Why Going Deeper with Wisdom and Compassion
Developed and taught by Mindfulness Northwest Founder and Senior Teacher Tim Burnett, this course seeks to help you to...
Grow and Sustain your Mindfulness & Compassion Practice in Community
Are you interested in continuing to develop your mindfulness and compassion practice? Want to deepen your understanding of how mindfulness arises in meditation and in daily life? Curious about the spiritual roots of contemporary mindfulness and compassion teachings? Are you seeking community and support around integrating the habit of daily practice for yourself and others into your life?
Learn and Apply the Traditional Teachings of Buddhism
Tim is an experienced teacher in both modern mindfulness and compassion training and traditional Buddhism where he is Soto Zen lineage holder having served a long apprenticeship with his own teacher Zoketsu Norman Fischer and taught for many years at Red Cedar Zen Community in Bellingham which he co-founded in 1991.
On the contemporary mindfulness and compassion side, Tim trained with Jon Kabbat-Zinn's Center for Mindfulness as the University of Massachusetts, at Stanford University's Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, and with the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion. He's certified to teach all of the major 8-week mindfulness and compassion courses is also a teacher trainer in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction.
One of Tim's great joys is making traditional teachings accessible to all, especially by showing the connections between Buddhist teachings and contemporary mindfulness and compassion training programs.
Who It's For
This 6-week online course is for alumni of the Mindful Self-Compassion program or the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program who are ready to explore mindfulness and compassion more deeply in a practice community.
Class Theme: Becoming Yourself
The theme for this class is digesting the rich, charming, and sometimes quirky teachings of the famous Japanese Zen teacher Shuryu Suzuki Roshi. Suzuki Roshi was part of the wave of pioneering Asian Buddhist teachers who brought Buddhism to Western audiences in the 1960’s and 70’s.
This newly published book Becoming Yourself is a rich new collection of Suzuki Roshi’s teachings. His early student Sojun Mel Weitsman along with Zen abbot Jiryu Mark Rutschman-Byler did a wonderful job editing and clarifying a new set of Zen treasures for us to digest together.
Instructor Tim Burnett is also a Zen teacher in Suzuki Roshi’s lineage and has heard many stories from his own teachers and colleagues in the San Francisco Zen Center community about studying with Suzuki Roshi.
The central theme of the book is well spoken to by the title.
Together we’ll explore teachings, meditations, and reflections to help us become ever more fully…. ourselves.
SCHEDULE
6 Monday classes, March 30 – May 4, 2026
6:00 – 8:00pm PT
All-Day Retreat (Online):
Saturday April 11, 9am – 4pm PT
with Carolyn McCarthy
TEACHER
COST
$350 – $525 (or $88 – $131/month) (sales tax included)
- Sliding scale: Choose what’s right for you.
- Payment plan option: 4-months, no-interest.
- Scholarships available: No need to apply; just choose a scholarship tuition during registration.
Prerequisite
You must have completed either the 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course or the 8-week Mindful Self-Compassion course (with any teacher or school).
This course will support you in:
- Learning how mindfulness and compassion were traditionally understood in Buddhism and how to apply this ancient wisdom to our modern lives
- Setting intentions for your own practice of mindfulness & compassion
- Incorporating formal and informal practices in your daily routine
- Learning ways to relate to the doings of your life in a wiser and more compassionate way
- Exploring compassion and mindfulness in the context of how you relate with others
- Being in community with other committed practitioners of mindful compassion
In concert with exploring contemporary mindfulness teachings, we'll orient our exploration around a traditional Buddhist text and touch upon the scientific support for the transformational possibilities of mindfulness practice. The emphasis will be both on developing deeper understanding, and on everyday life integration.
Each week expect:
- Hands-on mindfulness practices, exercises and meditations
- Discussion and exploration of how we're incorporating mindful compassion into our lives
- A deep dive into topics ranging from Buddhist teachings on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness to recent neuroscience
- Weekly home practice assignments, readings, handouts and videos to explore
- Connecting with an accountability partner between classes to support your daily practice
Register for this program
Registration is closed for this program.