Teachers and Dharma Leaders
Jan LandryCommunity Dharma LeaderJan has been a student of meditation for many years and continues to learn from many wise teachers. She teaches Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) locally and in the South Bay. She completed the Insight Santa Cruz Community Teacher training program in 2017. She hopes to support others in cultivating wisdom and compassion to benefit all beings.
Susan EzequelleCommunity Dharma LeaderSusan has been practicing Insight Meditation since 1997. A student of Gil Fronsdal, she worked closely with Gil and other community members to found the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City California in 2001, where she served as board president and teacher. Susan trained as a hospital chaplain and served for two years as palliative care chaplain at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard, then as Spiritual Care Manager at San Francisco General Hospital, and most recently as Relief Chaplain at Stanford Hospital. She also teaches at several Bay Area sanghas.
Dhamma of Illness Support Group for those Living with Pain or Illness – 1st Tuesday
In this group, we can share the truth of our experience living with pain or illness and find others who understand our situation. Through mindfulness practice, we can learn to be present to our experience without reactivity and to be able to be with our joys and sorrows.
We will explore how Dhamma helps us work skillfully with difficulties and how our difficulties can teach us wisdom and compassion. Some of the topics discussed included: developing greater acceptance, kindness, compassion for oneself, facing fear, working with anger, and resistance.
Living examples of illness, aging, and death, were three of the four heavenly messengers sent to the Buddha to awaken him to the reality of the human condition. He saw that everyone is subject to impermanence in the form of sickness, old age, and dying. The fourth messenger showed that there is a path to freedom and an end to suffering. Our culture says that you must be young and healthy to be happy; Buddhism tells us that happiness and freedom come from within, not from external circumstances.
When we are feeling fit and well, we can easily forget this truth. When we experience illness or disability, then the limitations, vulnerability, and imperfection of existence and the brevity of our human life are obvious. We can take advantage of this to develop understanding and compassion and to reveal the deep teachings of the dhamma.
In this monthly, ongoing, drop-in group, we look at these messengers in our own lives. You are welcome to attend whether you have an illness, disability, or chronic pain or are dealing with the usual array of physical or emotional challenges of human life.
Please return to the calendar to join an online session or learn of any schedule updates.
Online Attendance Instructions:
Online Meeting ID: 937 1291 3469
Dial-in Passcode: 653243
Join online by clicking the Join Online button or calling +1-669-900-6833 US (San Jose) followed by the Online Meeting ID number and #. If a passcode is requested, then enter the Dial-in Passcode and #. Find your local number by clicking here. The preferred way to join is by using a Zoom application with your personal Zoom account.
The following displayed information is for event planning and hosting (participants should ignore):
- Zoom user hosting the event: Zoom01@insightsantacruz.org