Bringing the Buddha’s Teachings Alive — Join Us!

Dear Community,

I’m delighted to share a significant milestone! After years of refinement, Phillip successfully presented the essence of the Naturally Arising Practice Method in a powerful one-day introduction. During the day he shared, “my focus for these last number of years has been on developing the fullness of this particular practice method for our ability to actually experience the Buddha's teachings far more in the felt sense manner.” 

We've transformed Phillip's daylong into an on-demand class—featuring four modules with eight additional guided meditations from the other Dharma Ground teachers—plus participants are invited to join Phillip for a live Questions & Response session on August 30th. Here is a clip from the daylong on the power of practicing “As Best I Am Able,” a core aspect of the Naturally Arising method.

Phillip will join Alex Haley and myself leading a retreat in September exploring this practice method in detail, including a comprehensive exploration of the Nine Bodies map of consciousness. Then in October all five Dharma Ground teachers will offer our next Experienced Students’ Retreat on “The Flowering of the Discerning Mind.”

Additionally, for the first time ever on the East Coast, Tuere Sala and Ying Chen will be offering a Nine Bodies Insight Retreat through Bare Center for Buddhist Studies this August.

We founded Dharma Ground, less than three years ago, with a clear mission: to share the Naturally Arising Practice Method. I feel incredibly fortunate to be serving such a potent Dharma practice and to be part of bringing it alive as a practice community.

Thank you for being part of this new expression of practicing the Dharma!

With gratitude and kindness,
Dana

Intro to the Naturally Arising Practice Method: On-Demand Class + Live Session with Phillip

Start Now, with Live Session August 30, 2025

The Naturally Arising Practice Method refers to a spontaneous and effortless unfolding of the meditation experience in which concentration naturally arises and insights can be spontaneously understood. This method of practice starts in a different manner by beginning with preparatory meditative practices in which attention is systematically and repeatedly oriented inwardly.

We will explore two practices that create the conditions for a naturally arising concentrated mind. The first practice is “The Three Renunciations,” which establishes a discerning mind that is free of reactivity and self-judgment. The second practice, the “Arriving Sequence,” establishes a mind state that is available for practice and aligned with the Dharma. The fruition of these practices is a naturally arising responsive mind. In this way, we become free of the over-efforting that so often plagues our practice.

We will also explore aspects of the Nine Bodies Insight practice, including the Physical, Vital, Emotional, and Etheric Capacities of Consciousness.

Nine Bodies Insight: A Naturally Arising Clarity Retreat Exploring Capacities of Consciousness

September 14 - 20, 2025

The Nine Bodies teaching presents a unified map of the various capacities of consciousness, which are often only partially recognized (or completely unrecognized) even among long-term practitioners. This retreat offers a method of practicing Insight meditation in which consciousness itself becomes the object of meditation. We start with establishing mindfulness through the practice of arriving, and then turn towards ever more subtle levels of consciousness. The practice utilizes the felt sense as a means for freeing the mind of over-conceptualization and supporting the arising of liberating insights.

Phillip will be joining us to offer several select teachings during the retreat — roughly two morning guided meditations and two evening Dharma talks. While he won’t be leading any cohort (small group) practice meetings, his presence and teachings will support the depth of the retreat. Dana and Alex will hold the container of the retreat, guiding the daily retreat flow, teaching sessions, and all cohort groups.

The Flowering of the Discerning Mind:
An Experienced Students’ Retreat

October 1 - 8, 2025

“We have this unnoticed assumption that we have to contract to move, that we have to effort and strain and tighten to respond to life. But the Dharma is teaching us something else. That responsive energy, when it’s coming from the discerning mind, just moves. It’s natural. There’s no selfing in it. No extra tension. The wisdom knows. The compassion holds. The action happens.” — Phillip, November 2024

In this retreat, we will explore the discerning mind — a state that emerges when our practice of non-judging, non-comparing, and non-fixing has stabilized the mind. Utilizing the "as best I am able" practice, we'll learn how to cultivate conditions that allow this spacious, responsive, peaceful state to arise naturally. The discerning mind is distinctively characterized by its freedom from egoic contraction, allowing us to see clearly what is skillful, wholesome, and beneficial. We will learn how to establish ourselves in this state when it arises and how to draw upon the resulting wisdom and compassion in the midst of life's complexities with dignity, humility, and integrity.