THE SCIENCE OF HAPPINESS AND SUFFERING

~ A Western and Eastern Inquiry into Embodied Well-Being ~

A Series of Talks & Meditation with Whit Hornsberger (2 x 2.5 hour workshops) 

At its root, that which unites us as human beings is our shared primordial drive to experience our human birthright to be free from suffering and experience unconditional happiness.

Yet in order to receive these birthrights, both a theoretical and in turn most importantly an experiential understanding of suffering and happiness is required.

It was upon the arising of his own empirically-borne wisdom of suffering and happiness over 2500 years ago that Siddhatta Gotama enabled his human heart-mind to awaken, becoming the Buddha, resulting in the soteriological (liberation) tradition known as Buddhism.

And now over 2500 years later his empirical findings and concomitant wisdom and science of suffering and happiness are being rigorously tested and repeatedly corroborated by Western science, shedding further light upon the mechanics of human suffering and human happiness and the reality that only via a theoretical and experiential understanding of, and concomitant liberation from suffering that the birthright of happiness then becomes available to the human mind. A birthright available to all beings willing to put in the work via the Buddha’s path of mental-development (meditation).

In this two-part workshop series we will dive deeply into the Buddhist (Dhammic) science and Western neuroscience of suffering and happiness, enabling for the arising of the intellectual map which will then be applied to guide us through the experiential understanding of suffering and happiness via the practice of tranquility (samatha), loving-kindness (mettā), gratitude (muditā) and mindfulness meditation (satipatthāna-vipassanā).

Each workshop includes an Dhamma talk on the teachings of the Buddha known as the Dhamma and the science of our nervous system and its evolution from the perspectives of Buddhist psychology, evolutionary psychology, primatology, Western psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Our discussion will then lead into and be followed by the experiential portion of the workshop via meditation practice.

Participants will leave with a transformative intellectual and empirical understanding of their nervous systems and the neuromechanisms involved in both suffering and happiness, leaving only one ingredient remaining to receive our human birthright: continued practice.

These workshops are open and available to all beings, regardless of level of experience in meditation and exposure to Dhammic and Western neuroscience.

To register for this weekend intensive, please visit: Studio Yogaleveka