Kate Johnson

Meditation session led by Kate Johnson. If you missed this program, check out the podcast, now live in the Rubin Media Center.

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. Chairs will be provided.

Presented in partnership with Sharon Salzberg and the Interdependence Project. This program is supported in part by the Hemera Foundation.

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Theme: Liberation Through Listening

From the Yungdrung (Eternal) Bon tradition, this sculpture depicts Kungzang Akor, a meditational form of the supreme Bon deity Shenla Okar. He sits with his hands resting in meditation, wearing a crown with the Tibetan syllable “Ah” inscribed on his heart. While “OM” serves as the primordial syllable in Buddhism, “Ah” represents the primordial in the Bon tradition. Much like Buddhism, Bon also teaches practices to achieve liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth as well as from the ignorance of our own minds.

About the Speaker

Kate Johnson works at the intersections of spiritual practice, social action, and creative expression. She teaches mindful yoga in NYC public schools, teaches Buddhist meditation at the Interdependence Project, and facilitates an embodied approach to organizational and leadership development for social change agents and communities. Johnson holds a BFA in dance from the Alvin Ailey School/Fordham University and a MA in performance studies from NYU. She has trained at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, the Interdependence Project, Laughing Lotus Yoga, and the Presencing Institute. She is working on a book about waking up to power and oppression as a spiritual practice, to be published by Parallax Press in fall 2017.