Beyond Distraction: Five Practical Ways to Free the Mind from Distracting Thoughts - InsightLA Meditation

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Shaila Catherine

Location Benedict Canyon Retreat House
Experience Levels All
This class is a donation based class. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
Date Starts Saturday, June 6, 2026
Ends Sunday, June 7, 2026

1 night

Refund and Event Policies

Mental restlessness is an insidious and pervasive hindrance that most practitioners struggle to overcome. We can refine our skills for working with the modes of thinking that distract us from being mindful: critical thoughts, planning, worrying, lustful fantasies, judging, memories, internal commentaries, to name a few. Inspired by two discourses in the Middle Length Discourses (suttas 19 and 20), this event will offer a sequence of practical strategies to free the mind from obstructive patterns.

Participants will develop mindfulness-based meditation practices while overcoming habitual distractions.

This retreat is suitable for both new and experienced practitioners.

Preparation: Please read Beyond Distraction: Five Practical Ways to Focus the Mind by Shaila Catherine and the following two discourses prior to the event.
https://suttacentral.net/mn19/en/bodhi
https://suttacentral.net/mn20/en/bodhi

Schedule: June 6 and 7, 2026, 10am-4pm PT at the Benedict Canyon Retreat House

Suggested donation: $225

Shaila Catherine

Shaila Catherine is a Buddhist author and the founder of Bodhi Courses, an online Dhamma classroom, and Insight Meditation South Bay, a center for mindfulness, compassion, and wisdom in Silicon Valley, California. She has meditated since 1980, studied with masters in India, Thailand, and Nepal, dedicated more than nine years to silent retreat, taught meditation... Read more

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