This presentation of Mudra Space Awareness through digital embodiment will explore key practices and themes of this group discipline — from its conceptual framework to intensification and sensory exercises.
Craig Warren Smith
Professor Craig Warren Smith, became the first teacher of Mudra Space Awareness after receiving transmissions of the practice directly from CTR in the early 1970s. After introducing the practice to Naropa in 1974, he then began teaching the program in dozens of Shambhala Centers, culminating in the Dathun with Mudra at Karme Choling, co-taught with Suzann Duquette. At that time, under his leadership, the three-part (Vision-Method, Application) structure of Mudra began to emerged. After graduating with honors at Stanford University, he became Harvard Professor of Technology Policy at the Kennedy School of Government. He later became an advisor to world leaders regarding the regulation of the internet. Currently, he advises the Republic of Indonesia on implementation of an ethics based model, called Meaningful Broadband. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Warren_Smith). In recent years his approach to digital dynamics merged with Mudra, e.g. by using Muda visual exercises for content creation in virtual reality. A leader of the gay rights movement in the 1970s, he introduced the topic of “queer dharma” to Shambhala Centers in the 1990s.
Suzann Duquette began her lifetime exploration of Mudra in 1974 as part of the Berkeley Mudra Space Awareness Group with Dr. Craig Warren Smith, her main Mudra teacher. The Acharya sees the power of physical awareness and embodiment as essential to awakening, and Mudra as a profound method for tasting direct experience and embodiment, and putting the dharma into effective action in all aspects of our lives. Among many Mudra gatherings, Suzann has co-taught two landmark Mudra retreats – the 2004 Dathün with Mudra with Craig Smith and the 2019 Mudra Summit, both held at Karmê Chöling. Suzann is one of 40 acharyas (senior teachers) in the lineage of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. Former co-director of Karmê Chöling, she is currently the center’s Resident Acharya. Suzann also teaches Shambhala retreats and Daoist-Qigong in the lineage of Dr. Eva Wong. She lives with her husband, Jan, in Barnet, where they own and run Blue Skies, a B&B.
Greg Heffron
Greg Heffron was the first certified teacher of Mindful Communication authorized by author and Buddhist teacher Acharya Susan Gillis Chapman, and is the Executive Director of Green Zone Institute, dedicated to her work. He has been teaching Mindful Communication workshops since 2009, and has been a teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist tradition since 2005. In 2005, he apprenticed with senior Mudra Space Awareness teacher Craig Warren Smith, and became authorized to teach this unique mind-body meditation technique (www.mudrainstitute.org). In 2007, Greg co-taught with Professor Smith to graduating students in the Dance Division at the Julliard School in New York. Greg returned recently from a tour teaching Mindful Communication and Mudra Space Awareness in Holland, Poland and Ukraine. He coaches individuals, teaches workshops, and consults with businesses and organizations like Shambhala Mountain Center, Dechen Choling Retreat Center and others.
About Greg Heffron