Fall 2025 Courses

“Seeing Beyond Thought: An Introduction to Miksang Contemplative Photography”

Presenting Michael Wood and Julie DuBose, Co-founders of The Miksang Institute for Contemplative Photography and Miksang Publications

Sunday May 3, 2026

10 AM - Noon ET, via Zoom

Can you recognize the truth of your own experience of seeing, free of conceptual overlays and preferences? Miksang Photography is based on authentic visual experience expressed exactly as seen—True to Life.

We can train our minds to be still, open, and receptive so that we can see our world with a mind of visual awareness. This means that in each moment we are fully present in the here and now to experience our visual world in a fully genuine, authentic way, as it is.

We can discover a much larger visual world without conditions, pre-requisites, and judgment. We are able to experience our experience instead of our thoughts about our experience. This is very joyful and freeing. This brings a sense of equanimity about everything we see and in our lives. Struggle and doubt become unnecessary. And from equanimity, we experience Effortless Beauty.

 In this presentation we will introduce Miksang through example images and a walk through and description of the practice of Recognizing Direct Perception.

 We will show how doing this can teach us to understand how we see habitually and how we can begin to see our world beyond our thoughts about our experience. Through this practice we can prepare our mind to be stopped by raw, unmediated visual perceptions and cultivate a mind that is always available to see in this way.

 Michael Wood the original founder and principal developer of the Miksang Training Curriculum. He is one of the originators of the Contemplative Photography movement in modern photography and is Co-Founder of the Miksang Institute for Contemplative Photography and Miksang Publications.

Julie DuBose is the Co-Founder of The Miksang Institute for Contemplative Photography and Miksang Publications, based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Julie began to study with Michael Wood in 1998 and began co-teaching with him in 2005. The Miksang Institute was established in 2009. Together they have developed the Miksang curriculum and numerous supporting books and course materials. They have taught in North America, Europe, and Asia. 

More information about Michael and Julie is available at www.miksang.com.

Please register by RSVP only, or make an optional donation by selecting from the pull-down menu.

Mark your calendar — Zoom link here

This guru yoga practice, entitled “Bestowing Supreme Blessings,” was composed in 1987 by H.H. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche for the Vidyadhara Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche.

REQUIRES TRANSMISSION AND LUNG.

You may purchase up to three copies. Pick up at the Aligned Center is preferred. If you are unable to pick up your copies, choose the “Postage” option along with your sadhana purchase, and include your preferred mailing address.

WMC Introductory Course

Students are encouraged to obtain a copy of the book Another Kind of Freedom by Pema Chödrön.

We are committed to making our programs affordable to all, and we endeavor to set the course fee at a rate that covers necessary expenses. We rely on donations to cover additional program costs. Please consider offering an additional amount to offset program expenses. Thank you for your contribution.

*Those with limited income please note the student/fixed income option.