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A four-week live series · Begins July 16
Bringing the Heart to Life in Everyday Living
With Cynde Denson
The Brahmaviharas — loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity — are four trainable qualities of heart. Over four weeks with teacher Cynde Denson, you'll practice each one, learn what derails it, and discover how the four weave together into a balanced, resilient way of living.
What you'll practice and learn
Why this series?
The Buddha called them the Four Divine Abodes — not because they're otherworldly, but because a heart that dwells in them is a good place to live.
Loving-kindness. Compassion. Sympathetic joy. Equanimity. These aren't personality traits some people are born with. They're capacities, and like any capacity, they grow with practice — in meditation, and in traffic, in conflict, in grief, in an ordinary Tuesday.
This series is practical. Each week you'll take one quality into direct practice, and learn to spot its near enemies and far enemies — the states of mind that oppose it, or subtly masquerade as it. Pity can wear compassion's clothing. Indifference can pass for equanimity. Learning to tell the difference is where the practice gets real.
The arc of the series
Four weeks of 1-hour sessions
Week 1 — Loving-Kindness (Metta) · July 16
July 16th, 10AM Pacific / 1PM Eastern / 19:00 CEST
The heart's basic warmth: unconditional friendliness toward ourselves and others. We'll practice metta directly and learn to distinguish it from its near enemy — affection with strings attached — and its far enemy, ill will.
Week 2 — Compassion (Karuna)
July 23rd, 10AM Pacific / 1PM Eastern / 19:00 CEST
The heart that can stay present with suffering without collapsing into it. We'll explore how compassion differs from pity, and how it protects us from both overwhelm and cruelty.
Week 3 — Sympathetic Joy (Mudita)
July 30th, 10AM Pacific / 1PM Eastern / 19:00 CEST
Perhaps the least practiced of the four: genuine delight in the happiness of others. An antidote to comparison and envy — and a surprisingly direct path to our own joy.
Week 4 — Equanimity (Upekkha)
August 6th, 10AM Pacific / 1PM Eastern / 19:00 CEST
The steadiness that holds the other three. Not indifference, but a balanced heart that can care deeply without being swept away — and the ground on which all four qualities integrate.
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, its near and far enemies, 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
Cynde Denson
I am a devoted yogi, practicing and teaching mindful meditation and yoga for over 25 years. These practices have helped me heal deeply ingrained habits of driving towards perfectionism that resulted in depression and anxiety.
I have learned to love and accept myself through my practice. My intention is to help others befriend their tender hearts, finding their individual path to aliveness, inner freedom, and clarity.
In my free time, I am fed by the love and support of my family and the beauty of the great outdoors in the Foothills of Denver, Colorado, where I live with my husband and dog.
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: The Brahmaviharas
Four live one-hour sessions with Cynde Denson. Thursdays: July 16 · July 23 · July 30 · August 6.
All session recordings — yours to keep
Guided meditations you can return to anytime
