It's interesting getting to introduce friends to new meditation methods and to see how different orgs handle the instruction. I recently shared the story of a friend who had learned TM years ago, but wanted to learn traditional Buddhist meditation instead, as she felt she was getting nowhere with TM.
She decided to go to a remote Abbey on the northern coast of Nova Scotia where an acharya named Pema Chodron lived. She spent a couple of weeks at the retreat center and received instruction in Shamatha and Vipassana in the traditional Kagyu style along with instruction in Compassion Meditation. A meditation instructor was assigned to her and followed her progress during the stay, guiding her through the process and helping her learn to experiment with what was right for her. There was no charge for meditation instruction and the offer to follow up as needed. It was a very rewarding experience for her and she already feels well established in her practice. The interesting thing was she wanted to share that same style of meditation with others and had some friends who wanted to learn meditation also--but none had the time or money to travel to a remote Abbey in Nova Scotia. This is where it gets interesting. Since the Abbey was affiliated with Shambhala International, I checked into the Shambhala website for our state and soon found a list of meditation instructors. A couple of emails, a phone call and instructions and off we were for a day trip to the country home of one of the meditation instructors. He refused any money, so we took a hand picked bouquet of flowers as a gift, which he gladly accepted. He instructed all of us, took us though sitting, the meditation technique and answered all the questions we had. It was made clear how to experiment with the technique to individualize it to our own needs. A very enjoyable experience. He too offered help by phone, email or in person, as needed. The technique ended up being identical to the one taught at the Abbey. I highly recommend this approach for any interested.
