A four-week live series · Begins September 9
Living on Purpose: Working with Conscious Intention
With Michael Cohen
Intention isn't the same as a goal. A goal lives out ahead of us; an intention shapes how we meet this moment. When we become aware of the intentions already at work in us — and begin choosing them deliberately — we recover a quiet but profound sense of agency in our lives.
What you'll practice and learn
Why this series?
As the Tibetan proverb goes, "Everything rests on the tip of intention." Almost everything we do arises from some intention — yet we're rarely aware of what those underlying intentions actually are. This series is an invitation to bring them into the light.
We'll explore intention from two directions. First, we'll look beneath our actions with curiosity rather than judgment, asking what our habitual intentions reveal about how we move through the world — and whether they align with our deepest values. Then we'll turn that around: clarifying those values so we can consciously choose the intentions we want to live by. Along the way we'll work through four overlapping layers of intention — life, near-term, situational, and present-moment — and discover how working with intention, as distinct from chasing goals, becomes a genuine path of practice.
The arc of the series
Four weeks of 1-hour sessions
Week 1 — Uncovering Our Intentions
September 9th, 10AM Pacific / 1PM Eastern
We begin by noticing the intentions already operating beneath our actions — often invisible to us — and meeting them with openness rather than judgment.
Week 2 — Our Guiding Star: Discovering and Setting Life Intentions
September 16th, 10AM Pacific / 1PM Eastern
We turn toward our deepest aspirations, clarifying the core values that can serve as a guiding star for everything that follows.
Week 3 — The Season Before Us: Near-Term Intention
September 23th, 10AM Pacific / 1PM Eastern
We bring intention to the season of life directly in front of us — the nearer-term directions that shape our months and weeks.
Week 4 — Meeting Life as It Unfolds: Situational and Present-Moment Intention
September 30th, 10AM Pacific / 1PM Eastern
We learn to meet life as it actually arrives, carrying conscious intention into specific situations and into the present moment itself.
What each session looks like
Session format
Each session is one hour long.
A guided meditation (15–20 minutes)
To settle into the week's quality directly and experience the teaching in an embodied way.
Journaling
An opportunity to relfect on the teachings more deeply with a journaling prompt
A dharma talk (10-15 minutes)
The heart of each session, where your teacher unpacks the material and how to carry it into everyday life
Sharing and discussion
Space to ask, share, and hear how the practice is landing for others.
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Meet your teacher
Michael Cohen
My mindfulness practice began thirteen years ago, when I first read Jack Kornfield's A Path with Heart. The benefits came quickly — I found myself working through everything from depression to physical pain — but it wasn't until I found sangha, community, that my practice took root in a truly holistic way.
Having felt the transformative power of sangha firsthand, and watched it work in others, I've devoted myself to growing and holding safe spaces where people can explore their own dharma and reimagine a life full of new possibilities.
Join this series, or become a member
Four live sessions, all recordings, and practices you'll return to for years — $80.
Want to commit to this and future series? Banyan Commons members get this series — and a new series every month, plus live meditation every weekday — for just $20/month. You'll retain access as long as you're a member.
Dharmette: Living on Purpose
Four live one-hour sessions with Michael Cohen. Wednesdays: Sep 9 · Sep 16 · Sep 23 · Sep 30
All session recordings — yours to keep
Guided meditations you can return to anytime
