On Saturday May 17 the BDC will host an Intro to Meditation class from 9 AM to 12:30 PM. This class will focus on what to do when you get stuck in your practice and ways to expand your “meditation toolkit.” Bring your questions and spend the morning learning and exploring how to bring curiosity and compassion to your practice.

This class will be offered in person and via Zoom.

Are you interested in starting a meditation practice or building a community around your practice? The Bozeman Dharma Center hosts a newcomer orientation on the first Tuesday of each month. Join us in February on the 4th from 5- 6 pm to find out more about the Center, get your questions answered, and receive basic meditation instruction. No registration required!

  Are you interested in starting a meditation practice? Join us on Saturday January 25, 9 AM – 12:30 PM to learn several different styles of meditation and find one that works for you.

We will cover how to start a meditation practice at home, posture, breath practice, walking meditation, body scan guided meditation, working with a question, mindfulness, Metta practice, and Tonglen.

Join us on Sunday January 19 from 12:30 PM – 4 PM for an art and journaling workshop (Back by popular demand–it’s the same one as the New Year’s Workshop). We will focus on naming and expressing our practice intention for the new year.  We will use collage, markers, paint, and stencils to manifest our intuition and values on a 12” x 12” substrate.

Supplies will be provided. You do not need to know how to draw or paint to participate! Space is limited so please pre-register.

Join us for a New Year’s Intention Setting Workshop on Saturday January 4 from 9 AM to 12:30 PM. In this art and journaling workshop, we will focus on naming and expressing our practice intention for the new year.  We will use collage, markers, paint, and stencils to manifest our intuition and values on a 12” x 12” substrate. Supplies will be provided. You do not need to know how to draw or paint to participate! Space is limited; please pre-register.

108 Bell Rings and Metta Practice with Megan Hollingsworth

November 30, 2024 10:00 AM to Noon

Lost Species Day is a chance each year to explore the stories of extinct and critically endangered species, cultures, lifeways, and ecological communities and provides an opportunity for participants to make or renew commitments to all who remain. It is also a time to develop creative and practical solutions.

With special attention to genocide and anthropomorphic species extinction, our practice on Remembrance Day for Lost Species (also known as Lost Species Day) will include silent meditation, Metta practice (guided loving kindness meditation), 108 bell rings, and open sharing.

108 bell rings represent the 108 human vexations. Each strike of the bell clears one of these to bring forth joy that remains when we are fully present. Practicing 108 bell rings on November 30th, the last day of the month, aligns with the original practice as it is thought to have begun at Zen temples in China.

Megan Hollingsworth, MS, is a writer with an interdisciplinary education in community health and environmental studies. Her work is deeply influenced by her Quaker upbringing, Engaged Buddhism, and faith in essential goodness. Meg is creator of the spiritual practice Extinction Witness. She began participating in international Lost Species Day activities in 2014 and has also served on the leadership team. Meg is currently an East West Psychology and Art PhD student at California Institute of Integral Studies.   https://www.meganhollingsworth.com and Remembrance Day For Lost Species

Bearing Unique Witness with the Pen Sunday, November 17 from 1:30-3:30 pm.

In this mindful creativity practice, Megan Hollingsworth will support participants in weaving personal and collective experience into poetry and prose. Meg will provide prompts for collective experience and encourages participants to bring references relevant to their personal experience and worldly concerns. Participants are also encouraged to bring their favorite writing tool and notebook or journal. This process of bearing witness to what is really happening is an exploratory and initiatory practice. Previous writing experience is unnecessary.

Megan Hollingsworth, MS, is a writer with an interdisciplinary education in community health and environmental studies. Her work is deeply influenced by her Quaker upbringing, Engaged Buddhism, and faith in essential goodness. Meg is creator of the spiritual practice Extinction Witness and author of Frog Song, an educational book on the global ecological health crisis that features an interspecies love poem illustrated by Bonnie Gordon-Lucas. Meg’s writing has been published in several online journals and print anthologies. She is currently an East West Psychology and Art PhD student at California Institute of Integral Studies. https://www.meganhollingsworth.com

Find inspiration and support for your practice by sharing words of wisdom in this month’s mindful creativity class on Saturday October 26 from 10-11:30 am. Participants will make a small book of quotes, using their own cherished mantras, words, phrases, haikus, or short poems, and adding new ones gathered from others in the class. By transcribing these quotes and adding images or illuminating the pages with patterns, drawings, and color, you will be creating a book of collected wisdom—as well as collecting the encouragement and good wishes from the gathered sangha.

Bring a selection of words, quotes, phrases, haiku, short poems that inspire you, and support your practice.  Have 5 or 6 or more to choose from. These will be used for your book and to support others.

Some optional things to bring:

• your favorite writing tools, pens, markers, pencils.  There will be plenty available, but if you have a preference bring yours.
• if you have a design, illustration, border, small rubber stamp, etc.that you’d like to include in your book, bring that too.

Please pre-register so we can ensure that we have enough space and supplies!