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

  • A Taste of Freedom

    BRN Academy

    This month in our Buddhist Recovery Workshop series Vimalasara led us in a guided meditation and Dharma talk.

  • Cabbages and Condoms

    BRN Academy

    Life is naturally difficult and disappointing. All living creatures are programmed to seek security and safety, and as humans, we also seek certainty. As a result, we often live life as unconscious prisoners of fear.  Fear of this world and of a next world, fear of sickness and of death, fear of insecurity and of...

  • Changing Poison into Medicine

    BRN Academy

     Myokei Caine-Barrett currently holds the position of Bishop of the Nichiren Shu Buddhist Order of North America.  She is the first woman and the first American to hold this position.  She is also the first American woman and first person of African American-Japanese descent to be fully ordained, having completed this process in 2007 with ...

  • Relax the Body, Relax the Mind

    BRN Academy

      Our bodies hold so much that we’re not aware of. Our shoulders are tight, our jaws are clenched. This tenseness is often a reaction to cravings, aversions, and other habits of mind that we’re also unaware of. In this meditation and talk, Mary will invite us to relax the body and mind which allows...

  • Showing Up for Life As It Is

    BRN Academy

    So much of our lives can be driven by unconscious reactivity: the endless struggle to avoid painful or negative feelings. With mindfulness meditation, we can develop the skill of patience and presence, so that we can experience calm and contentment even in the midst of all of the challenges of our lives.

  • Watch Your Tone: Awareness of Feeling Tones

    BRN Academy

    With any experience, there is a felt sense that arises within us before the onslaught of stories and emotions. It often happens so quickly that we are unaware of it. These feeling tones set in motion the habitual reactions of our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that we get caught up in.   The Buddha taught us...

  • Eight Step Recovery

    BRN Academy

    This months teaching will take the form of an Eight Step Recovery meeting 

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