Foundational Practices for Inner Peace: The Four Foundations of Mindfulness

This six-month online meditation course takes the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, the Buddha's teaching known as Satipaṭṭhāna, as its subject. It is taught in the Theravada and Vipassana traditions by John Martin and Tuere Sala, both Guiding Teachers connected with Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, CA. It suits new meditators, returning practitioners, and anyone who wants to move from mindfulness as stress relief toward the fuller path it came from.

What to Expect

The course follows the four foundations in order: body, feeling, mind, and patterns (the dhammas). Thirteen step-by-step practices run through the six months, and each month centers on one dimension of experience. Teachings, guided meditations, and group reflection are woven together.

- Month one, body: breath, posture, walking, standing, sitting, and movement, along with an introduction to the Five Hindrances of desire, aversion, restlessness, sloth, and doubt.
- Month two, body: the body seen as earth, water, fire, and air, contemplation of its parts, and mindfulness of death as a way into impermanence.
- Month three, feeling: pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral feeling tones, how they feed craving and aversion, and the Six Sense Spheres.
- Month four, mind: restless or calm, contracted or expansive, clouded or clear states of mind, continued work with the hindrances, and the Seven Factors of Awakening.
- Month five, patterns: the Noble Eightfold Path and the Five Aggregates.
- Month six, patterns: the Four Noble Truths, and how suffering arises and can cease.

The core sessions are live on Zoom once a month on a Sunday, from 10 am to 12 pm Pacific, two hours each and twelve hours in all. Every session is recorded, with audio, video, and transcripts available within a few business days. A weekly 45-minute guided meditation with a Dharma teaching meets on Wednesdays at 8 am Pacific and is optional. There are also optional Q&A sessions, with Tuere on select Saturday afternoons and with John on select Wednesday mornings.

About John Martin

John Martin has practiced Dharma since 2001 and has taught since 2014. He is Co-Chair of the Spirit Rock Guiding Teachers Council and teaches vipassanā, mettā, and LGBTQI-themed meditation retreats. He is on the teaching team of the four-year Spirit Rock and Insight Meditation Society teacher training program. His path has included volunteer service, among it more than twelve years as a hospice volunteer.

About Tuere Sala

Tuere Sala serves on the Spirit Rock Guiding Teachers Council and is a Guiding Teacher at Seattle Insight Meditation Society. She has practiced vipassanā for over thirty years and has taught since 2010. She is committed to lay practice and to bringing the Dharma to nontraditional places, and she advocates for practitioners living with high stress, past trauma, or difficulty sitting still. She has long experience helping people establish and sustain a daily practice.

Before You Go

No prior experience is required, and the course is taught in English. Participants receive:

- Twelve hours of live online instruction
- Weekly guided meditations
- Access to an online learning platform with lifetime access to recordings, video, audio, and transcripts
- An online sangha community space for reflection and shared practice
- The option to schedule one-to-one practice meetings with teaching assistants, offered on a dāna basis

The course is entirely online. It has no in-person retreat component, no private instruction beyond the optional practice meetings, and no printed course materials. A short free sample lecture on the Four Noble Truths and the suffering we add to painful situations gives a feel for the teaching style. A discount is offered when you bring a friend, and a limited number of scholarships are reserved for those facing real financial hardship. Refunds are available for a limited period after the course begins, so read the cancellation terms before enrolling.