Update: Jewel Heart Chicago Courses (2025)
Continuing Course —
Creating Space: Clarity and Insight
Creating Space uses the breath as an anchor to gently hold the mind. We allow the mind to notice the arising and fading of various physical, emotional or mental phenomena that naturally occur. Staying close to the breath in this way can be profoundly grounding and relaxing.
* New time: 1:00-2:00pm Wednesdays (September 24, October 1, 8, 15)
* Logan Square Branch, Chicago Public Library, 3030 W. Fullerton Ave.
* Free
* All are welcome
New Course Beginning October 22 —
Deepening Awareness: The Four Foundations of Mindfulness
In this meditation course, we will explore mindfulness of body, feelings, thoughts and phenomena. Awareness shifts gradually from immediate physical sensation to more and more subtle mental phenomena, finally observing any phenomenon, inside and outside of the meditator’s body-mind complex.
* 1:00-2:00pm Wednesdays (October 22, 29, November 5, 12, 19, December 3, 10, 17)
* Logan Square Branch, Chicago Public Library, 3030 W. Fullerton Ave.
* Free
* All are welcome
Please email us at [email protected] to reserve a spot or ask questions.
Recent Public Talks
Demo Rinpoche Spring 2025 Chicago Event
His EminenceDemo Rinpoche delivered a public talk in Chicago in the spring of 2025 at the Bucktown-Wicker Park Branch of the Chicago Public Library. Titled “Strong Like a Mountain, Flow Like a River” the talk addressed how to calm your mind in challenging times. Key messages included how to use shamatha meditation to stabilize the mind, how crucial it is to recognize, analyze and strive to eliminate negative emotions, and why we must press forward even though obstacles may be ahead or behind us.
The courses above are follow-ups to this event.
Demo Rinpoche: Choose Compassion Over Fear (2024)
In June 2024, in the community room of a local church, His Eminence Demo Rinpoche presented a talk on how to “Choose Compassion Over Fear.” The talk explored how compassion can help overcome the limitations caused by fear and confusion, and serve as a reliable guiding force for our everyday lives.
As a follow-up, senior sangha members led a multi-week course on The Four Noble Truths.
About Jewel Heart Chicago
Jewel Heart Chicago coalesced in the 1980s and 1990s to embrace the authentic and accessible teachings of Kyabje Gelek Rimpoche.
Over the years we have hosted numerous teachers, public events, discussion groups, dharma classes, guided meditations and local sangha celebrations, influenced by Rimpoche’s teachings. Although we lost our dedicated physical space during the pandemic, we continue to seek out and find venues to share the dharma with others. Please stay tuned and join us for upcoming classes, public talks and sangha gatherings.