Exploring the Seven Factors of Awakening
7 Session Bi-weekly Course led by Joe Panec
Registration deadline is January 8
Wednesday, January 15 – April 9, 2025, 7 – 8:30 p.m. CT
Held on Zoom
In Buddhist practice we often investigate our experience with suffering and how to diminish it, but the Buddha said we also need to develop positive qualities that help us to cultivate ease, joy and clarity. These are reliable supports for wisdom and insight to arise.
One of the most important teachings on positive qualities to cultivate in our practice is the seven factors of awakening. These are mindfulness, investigation, energy, happiness, calm, concentration and equanimity. When we develop these qualities, they bear fruit both on the cushion and in our daily lives. As a practice group our focus will be to recognize and meet these factors when they arise naturally as well as to cultivate their arising within our formal mediation and off the cushion.
Our meetings will focus on each awakening factor in sequence and will include study, inquiry, discussion and experiential practices.
The class, led by meditation teacher Joe Panec, is offered on a sliding scale of $75 – 200. Please pay at the highest level you can afford so we can support those who need to pay less. (A lower priced scholarship option is available in the case of financial need.) Payments can be made at Venmo @onedharma, or paypal here. Checks are also accepted, info is here. If paying by Venmo or check, plese include your email address. We are committing a portion of the class fee to support Southern Dharma Retreat Center with their extensive and ongoing disaster relief efforts in North Carolina.
Having an existing meditation practice is recommended for this class. For questions, email Joe at joepanec@gmail.com.
Joe started his practice in the late 1980’s with the Zen Center of Los Angeles. A periodic commitment to steady practice followed until 2020 when began sitting with One Dharma Nashville on Zoom and committing deeply to practicing in the Vipassana tradition. Joe completed Lisa Ernst’s 2022 Dharma teacher training program and recently completed two programs at Spirit Rock – the 2-year Dedicated Practitioner program and the 1-year Liberation through Emptiness and Awareness program. Joe has sat over 100 days of retreats since 2020. In 2023 he took an early retirement from a successful engineering career in the semiconductor industry to focus on deepening his understanding and practice of the dharma.
Registration deadline is January 8. Payment refund policy: No refunds available after class starts, 50% refund prior to the first meeting.