VIMC teachers offer the opportunity for one-on-one practice meetings with sangha members. These meetings are usually scheduled for 30 minutes and are available to students with specific questions about their meditation practice or those who are interested in deepening their practice through meetings with a spiritual friend.
Preparing for a Teacher-Student Meeting
- Please consider these meetings as a part of practice, and treat this time with relaxed care and respect. These meetings are not a place to chat, or to get to know someone socially.
- Take time to frame issues or questions in your own mind as clearly as possible. Some examples of appropriate areas of inquiry include how to practice, understanding a dharma talk or a teaching from a class, relating skillfully to a meditation experience, or concerns about the integration of practice and daily life.
- Remember, a teacher-student meeting is not the same as therapy. Although psychological issues may arise in this context, generally no effort is made to explore a story or to “fix” problems. What and how things happen are the focus, rather than why.
- For those who need more regular support, psychotherapy can offer a venue for issues such as depression, anxiety, trauma, family of origin issues, relational issues, addictions, decision-making, vocational concerns and crisis intervention.
Meeting Etiquette
- Please be on time for your meeting.
- Please turn cell phones and other electronics off.
- Please be mindful to try to end on time. The teacher will help you with this if needed.
Contacting a Teacher
You may contact the teachers directly to schedule a meeting.
Contact Claire Stanley»
Contact Cheryl Wilfong»
Contact Paul Rodrigue»
Contact Susan Dreyer Leon»
Supporting the Teachers
In keeping with ancient Buddhist custom and contemporary adaptations of this tradition, VIMC is committed to an economy of gifts that nourishes both our students’ practice and our teachers so they can continue to offer themselves to students. While there is no set fee for these meetings, VIMC teachers are all highly skilled and knowledgeable; please consider gifts that are respectful of their decades of meditation and teaching experience, the skill and energy offered in these meetings, and their needs as householders. This system of gifts acknowledges our interconnectedness and interdependence, and is based on mutual generosity.
