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Liberation in a Wounded World:
The Paramis as a Practice for Surviving

On-Demand Course

With Leslie Booker

Available Now!

How can we use the teachings of the Buddha to help reclaim our humanity?

Between the impact of multiple climate catastrophes, food instability, war, homophobia, racism, and paternalism, we are living in a wounded world – but we don’t have to fall apart under its weight.

In Buddhist teachings, the 10 Paramis are known as the perfections, or attainments of heart and mind.

In this course led by Leslie Booker – who brings her heart to the intersection of Dharma, Embodied Wisdom, and Liberation – we discover that through practices around the Paramis, we can learn how to turn towards the world’s suffering, and remember that we belong to each other.

With Booker as our guide, we focus on Resolve, Patience, Equanimity, and Metta (loving-kindness), with guest appearances by the other Paramis: Generosity, Virtue, Renunciation, Wisdom, Energy and Truthfulness. The Paramis can be the medicine for both our liberation and our survival.

In this self-paced course, we explore their power through formal meditation practice, journaling, and guided embodiment practices.

The Paramis as a Practice for Surviving with Leslie Booker

This immersive journey will offer students:

  • A balm for the wounds brought on by systems of harm and oppression
  • Liberation practices for both on and off cushion
  • Opportunity to explore not just what the Buddha said, but how he lived and learned

Module 1: Resolve

The Paramis as a Practice for Surviving with Leslie Booker

In this first module, we explore Resolve; the aspiration and intention which gives action and follow through. With resolve, we are standing in our power, our clarity and our determination to stay…even in a wounded world.

This module we explore resolve with a series of journaling prompts, formal meditation practices, and ways to engage with the world while holding this practice of commitment as our foundation.

Module 2: Patience

We cannot speak of patience without speaking to why it’s integral for the world we are living in. Our emotions of rage, anger, fear, and heartbreak can lead to further violence and separation. In cultivating patience, we can create that sacred pause, allowing our bodies to restore their dignity.

This module, we explore patience with a series of journaling prompts, formal meditation practices, and ways to engage with the world while holding patience as our foundation.

Module 3: Equanimity

In this third module, we dive into the practice that tends to come at the end of the Paramis, the Brahmaviharas and the 7 Factors of Awakening: Equanimity.

This quality of heart and mind is often mistaken for apathy; a lack of concern or interest. But explored and put into action, we’ll see that equanimity is love, clear boundaries, and tenderness…without attachment.

For home practice, we explore equanimity with a series of journaling prompts, formal meditation, and ways to engage with the world while holding equanimity as our foundation.

Module 4: Metta

The Paramis as a Practice for Surviving with Leslie Booker

In our final module, we discover Metta not only as a practice of kindness and benevolence, but as a practice that protects us from the hatred that kicks folks out of our hearts, and out of humanity. It takes courage and a fierce vulnerability to practice Metta; it’s a practice of heart with fists.

During our final module together, we explore metta with a series of journaling prompts, radiating metta practice, and ways to engage with the world holding this heart practice as our foundation.

Praise for Booker's Teachings

Leslie Booker

“It always feels safe to explore new learning with Booker because she is trustworthy; she naturally creates a secure space to practice being comfortable with the uncomfortable. Her unique approach to exploring the Paramis, encouraged me to investigate how they may have showed up in my early life, throughout my lifetime and how they show up in my actions now, which helped me to bridge study and experiential practice with ease; attuning to the presence or absence of the Paramis in day to day life.”

 

“Booker’s presence is calm and gentle. I loved it. I arrived with an open mind, not knowing almost anything about the Paramis and left with a heart full of love and with a sense of calm.”

On-Demand Course Details

3 Hours of Teachings

Hi-def video lessons from Booker will guide you through home meditation practices, body awareness exercises, journaling exercises, and invitations to observe the Paramis in your daily life.

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4 Pre-Recorded Q&A Sessions

Videos of recorded interactive sessions from a previous live release of this course are also included. Each recording is approx. 1 hour, and is oriented around the themes and practices covered in the module's teachings.

Meditation, Daily Life Practices, and Journaling

With each module, Booker will offer meditations, daily life practices, or journaling exercises, all to be practiced each day of the week, or as often as your schedule allows.

Total Flexibility

Complete this course independently, on your own schedule, at your ideal pace. Watch and re-watch the videos as you please.

About Leslie Booker

Leslie Booker

Leslie Booker brings her heart and wisdom to the intersection of Dharma, Embodied Wisdom, and Liberation. Using this framework,  she supports folks in creating a culture of belonging through her teaching and writing on changing the paradigm of self and community care. She shares her offering widely as a university lecturer, public speaker, and Buddhist philosophy and meditation teacher. 

After training as a yoga teacher in 2007, Booker was drawn to Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s Mindful Yoga and Meditation training (2012). She continued to train there formally as a Dharma teacher in their Community Dharma Leaders (2017) and Retreat Teacher training programs (2020). Outside of her formal training, she shared the practices of yoga and mindfulness with New York City’s most vulnerable populations for over a decade. Here is where she learned how to take her practice off the cushion and into everyday life. 

Booker is a co-author of Best Practices for Yoga in a Criminal Justice Setting (2017), a contributor to Georgetown Law’s Center on Poverty and Inequality’s report: Gender & Trauma—Somatic Interventions for Girls in Juvenile Justice, and contributed to Sharon Salzberg’s book Real Happiness at Work (2013) and Dr. Rima Vesely-Flad’s book Black Buddhist and the Black Radical Tradition (2022).

She is a co-founder of the Yoga Service Council at Omega Institute and the Meditation Working Group of Occupy Wall Street. In 2020 she was invited to be a Sojourner Truth Leadership Fellow through Auburn Seminary, graduated from Spirit Rock’s 4 year Retreat Teacher Training, and was voted by her peers as one of the 12 Powerful Women in the Mindfulness Movement. Click here to learn more about Leslie Booker.