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Dr. Pilar Jennings

Events

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August 2-7, 2020: Omega Institute Retreat – A Bodhisattva’s Way: Healing in Buddhism & Psychotherapy, with Khenpo Pema Wangdak

Location: 150 Lake Drive, Rhinebeck, NY 12572

In the great healing traditions of Tibetan Buddhism and psychotherapy, there is a powerful appreciation for the wish to feel well, recover from all forms of suffering, and live a full and peaceful life. Join the venerable Khenpo Pema Wangdak, a Tibetan Buddhist monk and founding teacher of the Vikramasila Foundation, and Pilar Jennings, a psychoanalyst and author of To Heal a Wounded Heart, to explore a roadmap for healing in the Bodhisattva’s Way.

Together we learn about sacred Buddhist teachings and how to apply them to spiritual and psychological healing. Through meditation, discussions, and guided exercises, we discover methods for increasing self-compassion, addressing trauma, and releasing beliefs that limit happiness and meaningful connection with others.

This retreat is open to beginning and experienced meditators, as well as clinicians who want to apply the healing arts of Buddhist spirituality in clinical work.

The gilded form of Green Tara with flower, made of metal. Executed in the Tibetan tradition.

June 12-14, 2020: Healing Anxiety in Time of Tumult: A Buddhist & Psychotherapeutic Response

Dates: Jun 12, 2020 – Jun 14, 2020
Days: Fri – Sun (2 Nights)

Click here to register

Instructor: Pilar Jennings

As we navigate this time of significant change and strife, the healing arts of the Buddhadharma and Western psychology offer needed and illuminating perspectives and methods. In this course we’ll explore a Buddhist and psychodynamic understanding of anxiety, its causes and personal symptoms. Together we will examine a contemplative response to this powerful form of suffering as a way to cull meaning and offer support to those who experience anxiety and its many ripple effects. With a focus on interpersonal dynamics, including the teacher/student dyad, therapist/patient dyad, and parent/child dyad, we will learn about key relational and developmental dynamics that typically generate the feelings and behaviors associated with anxiety. This course will be relevant to meditators of all experience levels and clinicians interested in the clinical applications of Buddhist meditation.

Learning Intentions: To learn about the clinical applications of Buddhist meditation and breathwork for patients with anxiety; better understand interpersonal and developmental issues contributing to anxiety; identify key intersubjective dynamics between Buddhist teachers and students, and therapists and patients that contribute to anxiety; and learn about the resonant though contrasting perspectives on psychological suffering and its working through in psychotherapeutic and Buddhist theory.

Noble Silence and Mindful Speech: Noble silence will be observed following the evening session through breakfast the following morning.

Experience Level: Suitable for both beginning and experienced practitioners.

CEU’s: The application for 10 continuing education credits for psychologists and social workers has been submitted for this course.   We are not able to offer CEU’s for Counselors (NBCC).  Please contact us at (978-355-2347/contact@buddhistinquiry) for the status of CE accreditation.

Dr. Pilar Jenningsis a psychoanalyst based in New York City with a focus on the clinical applications of Buddhist meditation practice. She has been a Buddhist practitioner for 40 years; a teacher of Tibetan Buddhism in the Sakya lineage; a Visiting Lecturer at Union Theological Seminary; Columbia University; and a faculty member of the Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science.

Cost:

Benefactor: $458
Sustaining: $358
Mid Level (Actual Cost): $278
Supported: $218
Non-Resident: $130

Click here to register

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April 16, 2020: Emptiness & Social Action – Union Theological Seminary

Join us for Emptiness & Social Action  with Dr. Pilar Jennings

WHEN: April 16, 2020 @ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
WHERE: Union Theological Seminary 3041 Broadway, New York, NY 10027

COST: Free

The Thích Nhất Hạnh Program for Engaged Buddhism invites you to join us for our monthly Dharma Talk Series: Emptiness and Social Action. Over the course of nine months, a wide array of Buddhist teachers will take us into the essential teachings of the Buddhadharma and what it looks like to move into action to address the dissatisfaction, distress, and suffering that we meet in relationship with the earth, people, and systems today, in the United States, and around the world.

How does conceptual, inferential, and experiential knowledge into emptiness of an inherent self invite for a response to circumstances that are stressful, painful, and violent? Each evening will be unique, with a combination of a dharma talk, meditation, and a question and answer period exploring these essential and vital questions within Buddhism and our lives’ for this moment in time.

Dr. Jennings is a Visiting Lecturer at Union Theological Seminary; Columbia University; and a Faculty Member of the Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science. She is also a facilitator of a Columbia University Faculty Seminar addressing topics related to slavery and memory, with a focus on the inter-generational transmission of trauma.  She has given workshops and retreats internationally on the Buddhist and psychoanalytic approach to trauma, the relevance of spirituality in clinicians, and the unfolding conversation between Buddhist and developmental psychology.
Her publications have included “East of Ego: The Intersection of Narcissism and Buddhist Meditation Practice,” “I’ve Been Waiting for you: Reflections on Analytic Pain,” “Imagery and Trauma: The Psyche’s Push for Healing,” and Mixing Minds: The Power of Relationship in Psychoanalysis and Buddhism released through Wisdom Publications.  Her most recent book: To Heal a Wounded Heart: On the Transformative Power of Buddhism & Psychotherapy in Action, is a psychoanalytic memoir exploring her entry into clinical work as a practicing Buddhist.

Dr. Jennings is a long-term practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism in the Sakya lineage and student of Khenpo Pema Wangdak, founder and guiding teacher of the Vikramasila Foundation. Her most recent retreats at the Garrison Institute and Omega Institute have addressed the Upaya, or skillful means in response to trauma and psycho-spiritual efforts at healing.

Click here to learn more

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Feb 22-23, 2020: Contemplative Psychotherapy Program – Intersession Retreat

Join contemplative psychotherapy pioneer Joe Loizzo, MD, PhD, and Pilar Jennings, PhD, along with meditation master Robert Thurman, PhD for the Nalanda Institute Contemplative Psychotherapy Program: The Compassion Year, a historic program offering an intensive step-by-step learning experience integrating Buddhist psychology and meditation, with the most promising breakthroughs in contemporary neuroscience, health psychology, and psychotherapy.

Location: San Francisco Zen Center

Date: February 22-23, 2020

Click here to view or download a flyer about the program or for more information about the program, visit nalandainstitute.org/cpp-sf

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Jan 6 – Jan 13, 2020: Buddhism & Psychoanalysis: A Healing Partnership – January intensive at Union Theological Seminary

This course examines how the contrasting traditions of Buddhism and psychoanalysis understand the roots of suffering, and how their divergent methods offer increased opportunities for healing when used in tandem. For clinicians, this course provides an exploration of how the analytic treatment of common psychological struggles including depression and anxiety, as well as more complex forms of trauma, may be supported by Buddhist insights and methods. For meditators, this course offers ways to address the psychological content that can arise in one’s spiritual practice through a psychodynamic approach to inner life. With periods of meditation practice, readings, and classroom discussion, together we explore the foundational concepts addressed in both Buddhist and psychoanalytic teachings, including the nature of self, identity, loss, and efforts at healing.

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2019 / 2020: Monthly All Souls Sangha – Meditation & Talk

All are welcome — this group is for those who are curious to learn more about meditation, for both beginners and practicing Buddhists. A sangha is a community of people who come together to meditate and study the practice of Buddhism.

When: Our sangha meets monthly, generally 1:30-3:00 p.m. on the first Sunday of the month (though we meet on the second Sunday of the month on occasion due to holiday weekends). We do not sit on the floor; we sit in chairs.

Where: 1157 Lexington Avenue, between 79th and 80th Street, NYC.

Our teacher: Dr. Pilar Jennings is a psychotherapist and psychoanalyst who focuses on the clinical applications of Buddhist meditation practice. She completed a doctorate in the Psychiatry and Religion Program at Union Theological Seminary. Dr. Jennings is also the author of Mixing Minds: The Power of Relationship in Psychoanalysis and Buddhism (2010) and To Heal a Wounded Heart: The Transformative Power of Buddhism and Psychotherapy in Action.

Contact: Pamela Patton, Director of Pastoral Ministries

Recommended Resources for Sangha participants.