Tuesday
Heart of Recovery at the Montreal Shambhala Center
By Laurence Corman
When I attended my first AA meeting, I was left a little bewildered when I was told that I did not have an alcohol problem because, despite my daily drinking, I was not experiencing blackouts and was able to enjoy healthy family relationships and have a successful career.
I wasn’t convinced…
Knowing that AA has helped millions of addicts’ cope, I still longed for a different approach that would resonate with my ongoing personal experience while integrating my meditation practice and dharma studies.
A meditator for over 15 years, I had come to understand that my addiction issues are rooted in the exact same place as my crippling anxiety: my mind. And I had also come to understand that on some level, we are all addicts – addicted to our thoughts. I really wanted to be able to find a way to discuss addiction openly, without labels, in all its forms, with an inviting, curious approach.
So, when CJ reached out to ask our centre if we hosted Shambhala’s HEART OF RECOVERY (HOR) program, I jumped at the opportunity to establish bilingual sessions for our Montreal sangha (the first internationally to be offered in French) and asked for his help.
CJ was also searching for a recovery program that would be a better fit than the 12-Step group for sex addiction he had joined a year prior. Describing himself as a “recovering Catholic,” he had benefited greatly from his current program but still didn’t feel comfortable with its concept of a Higher Power rooted in Judeo-Christian thought. Hungry for something else, he had chanced upon Kevin Griffin’s One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the Twelve Steps and felt it resonate with his budding meditation practice and dharma reading.
CJ and I enlisted the help of John Rancor, who runs the HOR program in Boston, and quickly started translating the relevant texts in preparation for our first session in January 2023. We also prepared and translated quotes from several books we were going to use for our sessions – including Griffin’s One Breath at a Time, the Sakyong’s Turning the Mind into an Ally, Gabor Maté’s In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, and Eric Rainbeau’s Basic Sobriety.
Held every Thursday evening, we welcome people from all faith traditions and recovery programs, as well as first-time meditators through experienced dharma practitioners. Over the last few months, we’ve gathered a solid base of participants. Along with deepening our meditation practice together, we have created a safe, confidential, open environment for exchanging our personal experiences with addiction.
With great focus on active listening and holding space for our fellows without interference, our sessions have come to resemble social meditation sessions. Together, we experience our individual and collective goodness and create a culture of authenticity and now-ness by bringing our meditative awareness into listening and speaking from our present-moment experience.
When shared in the cradle of loving-kindness, the addictive, dualistic impulses arising from our minds dissolve into the wholeness of our basic goodness, fueling our courage and strength to continue to explore what it means to be human.
*****
To learn more about the in-person, bilingual Heart of Recovery Group at the Montreal Shambhala Centre please click here.
Entries filed under International Programs
Family and Children’s Programming & Articles
Upcoming Programs of Interest: Teen Retreat at Karme Choling, Vermont – Nov. 13 – 15, 2009 Sun Camp Articles on Families and Children in Shambhala: Spring Equinox Focus on Families – March 20th, 2009 continuePosted November 10, 2009 by
A Ratio of One-to-One Fun – HIGHLIGHT
Does summer and Sun Camp feel like leaves of memory, falling off the trees? To revive the fun, here’s a recollection of what happened, what didn’t happen, and what just was. By Ben Williams Another year marches by at the Shambhala Sun Summer Camp where 31 ... continuePosted November 4, 2009 by Ben Williams
Peace Within, Peace in the World – HIGHLIGHT
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Special Event: The View of Mahamudra – HIGHLIGHT
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Public Experiential Leadership Program Based on Kasung Practices
EastPoint Leadership Training will be presenting some of the meditation-in-action exercises of the Dorje Kasung (“protectors of the Dharma”) for the first time publicly, in a secular context and language. These elemental practices were originally transmitted to the Dorje Kasung at Magyal Pomra Encampments by Chögyam ... continuePosted September 10, 2009 by Lennart Krogoll
Tibetan Book of the Dead for the Living
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Invitation to India – HIGHLIGHT
The Shambhala community has been warmly invited by Gyetrul Jigme Rinpoche and the Ripa Ladrang to attend the inauguration of Rigon Thupten Mindrolling Monastery Inauguration in Orissa, India this January. Planning is already underway, and registration will open in September. The inauguration is scheduled for January ... continuePosted August 6, 2009 by
Wisdom for Difficult Times: What the Buddhists Teach (Shambhala Sun Urban Retreat in San Francisco, Oct 2-4, 2009)
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Mukpo Institute: Taking a Leap – HIGHLIGHT
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Shambhala in Ukraine and Russia
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Historic Queer Dharma Retreat – HIGHLIGHT
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Extended Residency: Mukpo Institute at Karme Choling – HIGHLIGHT
By Sara Demetry You may have noticed that the length of programs continues to shrink throughout our Shambhala mandala. Seminary went from a three-month program to two, two-week programs. Path programs are now more accessible to people with busy lives, giving students an opportunity to mix ... continuePosted June 7, 2009 by
Announcing H.E. Namkha Drimed Rinpoche’s 2009 Tour – HIGHLIGHT
After a successful completion of the Rinchen Terdzo in Orissa, India, at the beginning of March, His Eminence Namkha Drimed Rinpoche is now back in Nepal. The teachings were accomplished after a little more than three months of almost daily practice, during which His Eminence gave ... continuePosted April 23, 2009 by
MBSR Training in France – HIGHLIGHT
By Acharya Mathias Pongracz What is MBSR? Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction is a method for teaching mindfulness to people who want to deal with stress, pain, anxiety, depression and other medical and psychological conditions in a way which will give them a chance to take responsibility for their ... continuePosted April 23, 2009 by Jessica Sarapoff
Touching the Moment: Indelible Presence
with Acharya Dale Asrael & Cynthia Moku May 15 – 19, 2009 Blending meditation, contemplative arts, sensory awareness practices in nature and hatha yoga, this retreat will provide a rich practice environment in which we can shed conditioned habit patterns and rediscover the world with fresh perception. continuePosted April 22, 2009 by Jessica Sarapoff
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