Miksang Institute Summer 2012
Boulder, Colorado

All Levels of the Summer Program have been Confirmed

This June and July, 2012, The Miksang Institute for Contemplative Photography will be conducting a four-week long Miksang Training Summer Program in South Boulder, Colorado. The final workshop location will be announced shortly. The program consists of a total of five workshops, the essentials of the Miksang Journey:

• Opening the Good Eye - June 17 - 22

• Making Contact: Discovering That - June 24 - 27

• The Heart of Perception - June 28 - July 1

• Space. Further Dimensions of Perception - July 2 - 5

• Cutting Loose - July 6 - 10

The program is designed especially for those from countries such as Australia, New Zealand, and those from Asia and South America who have expressed a desire to study Miksang in an intensive format, during a continuous time period. The program is also open to those from Europe, Canada and the U.S.A.

It is also possible to attend any portion of the intensive for which you have fulfilled the prerequisite course requirements (see the Miksang Journey page for the details).

Upon registration, we can assist you in finding some inexpensive housing options in Boulder area homes and hotels.

Here is a description of the individual workshops

Opening The Good Eye
(Intro Evening + 5 days)

Pre-Requisite: None

Opening the Good Eye is an introduction to the discipline and delight of direct seeing and perception- based photography. We begin to develop the ability to synchronize our mind and eye so that our habitual patterns of seeing and labeling dissolve in a moment of stunning, vivid perception. Through visual exercises and assignments we develop confidence in our ability to connect directly with what we see, stay fully present with the perception as we fully understand its qualities, and then express our experience precisely with our cameras.

Making Contact
(4 days)

Pre-Requisite: Opening the Good Eye

In 'Opening the Good Eye', we taste the mind of equanimity or evenness about what we see. Because of this, we begin to develop certainty in the view that 'there is such a thing as unconditional perception that does not come from self of other'. We start having certainty that we can experience the world directly and joyfully. Once we have developed some openness beyond what 'this', or 'I' think about what I see, it is possible to engage with the 'thatness' of the objects of perception. As part of this course we will be introduced to the study and practice of 'Deep Noticing'

The Heart of Perception
(Intro Evening + 3 days)

Pre-Requisite: Making Contact

Having developed confidence in our ability to recognize when we are being stopped by a flash of perception and stabilized our experience of the flash, we find that as we look at and appreciate what stops us, we begin to resonate and connect to the object of our perception. We explore this resonance and its qualities—It is the heart of our perception.

Space: Further Dimensions of Perception
(Intro Evening + 3 days)

Pre-Requisite: All workshops above

In order to further refine our relationship with our visual world, it is very helpful to clarify and deepen our awareness of the aspect of perception which we call space. As part of our conventional way of looking at the world, there is a tendency to look at objects, which we usually fix into place through thinking, labeling and associating. We tend to move from one object to the next as we navigate our experience. Seldom do we notice the visual space in which objects appear—the space around or between things. This workshop introduces methods of relaxing our gaze and our fixation on things so that we can actually experience, notice and express the qualities of space in our world. Through exercises and assignments, our images begin to express our experience of visual dimensionality rather than our customary emphasis on form and its qualities.

Cutting Loose
(Intro Evening + 4 days)

Pre-Requisite: All workshops above

Having incorporated the discipline of seeing clearly and forming the equivalent of our perception with our camera, we can begin to play freely in the visual world without self-doubt or hesitation. The assignments in this course allow us to further let go of our habits and patterns involved in seeing— even those associated with our Miksang training.

Register for all 5 Workshops - $2000

Register for Opening the Good Eye - $ 550

Please note: The Miksang Institute has no relationship to nor any affiliation with any other contemplative photography organizations or teachers, (with the exception of http://miksang.nl) and only workshops taken with Miksang Institute Teachers are counted as prerequisites for any Institute programs.

Miksang Institute Summer 2012 Boulder, Colorado

Miksang Institute Summer 2012
Boulder, Colorado