About the Meditation
Meditation session led by Kate Johnson.
The guided meditation begins at 11:22
For centuries Himalayan practitioners have used meditation to quiet the mind, open the heart, calm the nervous system, and increase focus. Now Western scientists, business leaders, and the secular world have embraced meditation as a vital tool for brain health.
Whether you’re a beginner, a dabbler, or a skilled meditator seeking the company of others, join expert teachers in a forty-five-minute weekly program designed to fit into your lunch break. Each session will be inspired by a different work of art from the Rubin Museum’s collection and will include an opening talk, a twenty-minute sitting session, and a closing discussion.
This program is supported in part by the Hemera Foundation with thanks to our presenting partners Sharon Salzberg,the Interdependence Project and Parabola Magazine.
RELATED ARTWORK
Theme: Mandala
In the Mahayana Buddhist tradition Avalokiteshvara is regarded as a bodhisattva that exemplifies compassion. In Vajrayana Buddhism there are many forms of Avalokiteshvara, both peaceful and wrathful, where he is a meditational deity and regarded as a completely enlightened Buddha. Avalokiteshvara is foremost a bodhisattva arising from the sutra tradition and secondly a deity of the Vajrayana tradition. He is represented in all four tantra classifications in a variety of forms. In this complex mandala he is shown bearing a wrathful appearance with a consort.
About the Speaker
Kate Johnson works at the intersections of spiritual practice, social action, and creativity. She has been practicing Buddhist meditation in the Western Insight/Theravada tradition since her early twenties and is empowered to teach through Spirit Rock Meditation Center. She holds a BFA in dance from the Alvin Ailey School/Fordham University, and MA in performance studies from NYU.
Kate is a core faculty member of MIT’s Presencing Institute, and has trained hundreds of leaders and change-makers in using Social Presencing Theater, a mindfulness and dance improvisation methodology used to inform strategic planning and systems change in our complex world.
