Six-week live online course

Ground

Essentials for waking up in tender and tumultuous times

with senior Insight Meditation teacher Jess Huon

Join Ground

Six live sessions

Sundays 4–6pm AEDT
25 October to 29 November

Every session recorded

Join live or practise in your
own time, wherever you are

Closing day retreat

Optional, in person
Melbourne/Naarm, 6 December

Real stability doesn't come from control

Not from trying to pin down, predict and manage everything externally. Not from tightening up, or digging your heels into familiar ways of being.

None of it ever really worked, and it certainly won't now.

We need a deeper ground

One that gives flexibility. Not rigidity.

A place to come from that is not a mind running on fear, or old wounds that bend us out of shape.

A ground within that is there even when things don't go your way. When you're not performing. When the outside world is unravelling.

This is the ground we are cultivating here, together.

It's time to stop the patterns that are harmful

The scrolling. The ruminating. The defensiveness. The self-harassment.

It's time to stop chasing the next dopamine hit, the next fix, the next sugar rush, the silver bullet.

Does any of this feel familiar?

  • You want to be steady-hearted and clear-eyed, and life keeps knocking you off your feet.
  • You're doing what's yours to do in the world, without enough holding or support underneath you.
  • You know about mindfulness, but it hasn't made it all the way down into your body.
  • The world outside is becoming more unpredictable, and your inner ground hasn't caught up.

As humans, there's so much we can't control. What you can influence, profoundly, is how you respond.

This takes practice, and support.

What's possible

There is something trustworthy and steady within each of us

The more you are able to step off the treadmill of looping thoughts, relax with the stress humming in your body, and stop trying to push away discomfort or cling to what feels good, the more you will sense it.

And as you do this, you can learn to feel a deeper inner warmth, presence and ok-ness at the same time as whatever else you are experiencing.

We need this now.

Join Ground

The course

Not from the dusty pages of a book

In these six weekly sessions, plus an optional in-person day retreat, you'll learn the essentials of mindfulness: foundational teachings the Buddha gave 2,500 years ago, which offer profound insight into the human experience.

You'll learn them not from the dusty pages of a book or a watered-down pop version, but through the body, heart and mind of a senior female Insight Meditation teacher and writer, who has distilled these ancient teachings into potent insights for you, now.

The course is offered to you in your home, in the midst of your daily routines. Not as an escape from the world, but to support you to enter your life in the most skilful, effective and sometimes surprising way you can.

Here's what we'll cover

Six live weekly sessions

Week 01

Filling in the gaps of modernity

We start by going back to the body, to simple nourishment, to a basic connection with the earth below. As modern people, we need to remember this solid ground first. We then explore 'right view': you are not just your conditioning, there is more to us all than we think.

Week 02

Your response matters

We explore how to interrupt cycles of suffering through the Four Noble Truths. You'll learn skills to be with pain wisely and open to fresh possibilities, opening the 'golden gap' between what happens and our response. To pause, stop reinforcing pain, and do something different. This makes our experience workable.

Week 03

Practice, questions and emergent teaching

Q&A, practice and emergent teaching in response to the group.

Week 04

What really helps us?

Here we dive into the seven friends and turn towards what resources us. Looping into good feeling, so we can be with what's hard, and what's beautiful.

Week 05

Holding your seat whilst working with obstacles

We explore what taxes your energy, what holds you back, and how to respond to these qualities, such as worry and the inner critic, through teachings on Mara and the five hindrances.

Week 06

Gathering it in

Q&A, practice and emergent teaching in response to the group, as we close our six weeks together.

In this course you will receive

  • Six weekly teaching and meditation practice sessions, Sundays 4–6pm AEDT.
  • Recordings of every session, in case you miss some or want to watch them again.
  • Downloadable recordings of guided meditation practices to do in your own time.
  • An optional weekly live morning meditation, Wednesdays 7–7:45am AEDT.
  • A group forum and weekly prompts to discuss.
  • An invitation to the in-person Ground day retreat on 6 December, a week after we finish, at a reduced rate.

Changing habits and patterns is hard. Without another reference point, it's easy to backtrack.

This course is designed to offer the structure and inspiration for you to take your next steps.

Join Ground

Your teacher

Jess Huon

Jess Huon is a senior Insight Meditation teacher who has been practising for 30 years and teaching for 20, long before mindfulness was a buzzword.

Authorised in the Insight and Open Dharma traditions, informed by Tibetan teachings and long stretches of solitary forest retreat, she eventually jumped the monastery walls to include her whole self in her practice: body, feminine, lineage, land.

She teaches what she knows and what she has felt, with a particular focus on cultivating warmth and nourishment as we face what's hard.

This is dharma for the times we're in, not a private getaway, but practice in the grit of real life.

Jess brings authenticity, playfulness, humour, enormous warmth and wisdom that is clearly borne of 30 years of dedicated practice. Her humanity is clear and bright and it's a joy to sit with her.
Dan
Jess' teachings are so grounded in the here and now, yet you can feel the depth of lineage.
JG
Jess draws together a lifetime of deep practice and shares her learnings with skill. As a Buddhist beginner, I could follow her teachings without overwhelm.
Barbara
I have taken away many key learnings that I have already been using in my everyday life. Jess' incredible warmth, openness, honesty and trust as a teacher created a container that held so much. I sensed myself shifting in potent ways along with the other people in attendance.
Freya

This is for you if…

  • You want to connect to a trustworthy and steady inner ground to sustain you in your work, parenting, relationships, creativity, activism.
  • You want to keep waking up to the freedom that is possible in a human life, in the midst of your daily reality.
  • You want to bridge the gap between aspiration, how you want to be, and what you are capable of handling.
  • You're very functional in the world but you're missing something. You want more juice, and more connection to yourself and something bigger.
  • You've felt let down by some of the patriarchal structures in spirituality and the damage these have done, and you want the depth, just not the bullshit.
  • You're noticing the accelerating change around us, from climate change to AI, and want to cultivate your inner steadiness in the midst of uncertainty.
  • You're a facilitator, therapist, teacher, social worker, yoga teacher, or anybody who wants to bring a more in-depth understanding of mindfulness to their work.

There used to be rituals for this

For connecting to something deeper within ourselves, each other and the wider cosmos, in a way that re-energises and replenishes us.

All cultures have known this throughout history. But for better and worse, these structures have crumbled and fractured.

Let's gather and do this in a new way.

To learn from this time-tested human inheritance in a way that honours your sovereignty, and empowers you on your unique path.

You don't need to pack up your bags and go elsewhere for this. Over six weeks this course will create structure, accountability and inspiration for you to free up your heart and mind in the midst of your real life.

Join Ground

Six-week live online course

$397 $497

Early bird until Tuesday 13 October, save $100

  • Six live sessions, Sundays 4–6pm AEDT.
  • Recordings of every session.
  • Downloadable guided meditations.
  • Optional live Wednesday morning meditations.
  • Group forum and weekly prompts.
  • Reduced rate for the in-person day retreat.
Join Ground

Pay in one, two or three instalments.

And then, in person

The Ground day retreat

Sunday 6 December, Melbourne/Naarm

The course finishes on 29 November. A week later we gather in person to land it, in a room together, for a full day.

Course participants are invited at a reduced rate, plus dana (donation) for Jess's teachings. Details come to you once you're enrolled.

If you want to do the course but need to pay more slowly, write to mentoring@jesshuon.com and we'll find a way.

FAQs

What happens if I can't make all the sessions?

No problem. All sessions are recorded and you will have ongoing access to them.

I'm not in Australia. Can I still take part?

Yes. Sessions run live on Sundays, 4–6pm AEDT. Every session is recorded, so you can join live when the time works for you and practise with the recordings the rest of the time.

I have done a course with Jess called Ground before. Is this different?

Yes. All the talks and practices are live and will be fresh, from Jess's perspective now. Some of the core Buddhist teachings covered will be the same, for example the Four Noble Truths, and some will be different.

Can I do a payment plan?

Yes. You have the option to pay the course fee in one, two or three instalments. If you want to do the course but need to pay more slowly, you can contact us at mentoring@jesshuon.com.

What's your cancellation policy?

If you cancel before 25 October, when the course starts, we will refund your payment minus a $50 admin fee. There are no refunds once the course has started. If you miss sessions you will be able to watch the recordings.

From Jess

For this course I am going back to my roots. To the core teachings that are at the centre of everything that I do.

To the rebellious, life-giving essentials that the Buddha dharma offers each of us.

This is for every-one, newbies, old hands. You can't do the foundations enough. I know I return to them again and again.

My hope is these deeper pillars, these reference points of sanity and wakefulness, give you the good ground to stand on when it matters. So you can pause and respond freshly, interrupt worn-out patterns, settle your reactivity, be present for what's right under your nose, hold steady when things are spiralling, and come from a more freed-up place.

Let's do this together, now.

Jess

It's time to come back to ground

It's time to build the kind of steadiness that supports you to take action in the world.

Together we can ground deeper than stress, fear and agitation.

Join Ground

Questions? admin@jesshuon.com