About Brian Lesage

About Brian Lesage

My passion is liberation… the liberation of the heart.

I dedicate myself to this mostly by practicing and teaching the Dharma through Vipassana meditation, which is fundamentally liberation through awareness. This expanded when I was introduced to Somatic Experiencing® (SE). After witnessing profound transformations in myself and in my clients through SE, it became a vital new avenue by which to explore liberation.

My sincere aspiration is to provide individuals with opportunities for such transformations through the Dharma and Somatic Experiencing®.

Dharma Background

Understanding and teaching the Dharma and meditation practices have been integral parts of my life for over 25 years.

I have been consistently practicing Buddhist meditation since 1988 in the Zen, Theravada and Tibetan schools of Buddhism and was ordained in the Rinzai Zen tradition in 1996. I spent 6 years living in a rigorous Rinzai Zen monastic environment before and during my time as a monk. My training in Vipassana Meditation includes doing extended meditation retreats in Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, and India as well as numerous retreats in the U.S and I was given permission to teach in this tradition by Eric Kolvig.

Since 2000, I have been teaching in a variety of settings. These settings have included teaching meditation at prisons, schools and universities, a Wellness Center, a drug rehabilitation center, and for various sitting groups and Sanghas throughout the U.S. I now spend most of my time serving local Sanghas and leading retreats.

In teaching the Dharma, I am interested in maintaining a close tie with this 2,600 year old tradition and conveying it in a way that speaks to our current situation. It is important to see that all aspects of our lives are gateways to following this path of liberation

In addition to leading retreats and supporting Sanghas through various avenues of teaching, I have a keen interest in supporting practitioners deepen their spiritual path with one-­‐on-­‐one guidance. In these individual interactions we explore how to deepen one’s spiritual life and fully embody this path.

Somatic Experiencing® Background

I am a certified Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner and an approved SE Assistant for SE trainings. I receive supervision from an approved SE Consultant, and continue to attend advanced SE trainings.

In my work, I take the role of an educator who supports clients in developing the necessary awareness towards physical and mental processes that leads to the resolution of symptoms resulting from unresolved trauma and stress.

I was Founding Partner and Co-Director of Equanimity Development Institute, an organization that provided meditation instruction and SE to clients in an inpatient drug rehabilitation center as well as to individuals in the general public.

My work as an educator in my SE sessions is also informed by my training in Focusing, my Master’s degree in Counseling and over 25 years of Buddhist meditation practice.

I learned the process of Focusing under the guidance of Ann Weiser Cornell through doing the five levels of her focusing training.

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