Expanding Our Heart: Love and Compassion in Everyday Life
2025-11-16 09:30 - 16:30 (Australia/Melbourne) | Online via Zoom, Australia
An Experiential Workshop with Valerie Baker
“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.
If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”
— His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Many people think of compassion as something we either have or don’t — in the Buddhist tradition, however, compassion is a quality we can consciously develop, just like mindfulness or concentration.
Valerie will guide us through profound yet practical methods from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, showing how compassion can grow our daily lives.
Together we will explore:

How compassion can transform the way we relate to ourselves and others.
What begins to unfold when we actively cultivate compassion.
The Four Immeasurables — loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity — timeless practices for opening the heart to others.
Simple guided exercises that bring ease, connection, and a sense of spaciousness.

At a time when compassion is needed more than ever, this is an opportunity to pause, reflect, and discover that compassion is not just an ideal, but a practice that can be learned, deepened, and shared.
📍Online
🗓️ Sunday 16th November
⏰ 9.30am – 4.30pm
with breaks for morning and afternoon tea (supplied) and lunch (not supplied).
This event is open to everyone in person – both beginners and those with experience in meditation and compassion practices.
However, online participation is limited to people who already have some experience with these practices.‘

Rigpa Australia Sangha members can choose the concession rate when registering.

About Valerie
Valerie grew up in Ireland and has been a student of Buddhism since the early 1990s and has completed several traditional closed retreats. For the last 20 years, Valerie has developed Buddhist courses and study programmes for Rigpa and has held teaching and practice events around the world.
She is known for her clarity, her sense of humour, kindness and humility. She currently lives and works at the Lerab Ling Retreat Centre in France.

Know your mind, transform your life
2026-01-22 - 2026-01-26 | Rigpa Sydney, 158 Australia St, Newtown, Sydney, NSW, 2042, Australia
This five-day retreat will take you to the heart of the revolutionary insight of Buddhism, that life and death are in the mind, and nowhere else. In Dzogchen—the most direct stream of wisdom within the teachings of Buddhism—the mind is revealed as the universal basis of experience: the creator of happiness and the creator of suffering.
Guided by the teachings of the Buddha, deep reflection, and our own personal meditative insight, we will investigate exactly how the mind is the root of our entire reality. This exploration leads to a profound certainty and confidence in our mind’s essence: the lucid, pure awareness that underlies the whole of life and death.
The foundation of trust in our inherently pure nature, allows us to investigate

how the mind’s unending display of thoughts and emotions are workable
the cognitive and emotional patterns of delusion that perpetuate samsara; and
the challenging, yet liberating notion, that ‘samsara is mind turned outwardly, lost in its projection, whereas nirvana is mind turned inwardly, recognising its nature.’

This paves the way to the profound method of leaving the mind unaltered in its true nature, finding a natural great peace, bliss and clarity.
The retreat will allow for reflection and meditation on the teachings tailored to each participants’ prior experience: from complete beginners to ngondro, and dzogchen practitioners.
Join us for a journey from our ordinary, everyday mind, to the true essence and nature of mind.

📍Rigpa Melbourne, 803 Nicholson St, Carlton North;
📍Rigpa Sydney, 158 Australia St, Newtown
📍& Online
(Those gathering at the Rigpa Melbourne Centre will view the live event from Sydney via Zoom. To attend the retreat at the Melbourne Centre, please select the online option when registering. You may register to attend part or all of the retreat. Our Melbourne team will then be in touch to confirm arrangements.)

This Life: The Buddha’s guide to inner transformation | Melbourne
2026-02-02 19:00 - 21:00 | Rigpa Melbourne, 803 Nicholson St, Carlton North, Melbourne, Victoria, 3054, Australia
The Buddhist spiritual path centres on our own mind’s vast potential for peace, compassion and wisdom. True lasting happiness does not depend on external factors but comes from looking inwards to better know our own mind and heart. This course presents key insights from the Buddha’s life and teachings to show how, through meditation and shifting our focus inwards, we can find true, unending contentment.

This course presents key Buddhist frameworks that guide our path, including:

The four noble truths (a clear-eyed view of our suffering, its causes, the potential for that suffering to be brought to an end, and how to attain that cessation of suffering).
The three vehicles of Buddhism, which progressively show how we can nurture our innate peace, compassion and wisdom.
The four seals, which encapsulate what is unique about the Buddha’s teachings and sets them apart from other religions and philosophies.

Including teachings from foremost Tibetan masters of our time, space for contemplation, reflection and discussion, and guided meditations, this course will give you practical tools to help you work with your mind and take charge of your spiritual path.

Details
Where: Attend in person at Rigpa Melbourne, 803 Nicholson Street Carlton North.
When: Monday evenings, for 8 weeks, starting 2 February 2026.
Time: 7.00pm – 9.00pm AEDT.
Cost: 8-week module: Full $160, Concession $80.

FREE for Rigpa members who may email melbourne@rigpa.org.au to request the discount code.
If you are experiencing financial hardship please email us at melbourne@rigpa.org.au to request a further concession.
Certificates of Attendance are available on request and may be suitable for Ongoing Professional Development.
More information is available by emailing melbourne@rigpa.org.au

Inspiring a Revolution in Your Heart and Mind
2026-02-11 18:30 - 20:30 | Rigpa Sydney, 158 Australia St, Newtown, Sydney, NSW, 2042, Australia
Join us on an experiential journey through The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. Discover a deep and universal wisdom explored in the major themes of the book, and learn about their practical implications for living well. Suitable for people of any religion or of none, this course encourages you to reflect on the Buddhist teachings, to see what makes sense to you and to experiment with applying these teachings in your daily life.
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying is widely regarded as one of the most complete and authoritative presentations of Tibetan Buddhism. A manual for life and death and a source of sacred inspiration from the heart of the Tibetan tradition, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying provides a lucid and inspiring introduction to the practice of meditation, to the nature of mind, to karma and rebirth, and to the trials and rewards of the spiritual path. The teachings, meditation and contemplations from this authentic tradition reveal how each of us can live a more meaningful, connected and fulfilling life.
Participants in this course will learn:

How to meditate
How an acceptance of impermanence can help us understand death and change our attitude towards life
How meditation can transform our perception, increase our confidence and fully connect us to the world around us
That mind is much more than just thoughts and emotions
How understanding the interdependency of all things and the principle of karma (that every action has an effect) gives us a logical basis for ethics and personal responsibility

Led by Western meditation instructors with many years of experience, each session consists of:

Video teachings from Tibetan and Western Buddhist masters including Sogyal Rinpoche, Jetsün Khandro Rinpoche, Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, Mingyur Rinpoche, Pema Chödrön and Sharon Salzberg.
Meditation practice
Time for contemplation
Group discussions and Q&A, offering you the opportunity to explore the teachings and practices in an open supportive environment.

A year long course you can join at any time.
📍 Online and Rigpa Sydney, 158 Australia St, Newtown.
🗓️ Wednesday evenings, for 5 weeks starting 11 February
⏰ 6.30pm – 8.30pm (AEST)

This Life: The Buddha's guide to inner transformation
2026-02-17 18:30 - 20:30 | Rigpa Sydney, 158 Australia St, Newtown, Sydney, NSW, 2042, Australia
The Buddhist spiritual path centres on our own mind’s vast potential for peace, compassion and wisdom. True lasting happiness does not depend on external factors but comes from looking inwards to better know our own mind and heart. This course presents key insights from the Buddha’s life and teachings to show how, through meditation and shifting our focus inwards, we can find true, unending contentment.
This course presents key Buddhist frameworks that guide our path, including:– The four noble truths (a clear-eyed view of our suffering, its causes, the potential for that suffering to be brought to an end, and how to attain that cessation of suffering)– The three vehicles of Buddhism, which progressively show how we can nurture our innate peace, compassion and wisdom– The four seals, which encapsulate what is unique about the Buddha’s teachings and sets them apart from other religions and philosophies.
Including teachings from foremost Tibetan masters of our time, space for contemplation, reflection and discussion, and guided meditations, this course will give you practical tools to help you work with your mind and take charge of your spiritual path.
Online and Rigpa Sydney, 158 Australia St, Newtown.

Inspiring a Revolution in Your Heart and Mind: Understanding Death & Impermanence
2026-03-18 18:30 - 20:30 | Rigpa Sydney, 158 Australia St, Newtown, Sydney, NSW, 2042, Australia
All of us are touched by death in one way or another. The Buddha said, “If you want to know the truth of life and death, you must reflect continuously on this: there is only one law in the universe that never changes—that all things change, and that all things are impermanent.”
In the Buddhist approach, life and death are seen as one whole. Death is a mirror in which the entire meaning of life is reflected. And we do not have to wait for the death of someone close to us to force us into looking at our lives. We can begin, here and now, to find meaning in our lives.
Come with us on a journey investigating death and impermanence, through deep reflection on change and interconnectedness, to arrive at an appreciation of the vast potential of our own mind that is revealed when we let go of grasping at surface appearances.
📍 Online and Sydney, 158 Australia St, Newtown.
🗓️ Wednesday evenings, starting 18 March
⏰ 6.30pm – 8.30pm (Australian Eastern Time)

Make Friends with Your Mind | Meditation and Wisdom to Transform Everyday Life | Melbourne
2026-03-21 14:00 - 16:30 | nsw
Make Friends with Your Mind | Meditation and Wisdom to Transform Everyday Life
March 21 @ 2:00 pm – 4:30 pm
In person

Make Friends with Your Mind
Your mind can be your best friend or your worst nightmare. This session will introduce simple meditation practices that allow us to glimpse the pure mind that underlies all our emotions so that we can find lasting peace and sanity.
Spend time with your best self on a journey from sadness and anger to peace and joy. The timeless wisdom and meditative insights of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition offer many practical methods to help us heal and thrive as we face the everyday challenges of anxiety, depression, anger, physical pain, loneliness, and burnout.
This is a session in the Meditation and Wisdom to Transform Every Day Life series.
This series of Saturday afternoon sessions offer an introduction to meditation and practical advice from some of the foremost Tibetan Buddhist teachers of our age. Applying these teachings can help us meet the challenges of these difficult times, to heal ourselves, and to bring us to the core of our own peace, compassion and wisdom.
Led by Western meditation instructors with many years of experience, each session consists of:

Video teachings from Tibetan Buddhist masters including Sogyal Rinpoche, Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, Dungse Jampal Norbu and Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche.
Meditation practice
Time for contemplation
Group discussions and Q&A, offering you the opportunity to explore the teachings and practices in an open supportive environment and to connect with a community of practitioners

Details of future sessions are yet to be confirmed. Please contact melbourne@rigpa.org.au for more information.

Details

Date: Saturday, March 21
Time: 2:00 pm – 4:30 pm
Location: Melbourne, in person
Register: Book Now

Cost: Full $20 Concession (seniors/under 35’s/concession) $10

If you are experiencing financial hardship please email us at melbourne@rigpa.org.au to request a further concession.

Free for Rigpa Sangha members. Please email melbourne@rigpa.org.au to request the discount code.

A path to fearlessness | Meditation and Wisdom to Transform Everyday Life | Melbourne
2026-05-02 14:00 - 16:30 | nsw
A path to fearlessness | Meditation and Wisdom to Transform Everyday Life
May 02 @ 2:00 pm – 4:30 pm
In person
The sense of fear is a useful tool for survival. Living in fear for fear’s sake, however, can be paralysing. This session will present a short teaching by Dungse Jampal Norbu as he explores the root causes of our fear, and how we can cultivate the antidote to them. From the Buddhist view, fear arises from three negative emotions: attachment, aversion, and ignorance. By investigating the source of our fears and confronting them with fierce compassion, Buddhism offers a path away from fear and anxiety towards courage.
A session in the Meditation and Wisdom to Transform Every Day Life series.
Spend time with your best self on a journey from sadness and anger to peace and joy. The timeless wisdom and meditative insights of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition offer many practical methods to help us heal and thrive as we face the everyday challenges of anxiety, depression, anger, physical pain, loneliness, and burnout.
This series of Saturday afternoon sessions offer an introduction to meditation and practical advice from some of the foremost Tibetan Buddhist teachers of our age. Applying these teachings can help us meet the challenges of these difficult times, to heal ourselves, and to bring us to the core of our own peace, compassion and wisdom.
Led by Western meditation instructors with many years of experience, each session consists of:

Video teachings from Tibetan Buddhist masters including Sogyal Rinpoche, Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, Dungse Jampal Norbu and Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche.
Meditation practice
Time for contemplation
Group discussions and Q&A, offering you the opportunity to explore the teachings and practices in an open supportive environment and to connect with a community of practitioners

Details of future sessions are:

13 June – Calming the Mind and Overcoming Anxiety
26 September – Where Can We Find Lasting Happiness?
21 November – Everything is Workable
12 December – Overcoming Depression

Details
Topic: A Path to Fearlessness

Date: Saturday, May 2nd
Time: 2:00 pm – 4:30 pm
Location: Melbourne, in person
Website: Register
Cost: Full $20 | Concession (seniors/under 35’s/concession) $10

If you are experiencing financial hardship please email us at melbourne@rigpa.org.au to request a further concession.
Free for Rigpa Sangha members. Please email melbourne@rigpa.org.au to request the discount code.

Calming the Mind and Overcoming Anxiety | Meditation and Wisdom for Every Day
2026-05-02 15:00 - 17:30 | Rigpa Sydney, 158 Australia St, Newtown, Sydney, NSW, 2042, Australia
Fear and anxiety disempower us. In this session we’ll present a short teaching by Sogyal Rinpoche that will help us look into the underlying source of our fears so that we can find a firm basis for confidence and contentment.

A session in the Meditation and Wisdom to Transform Every Day Life series.
Spend time with your best self on a journey from sadness and anger to peace and joy. The timeless wisdom and meditative insights of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition offer many practical methods to help us heal and thrive as we face the everyday challenges of anxiety, depression, anger, physical pain, loneliness, and burnout.
This series of Saturday afternoon sessions offer an introduction to meditation and practical advice from some of the foremost Tibetan Buddhist teachers of our age. Applying these teachings can help us meet the challenges of these difficult times, to heal ourselves, and to bring us to the core of our own peace, compassion and wisdom.
Led by Western meditation instructors with many years of experience, each session consists of:

Video teachings from Tibetan Buddhist masters including Sogyal Rinpoche, Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, Dungse Jampal Norbu and Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche.
Meditation practice
Time for contemplation
Group discussions and Q&A, offering you the opportunity to explore the teachings and practices in an open supportive environment and to connect with a community of practitioners

Dates and Topics for 2026
4 April No session due to Easter retreat
2 May Calming the Mind and Overcoming Anxiety
6 June No session due to the Finding Inner Peace and Contentment retreat
4 July Where Can We Find Lasting Happiness?
1 August Everything is Workable
5 September Overcoming Depression
3 October Accentuate the Positive: How to Work with Negative Emotions
7 November Beating Burnout and Stress
5 December How to Remain Unshaken By Life’s Ups and Downs

Inspiring a Revolution in Your Heart and Mind: Impermanence, Reflection and Change | Sydney | Friday morning Class
2026-05-08 10:00 - 11:30 | Rigpa Sydney, 158 Australia St, Newtown, Sydney, NSW, 2042, Australia
Join us on an experiential journey through The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. Discover a deep and universal wisdom explored in the major themes of the book, and learn about their practical implications for living well. Suitable for people of any religion or of none, this course encourages you to reflect on the Buddhist teachings, to see what makes sense to you and to experiment with applying these teachings in your daily life.
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying is widely regarded as one of the most complete and authoritative presentations of Tibetan Buddhism. A manual for life and death and a source of sacred inspiration from the heart of the Tibetan tradition, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying provides a lucid and inspiring introduction to the practice of meditation, to the nature of mind, to karma and rebirth, and to the trials and rewards of the spiritual path. The teachings, meditation and contemplations from this authentic tradition reveal how each of us can live a more meaningful, connected and fulfilling life.
Participants in this course will learn:

How to meditate
How an acceptance of impermanence can help us understand death and change our attitude towards life
How meditation can transform our perception, increase our confidence and fully connect us to the world around us
That mind is much more than just thoughts and emotions
How understanding the interdependency of all things and the principle of karma (that every action has an effect) gives us a logical basis for ethics and personal responsibility

Led by Western meditation instructors with many years of experience, each session consists of:

Video teachings from Tibetan and Western Buddhist masters including Sogyal Rinpoche, Jetsün Khandro Rinpoche, Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, Mingyur Rinpoche, Pema Chödrön and Sharon Salzberg.
Meditation practice
Time for contemplation
Group discussions and Q&A, offering you the opportunity to explore the teachings and practices in an open supportive environment.

This is module two of a year-long course that students can join at any stage. Each module focuses on a different topic.
Details
Module Two – Impermanence, Reflection and Change
All of us are touched by death in one way or another. The Buddha said, “If you want to know the truth of life and death, you must reflect continuously on this: there is only one law in the universe that never changes—that all things change, and that all things are impermanent.”
In the Buddhist approach, life and death are seen as one whole. Death is a mirror in which the entire meaning of life is reflected. And we do not have to wait for the death of someone close to us to force us into looking at our lives. We can begin, here and now, to find meaning in our lives.
Come with us on a journey investigating death and impermanence, through deep reflection on change and interconnectedness, to arrive at an appreciation of the vast potential of our own mind that is revealed when we let go of grasping at surface appearances.
When: Friday mornings, in person at 158 Australia St, Newtown, starting 8th May.
Time: 10am – 11.30am
Who: All welcome
Cost: 10 session module: Full $100, Concession $50
FREE for Rigpa members/subscribers who may email newcastle@rigpa.org.au to request the discount code.
If you are experiencing financial hardship please email us at newcastle@rigpa.org.au to request a further concession.

Self-Forgiveness in the Light of Compassion
2026-06-20 18:00 - 20:30 | Online via Zoom, Australia
Discover how to live with a lighter, kinder heart. Many of us carry beliefs that we’re unworthy of love or beyond forgiveness, leaving us trapped in guilt and self-blame. But punishing ourselves only deepens our suffering and prevents us from realizing our natural state. Through insight, compassion, and guided meditations, you’ll learn to soften your “inner critic,” release false beliefs, and understand why you can let yourself off the hook—all of which frees your heart. As you cultivate forgiveness and compassion for yourself, you’ll naturally feel a genuine compassion and understanding for others—and the world.
Seminar topics:

The spiritual dimension of self-forgiveness
Dismantling the barriers to forgiving oneself
Understanding your life with compassion and insight
Transforming your ‘inner critic’
Really good reasons you can let yourself off the hook
Meditations that deepen compassion and forgiveness for yourself and others

Feedback from past participants
“It was helpful to be constantly reminded that no matter what, we are fundamentally good and our mistakes do not define us. They are only a very small part and we can always shift towards the centre of ourselves with love.”
“Forgiveness – of ourselves and others, frees us. The seminar is a rich and deep dive into self-forgiveness using experiential learning in a supportive, engaging and accessible format, and is inclusive to people of all and no faith traditions. The content and guided meditations draw on different sources and this, along with the kindness, clarity and skill of Christine act as an invitation to a more profound connection with our own basic goodness.”
“The seminar has brought profound understanding and healing. It was both liberating and extremely challenging with the emergence of once unacknowledged emotions. A moving and heartfelt experience.”
“The seminar was timely as I’ve had a few new challenges, while already living in a shut-down state. I’ve been able to offer my younger self love, compassion and forgiveness which in turn has softened my heart to others I’d been closed off to. Now, I feel more open and spacious.”

3 sessions:
20 June 6:00pm-8:30pm AEST
27 June 6:00pm-8:30pm AEST
4 July 6:00pm-8:30pm AEST
(6:00pm AEST = 4:00pm Hong Kong Time, 9:00am GMT, and 9:00am Central European Time)
Time and date converter
https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html?iso=20260620T080000&p1=31&p2=240&p3=196&p4=102&p5=136&p6=103&p7=176
If you need to miss one of these sessions, you’ll be able to catch up by viewing a recording.

About Christine
Christine Longaker is a pioneer of the hospice movement and author of Facing Death and Finding Hope , translated into 9 languages. She’s co-author of Are You Ready and of published research on the benefits of Spiritual Care Training. She founded Rigpa in the USA in 1981, the Spiritual Care Education Program in 1993, and co-produced an in-depth accredited Contemplative Palliative Care training at Naropa University. Christine has produced an album of meditations: “Joy, Ease and Self-Forgiveness”, guides self-compassion meditations online every Sunday and leads a yearly retreat in Sri Lanka. Christine infuses her seminars with heartfelt presence, humor, and clarity. Read more at www.christinelongaker.com.
