Classes – Knoxville Community of Mindfulness

Current Class Offering

Unconditional Love, Part 5
Sundays, April 27-May 18 ​2:00-3:30 pm

This class continues to build upon the practices and teachings offered in Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4. Part 5 presents methods for establishing a sustainable field of care, allowing for a deeper exploration of the awakening mind.
Prerequisites for this class are Unconditional Love Parts 1-4 or the equivalent experience.  If you would like to participate in this class and have not yet met these prerequisites, please contact John directly at johnmb1948@hotmail.com
Meditations in this class are drawn from the Dzogchen (Great Perfection) tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, yet they are informed by modern psychology and designed for Western audiences.  The instructions are quite clear and precise, and they easily can be adapted to anyone's spiritual tradition or worldview.

Classes will include teaching, discussion, guided meditations, and time for Q & A.
As a handbook and guide, we will be using Awakening Through Love:  Unveiling Your Deepest Goodness (2007) by Lama John Makransky. Students are strongly encouraged to obtain a copy.  While reading a text is very useful, it is no substitute for practice.  This class—and weekly meetings following the class— will offer the support needed to practice effectively.

General Class Information

Classes are offered by Knoxville Community of Mindfulness - Registration for these classes is through Knoxville Community of Mindfulness. The Registration link will take you to their website.
There is a cost for these classes. Please see Knoxville Community of Mindfulness website for details and to register.
Classes meet for 90 minutes once a week. Currently, classes are hybrid -- simultaneously on Zoom and  in-person at the Meaningful Life Center.
Most classes run for four weeks. Each class includes instruction, meditation practice, and time for Q&A.

Leonardo DaVinci: Documentary and Discussion

Da Vinci: Documentary and Discussion

Revered as one of the greatest painters in Western Art, for his technological ingenuity, and his unbridled curiosity and study of the natural world, Leonardo serves as a inspiration to this day.

Join us as we present the Ken Burns documentary “Inside the mind of a genius – Leonardo da Vinci” followed by a discussion of the life, work and influence of one of history’s most creative minds. Over four evenings we’ll watch a portion of the recent Ken Burns documentary which tells the story of one of humankind’s most curious and innovative minds followed by a discussion. His ability to combine art and science led him on a remarkable journey to a fulfilled and meaningful life. Join us to explore his journey.

4 Wednesdays 6:30 to 8:30pm
beginning April 2

Knoxville Community of Mindfulness

Knoxville Community of Mindfulness

Sangha

"When you allow yourself to be in a sangha the way a drop of water allows itself to be in a river, then the energy of the sangha can penetrate you, and healing and transformation become possible."
   ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Sangha is the traditional name for a gathering of spiritual friends who are practicing the path of awareness. Our Sangha meeting includes guided meditation, a period of teaching, and discussion. It is suitable for both experienced and new meditators.

Knoxville Community of Mindfulness
In Person at the Meaningful Life Center
on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month

Every week on Zoom
6:30 to 8:00pm

For more information and to access the Zoom link for all sessions visit Knoxville Community of Mindfulness' website - HERE
Scroll down a bit to find the Zoom link.


Workshop Leader: John Blackburn

John Blackburn, Ph.D., has practiced meditation for over forty years, practicing intensively with teachers in the Vipassana, Zen, and Dzogchen traditions. He leads a local meditation group, the Knoxville Community of Mindfulness.  Registration for this workshop is via the Knoxville Community of Mindfulness website.

Lovingkindness Meditation

Lovingkindness Meditation

Metta is a part of the Buddha’s heart teachings about lovingkindness, or the Brahma Viharas - compassion, sympathetic joy, equanimity, and “unbounded friendship” - often called as a group the “Heavenly Abodes.” This workshop will bring participants into experiences of lovingkindness and focus on how to bring about compassion, sympathetic joy, equanimity, and “unbounded friendship” in one’s daily life. We will look at sila (virtue), samadhi (concentration), and pañña (wisdom) as they relate to lovingkindness. Since our purpose is to cultivate lovingkindness and good will, the workshop will be of benefit to anyone who is interested in the topic, no matter what spiritual tradition you might be interested in, or for that matter, whether you are interested or involved in any spiritual tradition at all. The focus will simply be on how a person can cultivate a felt sense and attitude of lovingkindness toward oneself, others, and all beings everywhere.

Every Saturday Morning
10:00 to 12:00 noon

Workshop Leader: Fred Martinson
Fred is an art historian (Ph.D., U. Chicago) who taught at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville for 30 years.  Fred has a special interest in the iconology of Buddhist art (“meaning” as well as style and context).  After specializing in the meaning of Buddhist subjects in Asian art for years, one day about 25 years ago he suddenly realized that there is a reason why those Buddhist images sit the way they do. At that point he began a meditation practice of his own. Since that time, he has studied with a number of different teachers and participates in a half-dozen meditation and study groups including one on Lovingkindness based on the teachings of Andrew Olendzki.

Wednesday Morning Meditation

Wednesday Morning Meditation Group

If you have a meditation practice and would like to sit regularly with a group of practitioners, please consider joining us every Wednesday morning at the Meaningful Life Center. We sit in silence for a period of 45 minutes, beginning at 10 am.

We welcome all participants, whether you are accustomed to meditating by yourself at home or you sit with another group. Our purpose is simply to offer the opportunity to meditate regularly with an informal group. Many people find that sitting with others offers a strong support for their practice.

We began meeting in 2016 as the Friday Morning Meditation Group. The participants come from a variety of spiritual traditions and follow their own individual practices during the session. There are no formal instructions or requirements for participating. There is time afterwards for discussion if anyone would like to offer their thoughts or ask a question.

There are plenty of comfortable chairs at the Center, but if you prefer sitting on a cushion please feel free to bring your own. 

All are welcome. We welcome your participation.

Every Wednesday morning
10:00 to 11:00am

Workshop Leader: Barbara Roberts

Barbara Roberts has studied and practiced with various teachers in the Buddhist and nondual traditions over the past 30 years.

The Value of Surrender & Forgiveness

The Value of Surrender & Forgiveness

Both surrender and forgiveness are powerful tools with which we can change ourselves and change our lives. Their virtues have been recognized through the ages and all the religious traditions of the world have sung their praises. However, as with all powerful tools, they must be used skillfully if they are to be effective. In this workshop, therefore, we will explore the value of surrender, the value of forgiveness, and how they can best be applied in our day-to-day lives.

A major part of discovering how to use them effectively is discerning when each is appropriate and how to apply them in a healthy and balanced way. This will be the focus of our journey

5 Thursdays beginning March 20
6:30 to 8:30pm

Workshop Leader: John Berry

John worked in the Audiology Department of the University of Tennessee for 10 years, coordinating a number of programs. He left UT to found Blount Hearing and Speech Services, which has served over 20,000 patients in the past 35 years. John is also the co-founder and CEO of the Hearing and Speech Foundation, an institution that focuses on conducting research to provide a better understanding of human perception and in so doing to improve the field of audiology.

Reading Poetry Together

Come explore poems by Robert Frost, Wislawa Szymborska, Jane Hirshfield, Kevin Young with us.
We will be reading one poet per meeting. If you have a favorite poem or have one you have written and would like to share, please bring it. If time allows, we can share at the end of each night. A PDF of the poems will be sent to you by email prior to the meeting. It is helpful to have the poems printed out or, if you prefer, available on a screen in front of you. It is also helpful to read the poems previous to their respective meeting. These meetings will be on ZOOM. The link for taking part on Zoom will be provided by email in advance of the first meeting.

4 Thursdays beginning Thursday, April 3

Time: 6:00pm to 7:30pm
Location
: This workshop will be offered online by the Meaningful Life Center.
The link for taking part on Zoom will be provided in advance of the first meeting.


 

Workshop Leader:  Sandy Cartwright

Sandy has been involved with the inner journey most of her adult life. She first became interested in poetry in high school. After 47 years in publishing and advertising, she spends much of her retirement time reading and pursuing her artistic endeavors of writing and stone sculpting.

Second Saturday Zazen

Monthly Second Saturday Zazen

The simple act of sitting in one place and not DOING something has been a gateway for liberation for millennia. There is a reason it “works”. Yet it is the willingness to show up and simply sit that transforms us. The reasons are not relevant. Neither is reading about it, thinking about it, or talking about it. To access this ancient avenue, one must experience it. In these morning meditation sessions, you will have an opportunity to experience an extended meditation in a supportive environment.

We will sit as a group and the day will be structured around periods of sitting meditation and walking meditation. There will be some guided meditation. It will be mostly silent sitting and walking meditation. This is a great opportunity for beginners who want to experience longer meditation periods, as well as experienced meditators. There will time before (and during) the session on sitting posture and comfort for those who would like instruction.  While all three leaders practice zen meditation, the structure will be somewhat modified.

If you have a meditation cushion or bench you like to use, please bring it. There will be chairs available but limited options if you want to sit on the floor.

Workshop Leader: Community Led
Each month may be facilitated by one of three similarly styled practitioners: Tammy Kaousias, Todd Steed, or Meghan Kogen Dieter.  Tammy Kaousias  seriously turned to meditation and yoga methods 15 years ago to help manage the stresses inherent in the legal profession and in caring for elderly parents at the same time.  She practices in the style of Pacific Zen Institute which is largely koan meditation. Todd Steed is a radio host, musician and so much more. He routinely sits with a group that is in the lineage of Soto Zen (Dew Drop Sangha under the umbrella of Hazy Moon) and he also practices koan meditation. Meghan is a newcomer to Knoxville, a mother to a 7 year old, and has an over 15 year zen practice in the Soto Zen style (Hazy Moon).

Film Discussion Group

Each month we get together to discuss a film that leads to conversations on how to live a more meaningful life.
Everyone watches the movies on their own time, and then we meet online to discuss the movies.
The discussions can be lively as the group dives into a new film each month. Join us for our next film.

Please RSVP whether you plan on joining online or in-person.
If you have any questions and to get the Zoom link, please contact Chris at austinfamily.chris@protonmail.com

2025's Upcoming Films:

NEXT
MEETING:

March 23

January 26:
Through a Glass Darkly by Ingmar Bergman - 1961

February 23:
Sullivan's Travels by Preston Sturges - 1941

March 23:
Interstellar by Christopher Nolan - 2014

April 27:
City Slickers by Rob Underwood - 1991

May 25:
The Mission by Roland Joffe - 1986

June 22:
Cool Hand Luke by Stuart Rosenberg - 1967

July 27:
Perfect Days by Wim Wenders - 2023

August24:
Magnolia by Paul Thomas Anderson - 1999

September 28:
Pig by Michael Sarnoski - 2021

October 26:
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931 Version) - 1931

November 23:
You Can't Take It With You by Frank Capra - 1938

December 28:
Leviathan by Andrey Zvyagintsev - 2014

Film Discussion Group: Online
9:30 am to 11:00am

To join our spirited discussion online, please use our registration form and choose Film Discussion Group: Online. You'll receive a link to join the meeting from our workshop leader, Chris Austin before the next scheduled meeting.

Film Discussion Group: In-person
11:00 am to 12:30pm

To join our energetic discussion in-person, please use our registration form and choose Film Discussion Group: In-Person.
Then meet us at The Meaningful Life Center
116 Carr St. Knoxville, TN 37919

Workshop Leader: Chris Austin

Chris is a happily-married husband, passionate father of three children, friend to many, and a budding writer and workshop leader. He is an electrical engineer who uses his education to help industrial plants in East Tennessee optimize their facilities for both safety and efficiency. He considers himself to be a spiritual refugee and a searcher for truth and how to live in harmony with it.


 

Past Films

2024

January: Winter Light by Ingmar Bergman 1963

February: The Great Debaters – by Denzel Washington 2007

March: Wild by Jean-Marc Vallee 2014

April: Solaris (1972 version) by Andrei Tarkovsky 1972

May: Defending Your Life by Albert Brooks 1991

June: Crimes and Misdemeanors by Woody Allen 1989

July: Arrival by Denis Villeneuve 2016

August: Jim and Andy The Great Beyond 2017

September:The Lion King by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff 1994

October: Joker by Todd Phillips

November:

December: It’s a Wonderful Life

2023

2001: A Space Odyssey
Up In The Air
Waking Life
Dead Poets Society
Les Misreables
Flashdance
You Can Count On Me
The Horse Whisperer

2022

Tangerines by Zaza Urushadze
The Matrix by The Wachowski Sisters
A Hidden Life by Terrence Malick
Mr. Holland’s Opus by Stephen Herek

Mirror by Andrei Tarkovsky
A Serious Man by Joel and Ethan Coen
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Julian Schnabel
Thirteen Conversations About One Thing by Jill Sprecher
The Tree of Life by Terrence Malick
Signs by M. Night Shyamalan
Ikiru by Akira Kurosawa
The Family Man by Brett Ratner

2021

The Seventh Seal by Ingmar Bergman
Contact by Robert Zemeckis
Fearless by Peter Weir
Crash by Paul Haggis
Her by Spike Jonze
Into the Wild by Sean Penn
Chariots of Fire by Hugh Hudson
Whiplash by Damien Chazelle
The Addiction by Abel Ferrara
Gandhi by Richard Attenborough
A Christmas Carol (Alistair Sim Version) by Brian Desmond Hurst

2020

The Tree of Life by Terrence Malick
Solaris by Andrie Tarkovsky
A Man Escaped by Robert Bresson
It’s a Wonderful Life by Frank Capra