Shanté Paradigm Smalls

Meditation session led by Shanté Paradigm Smalls. If you missed this program, check out thepodcast, now live in theRubin Media Center.

For centuries Himalayan practitioners have used meditation to quiet the mind, open the heart, calm the nervous system, and increase focus. Mindfulness meditation offers not only refuge, but an opportunity to engage more consciously with the world around us.

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, each inspired by a different work of art from the Rubin Museum’s collection. Designed to fit into your lunch break, the program includes an opening talk, a twenty-minute sitting session, and a closing discussion. Chairs will be provided.

Presented with Sharon Salzberg & Shambhala Meditation Center of NYC. This program is supported in part by the Hemera Foundation.

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Theme: Focus

The Mandala of Heruka Krishna Yamari, a wrathful form of of Manjushri, Yamari can be used by practitioners as a yidam, meaning a deity that is an object of meditation. In this artwork Yamari embraces his consort, representing the union of compassion and wisdom, the two aspects of enlightenment. Mandalas and yidam practice are based on visualization, with the practitioner imagining the mandala and the deity through particular stages of their meditation. It’s a practice that requires extraordinary focus, which must be developed for several years before attempting this type of meditation.

About the Speaker

Shanté Paradigm Smalls, PhD, is a teacher and meditation instructor in the Shambhala lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Smalls is a student of Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche and has been a member of Shambhala and the NYC Shambhala sangha since 2006. Dr. Smalls is an Assistant Professor of English at St. John’s University in Queens, NY. For more information, visit www.shanteparadigm.com