At-a-Distance or In-Person Interactive Reflection (IR), Meditation Practice Support
or Dharma Teacher Mentoring 2024
In 2001, I began working with members of Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC (IMCW) who wanted to explore their inner and outer lives from the perspective of Buddhist psychology and practice ~ what I came to call Interactive Reflection ~ rather than from the medical/mental illness model. During that time, I also served on the IMCW Teachers Council and Board of Directors and taught residential meditation retreats and Freedom from Addiction workshops with Tara Brach.
Since moving to Spokane, WA in 2007 I have continued to work with IR clients and students in person or “from a distance” via telephone, Zoom or FaceTime. The latter have often been referred by Tara when challenging material emerged during retreat or when Meditation Practice Support is requested because a local teacher is not available. I have worked with people living in the United States, Mexico, South America, Asia, Africa, Australia and Europe. In the past, I served as a mentor for the Sounds True Power of Awareness on-line meditation training course with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. I also served as a mentor for their two-year Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Programs from 2017 to 2023.
Dharma Teacher Mentoring
In addition, I offer individual Dharma Teacher Mentoring to practitioners who are teaching Buddhist meditation classes and want support in the teaching role, but are not in a formal teacher training program. Possible discussion areas range from the logistical to the visionary and experiential aspects of teaching including curriculum development (content & format of teachings and meditations), teaching style, qualities and role of a teacher, and challenges in the “classroom.”
In June 2010, I completed the 4-year Spirit Rock/Insight Meditation Society teacher training and was authorized to teach The Dharma of Liberation in the Lineage of the Elders by Jack Kornfield, Phillip Moffitt, Joseph Goldstein, Carol Wilson and Guy Armstrong. I have co-taught retreats at Spirit Rock, IMS, Cloud Mountain Retreat Center, Insight Meditation Community of Charlottesville, Southern Dharma Retreat Center, Tara Mandala, and Teen/Young Adult Retreats with iBme. I teach regional retreats with various Insight Meditation sanghas in Nevada and Washington State and in the past I offered 5-day retreats twice a year in Spokane, WA.
I have had extensive experience with addiction and recovery since 1980 both personally and professionally. My personal experience was my initial testing ground for “dukkha” (suffering, stress) and freedom from dukkha (liberation, awakening). Life reveals dharma!
My professional life includes 15 years of clinical and program direction in addiction treatment centers in California. Following that, I lived in Moscow, Russia as the Director of Training for a 2-year USAID grant to provide 4-week addiction treatment training to Russian clinical staff and 5-day addiction recovery training for the general public. This program included a training-of-trainers component for 21 Russian professionals who collaborated on the development and delivery of the trainings. In addition, I conducted qualitative research for my doctoral dissertation Addiction Treatment Training in Russia: Cultural Adaptation of the Bio-Psycho-Social-Spiritual Model. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to have joined with my Russian and American colleagues in this important international effort.
I am devoted to “re-membering” and calling on qualities of the Sacred Feminine ~ embodied presence, inclusiveness & variance of vision, trusting our inner knowing & authority, and deep reverence for all life rooted in the truth of interdependence with this Great Web of Life. Of course, I speak and act from these aspirations to the best of my ability moment-to-moment and make amends when I fall short…progress, not perfection!
Meditation Practice Support
Meditation Practice Support can include didactic teaching and guided meditation practices (i.e., mindfulness, concentration, awareness of awareness, and the heart practices of gratitude, forgiveness, loving-kindness, compassion, appreciative joy and equanimity); establishing a dedicated (“invitro”) practice; review of and suggestions for working with what is arising in your practice; establishing an (“in vivo”) life practice; suggesting resources for further study, support, and inspiration (e.g., books, audio-video); and embodiment practices of walking meditation and Qigong (of which I am only a student).
Spiritual development and peace of mind requires that we undertake the teaching and practice of sila or ethical conduct – the intention of harmlessness, reverence for all life which refers to the first two lines of a pithy description of the path of awakening: Do no harm. Act for the good. Purify the mind. ~ Buddha (Dhammapada 183) Purify the mind refers to the development of wise effort, wise concentration and wise mindfulness through meditation.
Meditation Practice Support can include becoming more aware of emotional states and habitual thought patterns that create stress, distress and suffering and those that are wholesome and onward-leading toward liberation from suffering (e.g., mindfulness, generosity, joy, tranquility, investigation, and loving-kindness). The Buddha advised us to cultivate the four great efforts in regard to mental-emotional states: Wake up wholesome mind states when they are not arising in the mind. Keep wholesome mind states alive in the mind once they’ve already arisen. Avoid waking up unwholesome states of mind when they haven’t yet arisen in the mind. Be present for unwholesome mind states as soon as they arise in the mind, so that they don’t cause avoidable suffering. (Kaira Jewel Lingo’s translation). As such, there is often a natural flow between Meditation Practice Support and IR.
Interactive Reflection
Interactive Reflection (IR) sessions generally include:
- opening mindfulness/embodied presence reflection which leads us into
- exploring thoughts, feelings and sensations as they naturally arise, indicating what is most calling for attention and determining which practices will deepen presence and liberation (e.g., inquiry, RAIN, forgiveness, loving-kindness, compassion, open awareness) and
- taking time to reflect on and discuss what has been revealed and how to integrate the learning/insights into daily life.
IR relies on the aliveness of the moment – awareness of what is arising here and now with a clear and kind attention – which often reveals fresh perspectives on habitual patterns that have become “old and in the way.” I trust the intrinsic goodness of all beings and our innate healing intelligence. Together we will listen deeply and follow the impulses and wisdom that emerge from within you. To be “open to outcome, not attached to outcome” supports a welcoming field of trust and creativity within you and between us.
We all have entanglements from cultural & familial “conditioning” which can be re-experienced and received with wisdom and compassion, untangling and often revealing their hidden gems. What has been considered wrong or difficult can be the doorway to transformation and liberation (i.e., “tracing back the radiance” rather than fixing what is wrong.) Or consider one of Loch Kelly’s inquires, “What’s here now if there is no problem to solve?”
This process requires the radical approach of “turning toward and leaning into” what you may have tried to ignore, reject, or destroy to protect yourself. Of course, strategies may have been essential to your survival in the past when you had less choice and agency. Essential to this exploration is establishing trustable inner and outer resources and supports, and moving at a pace that can deepen the “repair” rather than causing more “rupture” within your heart-body-mind.
This approach requires courage and willingness to look honestly at choices that lead to suffering and choices that lead to freedom from suffering. Your sincere intention to investigate the ways you are currently perpetuating your distress will profoundly support working with IR. Sometimes the biggest obstacle to transforming difficult emotional states is unconscious attachment to painful patterns of shame and blame. And, we are all endowed with a brave heart that can open to deep self-respect and self-love and relinquish fault-finding. In addition, it is important to establish a regular meditation practice to support and integrate what unfolds in IR (if you don’t practice regularly now). Life is short, Carpe Diem! If not now, when?
I also offer the Tibetan Buddhist practice of “Demon Feeding” created by Lama Tsultrim Allione which both invokes what is in the way of complete liberation (a demon) and transforms that energy into an ally. For more information please visit her website. Initial Demon Feeding sessions require a minimum of 90 minutes.
Cost and Frequency of Sessions
Our sessions can be in person, by phone, Face Time or Zoom. I schedule sessions on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays with start times between 10am and 3pm Pacific Time. Please note: I will always list session times in Pacific Time and trust that you will translate to your time zone.
Since 2019 my sliding scale has remained $90 – $150 per 60-minute session. Sliding scale means that you choose the amount you pay in one of the following ways:
- In-person sessions: cash or personal check made out to Dori Langevin
- Mail personal check to 4612 S. Schafer Branch Road, Spokane, WA 99206 if not meeting in-person. (this address will change sometime in 2024)
- Use Zelle which you set up with your bank and securely transfer funds from your account to mine. My ID is 509-688-7772 There are no fees for using Zelle and account numbers are not shared.
- Pay Pal charges two transaction fees (standard 3.49% plus fee based on the country). I do not request you cover the transaction fees if you choose to offer $130-150 per session. If you want or need the convenience of using PayPal and you are willing to cover the transaction fees, let me know where you live, how much you want me to receive ($90 – 125) and I let you know the amount to send to PayPal.
If you need to cancel a session, please text or email me 24 hours in advance to avoid paying for a missed session. For my bookkeeping simplicity, I request that your payment arrives before the session. Thank you in advance for honoring these payment requests.
The frequency of sessions is based on your time, finances and needs coupled with my schedule. However, if possible, I recommend starting with weekly or bi-monthly sessions to establish a personal connection, co-create the way we work together and a momentum that can support your intentions and my intention for our work together which is for you to transfer the learning in our sessions to your meditation practice and your life. In other words, to make the reflections and practices your own and to experience the effect on your daily life and relationships. I am committed to “teaching you how to fish, rather than feeding you fish.”
I cannot offer emergency or “on-call” coverage. For various lengths of time I am off-the-grid teaching, on personal retreat, engaging in restorative travel or just having fun! Please feel free to contact me with any questions. Cell: 509-688-7772 (US Pacific Time) [email protected]
Some of the books that I have found helpful with awakening in practice and in life include:
Tsultrim Allione – Feeding Your Demons: Ancient wisdom for resolving inner conflicts
Tara Brach – Radical Acceptance, True Refuge, Radical Compassion, Trusting the Gold
Pema Chodron – The Places that Scare You
Clarissa Pinkola Estes – Untie the Strong Woman
Joseph Goldstein – Mindfulness: A practice guide to awakening, A Heart Full of Peace
Roshi Joan Halifax – The Fruitful Darkness: Reconnecting with the body of the earth
Loch Kelly – Shift into Freedom: The science & practice of open-hearted awareness
Ruth King – Mindful of Race: Transforming racism from the inside out
Jack Kornfield – A Path with Heart, The Wise Heart
Joanna Macy & Chris Johnstone – Active Hope: How we face the mess we’re in with unexpected resilience & creative power
Resmaa Menakem – My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized trauma and the pathway to mending our hearts and bodies
Mingyur Rinpoche – In Love with the World: A monk’s journey through the bardos of living and dying
Sharon Salzberg – Loving-Kindness: The revolutionary art of happiness, Real Happiness: The power of meditation, Faith
Sue Monk Kidd & Ann Kidd Taylor – Traveling with Pomegranates: A mother-daughter story
Thanissara – Time to Stand Up: An engaged Buddhist manifesto for our Earth
Larry Yang – Awakening Together: The spiritual practice of inclusivity and community
John Welwood – Perfect Love Imperfect Relationships: Healing the wound of the heart, Awakening the Heart: East/West approaches to psychotherapy and the healing relationship (Editor)