Meditation classes
Weekly classes in 2023 each Tuesday at 7.30pm
Helpful for beginner and experienced meditators
With Tibetan Buddhist monk Venerable Toby Gillies
L – R: Venerable Toby Gillies, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Geshe Thubten Lhundrup, Geshe Thubten Loden.
For more on the classes
New to meditation? Meditation classes are a wonderful inner journey
Learn meditation and mindfulness from the ground up and find a deeper understanding of your mind and emotions. Shape your intent to bring greater happiness, success and peace with the ability to share this with those you love. A consistent development of vital knowledge and proper technique is the aim of Toby Gillies’ meditation classes.
You will be learning the methods of the Dalai Lama, perhaps the happiest, wisest man on earth. To cater to the modern mindset, the Dalai Lama has been instrumental in collaborations with various Western disciplines. The fields of neuroscience and psychology now acknowledge the benefits of meditation and mindfulness and actively promote derivatives of these timeless Buddhist practices.
By learning meditation from the Buddhist source, practitioners can expect to gain spiritual insights, better focus, concentration, a deep inner stillness and calm. The ingrained habit of distraction is eliminated and we overcome dullness – the obstacles to real concentration.
Our Hawthorn meditation centre is ideally located for those searching for meditation classes in Melbourne. Even if you live on the other side of town, you will find any travel worthwhile once you make a connection to the classes. Start your meditation practice today for a better tomorrow.
(As the classes are now conducted on Zoom, we can give even wider access.)
The Structure of the Meditation Classes
To begin with, each session has a full explanation of how to meditate. We then continue to a guided meditation, before concluding with questions and discussions.
Classes build knowledge progressively but always coupled to your personal experience through guided meditation practice.
Over an eight week block of classes you will develop a good foundation of understanding. You will be able to notice the difference regular practice makes and how much better you function in life.
But that is just scratching the surface and one of the first things you learn is that there is so much more to learn! So our classes continue to build on the foundation and if you persist there will be an opportunity to join the very advanced classes that Venerable Toby offers to those with a good foundation in knowledge and practice.
You will find more on the practice of meditation here.
How Meditation Classes Can Help
Meditation helps you to discover more about your mind and its potential. With meditation you gain a tool that is beneficial to yourself, your relationships, career, hobbies and more.
Anyone can learn to meditate and be mindful, which allows for better health, healing, emotional stability, relaxation, clarity, and focus. Some will enjoy the opportunity to go further and unleash the full power of their mind.
You may even discover the extraordinary ability of Enlightenment, which has inspired seers over millennia.
What to Expect If I Am New to Meditation
Toby Gillies’ meditation classes are completely accessible to beginners – all you need to bring is yourself, with no prior experience being necessary. The sessions emphasise relaxation, accessibility and friendliness to provide you with the environment you need to access your deeper self.
All are welcome to these classes, whether for a one-off class or ongoing attendance. The idea is to come along, try it out and see where you think you might be able to take it.
Furthermore, meditation classes are accessible to those of any faith or religion. While inspired by Buddhist techniques, the classes do not present a belief system to adopt. The classes will not clash with any pre-existing religious belief you may have, nor are they contrary to scientific or non-religious belief systems.
In fact, the Buddha himself espoused cultivating wisdom, so you are not dependent on what others tell you. He encouraged us to listen, think and meditate as the means to true insight and understanding, which are the values that we uphold at our meditation classes, meaning you are completely welcome to make up your own mind and do so competently with the aid of meditation.
Meditation is a path of discovery. Through it we hope you discover your Enlightenment – you choose which elements to incorporate in your own life.
The Value of Attending Meditation Classes
The journey we take in meditation is personal and quite unique for each individual. The methods to unveil this inner path, though, are themselves universal. We learn them from a teacher of meditation and mindfulness, with the classes giving us the opportunity to study and question.
Meditation classes also connect us with the lineage of the meditation teachings. This line of teachers carry with them something of the energy of all who have gone before. Clear explanation and lineage is the most powerful transmission of the Dharma, the teachings on meditation.
The insights that we develop from our meditation open up new and exciting ways to approach life.