  • How ‘Not Wanting’ is the Key

    BRN Academy

    Next BRN Academy teaching with Walt Opie -- June 2nd 2024 @ 10:00am US Pacific Time https://youtu.be/zR1lSWytJ-E I once heard the teacher Joseph Goldstein say on a retreat that what we are really practicing is "not wanting." He added that this is the Third Noble Truth (of the Four Noble Truths). In this talk I...

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