Academy Teachers

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Gary Sanders

Gary Sanders lives in both Portland, OR and North Hollywood, CA.  He is originally from the Los Angeles area, where he was the founder of SCV Mindfulness and led up to three weekly groups for over 5 years. He was empowered to lead Buddhist meditation and dharma groups at Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society. He helped, from the ground level, to found Refuge Recovery, a Buddhist based recovery program for all addictions, which has now spread worldwide. After moving to Portland, Gary was asked to join the teaching staff at Portland Insight Meditation Community. Gary travels frequently and teaches daylongs and workshops all around North America.

Gary originally got sober in 12 step groups using Kevin Griffin’s book One Breath at a Time. And while he’s been heavily involved with creating and shaping various Buddhist based recovery programs, taking a Buddhist approach to 12 step recovery is where his heart is.

Links

• www.portlandinsight.org
• https://boundlessheartdharma.com/media/

Teachings

• March 5th 2023 — Forgiveness on the Path to Recovery
  

  So many of us come into sobriety with a really poor relationship with ourselves and so heavily burdened with resentments towards ourselves and others. By practicing forgiveness, not in a theistic Christian outside ourselves way, but as self empowering and self healing way to start to let go, to change our relationship with, and to be truly free. It is imperative for forgiveness to be infused in all our practices and our path so that we can be liberated, experiencing the difference between just sobriety and the big Recovery, with a capital R!

• August 2nd 2020 — Emotional Sobriety: Comfortable in Your Own Skin
  

  Facebook Event Link: https://www.facebook.com/events/1400167713509983/

  Gary Sanders lives in Portland, OR. He is originally from the Los Angeles area, where he was the founder of SCV Mindfulness and led up to three weekly meditation groups for over 5 years. He was empowered to lead Buddhist meditation and dharma groups at Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society. He helped, from the ground level, to found Refuge Recovery, a Buddhist based recovery program for all addictions, which has now spread worldwide. After moving to Portland, Gary was asked to join the teaching staff at Portland Insight Meditation Community. Gary travels frequently and teaches daylongs and workshops all over North America and now endorses the Recovery Dharma program.

• October 7th 2018 — Gratitude Turns What We Have Into Enough and More
  

  “Recovery and gratitude seem to go hand in hand. In the heat of our addictions, whether substance or process, we all tend to really focus on the hardships of our lives, our trials and tribulations and get stuck in the old comparison game, comparing our insides to others outsides, a line heard frequently in 12 step meetings. That's probably a big reason why we drink, use or act out. We get stuck in the unhealthy mental loop of "poor me", "why me" or "what's wrong with me"...those "Greatest Hits of Addiction", right? We start to believe those stories, we start to program these minds to constantly get hyper-focused on the difficult and painful. And we suffer. So, with this practice of gratitude, we can begin to rewire the mind to appreciate what is good and true and wholesome. This isn't a make-believe practice. As the internet meme says "there's ALWAYS something to be grateful for". Let's dive into this more, practice with it and find some freedom.”