Supporting awakening and realization

Dr. Tina Rasmussen teaches awakening to a deeper Reality, beyond our conventional way of understanding human experience. She has led events and worked with people one-on-one from more than 50 countries around the world, since 2007. Tina offers teaching and spiritual mentoring to new, intermediate, and experienced practitioners. (See her bio on the About Us page.)

As part of the cultivation of the “luminous mind” referenced in many spiritual lineages, we at Luminous Mind Sangha teach practices based on the four categories of meditation that are now being studied in neuroscience. These practices cultivate a fertile ground for the seeds of liberation to grow and become established in daily life.  They are:

• – Focused-attention (concentration) practices (such as Samatha meditation)
• – Open-monitoring practices (such as Vipassana/Insight meditation)
• – Heart-based practices (such as the Bramaviharas and Bodhicitta)
• – Self-transcending practices (such as Dzogchen)

Ven. Pa Auk Sayadaw of Burma, who authorized Tina to teach, is considered by many to be the leading Buddhist meditation master alive today. Tina was taught personally by the Ven. Pa Auk Sayadaw, and was the first Western woman he authorized to teach. She has also practiced Dzogchen extensively for more than 25 years, and teaches a neuroscience-based version of that practice which includes all of the four categories of meditation listed above. This can be found in her “What is Awakening?” multi-media program and retreats.

In addition, Tina’s book “Practicing the Jhanas,” published by Shambhala, is an accessible and direct experiential account of the Samatha focused-attention practice as taught in the Pa Auk lineage. Samatha is an ancient type of concentration meditation that predates written history as a method to purify the mind. It was taught to the Buddha by his teachers, and when people asked him what to practice, this is the practice he referenced in as many as 60-80% of the suttas, throughout his life. This practice was so important to him, that it was his last act before he died. Tina and the Luminous Mind Sangha team are honored to be passing on this teaching that has survived throughout more than 5,000 years of human history.

Tina’s and the Luminous Mind Sangha Team’s services are offered both in-person and on-line and include:

• Retreats
• Daylong intensives
• Dharma talks
  
• One-on-one spiritual guidance
• Year-long mentoring program
• Solo retreat guidance
• Free and for-purchase downloads of audios, videos and articles
  
• Retreats-in-a-Box