Nalanda Miksang
Contemplative Photography
2024 offerings:
Introduction to Nalanda Miksang aka Level I
Enter into the world of Miksang Contemplative Photography with senior teacher Miriam Hall. Become playfully familiar with the basic elements of visual perception, and rejuvenate your connection to everyday magic.
We will have four live dates, and there will be assignments in between. Also, between the live dates, there will be ample chances to connect on Mighty Network.
4 live meetings, Sundays 1-3 pm CDT
Dates: August 11 and 25, September 1 (labor day weekend US) and 15
$US100-350-600 Sliding Scale
More than an art form, Miksang is a vehicle for realization of the here and now.
For more information, scroll down, visit the main Nalanda Miksang website, or the Facebook Nalanda Miksang Group, or buy our books in my store.
Level I
Level I of Nalanda Miksang, “Looking and Seeing,” is where we study the “Forms of Perception.” We explore the basic components of how and what we see: Color, Light, Texture, Pattern, Space, and Dot in Space. The Flash of Perception is also a key teaching in Level I.
Level II
Level II, “Heart of Photography,” is where we study the “Fields of Perception.” These are content-oriented topics, such as Flowers and Weeds, Landscape, Impressionism, People and Sentient Beings and more. However, due to our training from Level One, the images and practice of Level II bear a contemplative mark in both aesthetic and process.
Level III
Level III, “Orderly Chaos,” takes on a whole new direction. Through a new set of forms and fields, we investigate what less traditional contemplative topics have to teach us. Vectors, Juxtaposition, Paste Up, Twilight, Strangers in a Strange Land and more – just the language hints at how much of a change Level III is.
Miksang testimonials:
In 2009 I attended Miriam’s "Miksang I" weekend workshop of contemplative photography. That weekend changed my life. Although I wouldn't know it for a while. What I do know is that through the miksang process, Miriam gave me the tools to my own creative path of seeing and creating. It just happened to be with a camera. When I returned home I began going on frequent photo walks, following the light and a logic I couldn't articulate. Once I began to see, I couldn't (and didn't want to) turn it off - I make photographs all the time in my head, whether there's a camera in my hands or not. Miksang practice encourages us to perceive color, light and shadow, texture, space, form - in other words, the basics of composition - and this practice has informed my work ever since, even when I'm not shooting in a strictly miksang way. A decade after Miksang I I'm a full-time photographic artist. Many wonderful things in my life have cascaded from knowing this really inspiring human, and I'm very glad to still know her.
- HN James
Participants in a Miksang program in LA
I still carry things from my Miksang course with you; I'll be walking around a say to myself "Ah 'Dot in space'" or notice a color or pattern. I find it both relaxing and comforting and it helps me deal with my anxiety and bouts of depression. I take photos of the moon and the sunrise all the time just for myself.
- Caroline Couture
Studying Miksang with Miriam quite literally changed how I look at everything. At one level, having never studied photography before, I suddenly became aware of color, texture, light, shadow, objects, and space in ways that I never was before and (thankfully!) haven't been able to turn off since. Beyond that, learning to stayed attuned to the "flash of perception" moments when the phenomenal world calls to my heart and spirt has both increased my wonder and appreciation for the world around me AND made it easier and surprisingly more joyful to stay fully present in that world. I now reach for the camera function on my phone when I need to settle myself even more quickly than I reach for social media, and it doesn't even matter if I share the pics with anyone.
- KL Dunkle
I've known Miriam for years now and I've always known her as an excellent and kind teacher. Miksang is a wonderful and profound practice that changed my life and has given me a path to connect my practice of meditation to my creativity.
- Jessica Sarapoff
I never thought of myself as a visual artist until I took Miriam Hall’s Miksang workshop. Her wise and supportive instruction helped me look at the world with new eyes and see the beauty in ordinary things I had overlooked all of my previous life.
- Louise Reid Ritchie
I came to Miksang to explore the teachings of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and to get creative! Along the way I have fallen in love with the world around me and opened my eyes and heart. Miriam holds the Miksang teachings with great wisdom, kindness, gentleness - and always a lot of fun.
-Nicole Lionnet
MIKSANG CLASSES COMING UP:
All courses are sustainable price $350; Pay from the heart $150-$700 for five live meetings, and private online group for feedback between meetings
Introduction to Miksang July-September 2024 (begins July 28)