The Breath of Life, Composing Bodily Fabrication (online course)

The Breath of Life: Composing Bodily Fabrication is an online meditation course led by Nathan Glyde, an Insight Meditation teacher recognised by Gaia House in the UK. It is part of the online programme of Gaia House, the retreat centre in Devon, and it is open to everyone, with no prior experience required. You take part from wherever you are.

What to Expect

The course is built around its title: the breath, and the way bodily fabrication is composed and can be settled in meditation. It is offered as a course rather than a single-day retreat or a residential stay, so the teaching unfolds in stages and gives you time between sessions to practise at home. The programme lists it as an online course in the Insight Meditation tradition associated with Gaia House.

About Nathan Glyde

Nathan Glyde is an Insight Meditation teacher recognised by Gaia House. He has practised and studied meditation since 1997 and has shared teachings on retreats since 2007. In 2004 he co-founded SanghaSeva, whose retreats emphasise wisdom and compassion in ecological and humanitarian service.

With Zohar Lavie, Nathan writes the materials for and runs DependentOrigination.org, a body of work on the Buddha's teaching of dependent origination. This is the teaching that all things arise reliant on other causes and conditions. Nathan and Zohar describe it as a practical exploration of how everything leans. They look at how stress depends on thirsting, and how seeing such dependencies opens a path to freedom. Their aim is to make this deep teaching accessible to all. That interest in how experience is put together, and how it can be understood, gives useful background to a course on the breath and the body.

Before You Go

The course is suitable for all levels, so you do not need to have attended a retreat before. It takes place online, so all you need is a device, a connection and a quiet place to sit. Gaia House runs a wide range of online courses and livestreamed retreats through the year, and this one sits among them as a gentle, practical way to study the breath with an experienced Insight Meditation teacher.