I live in the Los Angeles area and was googling around for places to go around here to start learning some basic meditation practices. I came across this: http://www.againstthestream.org/ and was wondering what you all could tell me about any experiences you have going there, or your thoughts on Levine in general as a teacher.

Thanks

Hey,

I have not visited his meditation centre although if I find myself back in the LA area I certainly will. Many of his talks are online. Give them a try to see what his style is. He is taught by Kornfield so he definatly has that psychoanalytic influence. Which is fine. Never heard him talk about maps so I would really be curious what he thought about this form of practice. Why don't you ask him for me? haha... well I would say its worth checking out anyway, if you don't like the group you haven't really lost anything...

I agree with Mr. Lightfoot. I've been to the Dharma Punx group in SF which I think is related to Noah's LA group, it's a good group of people with good teachers, you should check it out.

Thanks for the feedback. I'll look into his talks. There are some posted on that website. There's also a beginners lesson next Saturday (April 3) in his Santa Monica center. Going to check it out and I'll let you know how it went!

I have been to Noah's Santa Monica location and the conference he held on Buddhism in Recovery... His talks in Santa Monica were interesting. He has an interesting combination of Spirit Rock and his own ,younger approach to meditation and dharma talks. I recommend checking it out.
Rebecca