The Engaged Dharma Intensive
A four-month mentorship container for engaged Buddhist practice and study
Deepen your practice to meet the confusion of our times. Alchemize the dharma into the fabric of your daily life. Embody fearlessness and compassion to show up for yourself and your communities.
Socially engaged Buddhist practice and meditation support with Adriana
A quick overview:
Personalized Buddhist training curriculum with readings and handbooks
Eight Zoom calls with voice message and email support in between
Access to the Radical Change Library including book club, workshop, and guided meditation recordings
Tailored support for integrating the dharma into the nuances of your daily life
This might be a good fit if you are…
An activist or community organizer who understands that the challenges we face today are not just individual or structural, but deeply existential and spiritual. You’re feeling stressed, anxious, maybe even burnt out, and you long to embody the resilience and courage that will empower you to support others.
A student, parent, or educator who feels the weight of the world’s crises shifting you in ways you can no longer ignore. You recognize that deepening your meditation practice can help you digest grief, process overwhelm, and navigate uncertainty.
A meditator whose practice feels stale, disconnected, barely existent. You want to cultivate a practice that integrates into your work, life, and relationships, helping you embody fearlessness, compassion, and clarity.
Someone who feels an undeniable sense that the world is simply not right. You’re tired of the status quo and long for a Buddhist practice that not only challenges the way things are but also helps you actively create the life-affirming world you know is possible.
By the end of our time together you'll have:
Learned the history of the Buddhism, its different lineages, transmission to the West, and why this matters
Established a connection to the Buddha’s core teachings based on your own experiential understanding and connected it to your personal and social justice commitments
Engaged Buddhist ethical trainings and applied it to the nuances of your personal, political, and work life
Cultivated the foundation for a strong daily Buddhist meditation practice supported by ritual and chanting
Crafted a pathway of further dharma training unique to your own needs for further spiritual development
Disentangled capitalism (and consumerism, colonialism, and white supremacy) from your meditation practice
What’s included
Eight mentorship calls via Zoom
Weekly voice message and email support in between calls
Curriculum based on where you are in your Buddhist path
Dozens of short, self-paced modules with accompanied readings, videos, and handbooks
Personal retreat and practice training plans
Access to the Radical Change Library
Lifetime access to course material for you to revisit when you wish
Pricing
A four-month container of personalized guidance and support
$1800
I offer a limited number of reduced-rate scholarships starting at $900. If the standard rate isn’t accessible to you, you can indicate that you’d like to request a scholarship when booking your complimentary call.
What past students are saying…
“Adriana is an exceptionally knowledgeable teacher of Buddhist Dharma. What initially drew me to her as a mentor was not only her depth of understanding, but also her patience, humility, and genuine commitment to sharing her wisdom in ways that inspire meaningful positive change in the world.
During a time in history when I have often felt discouraged and powerless, Adriana has helped me transform both my meditation practice and my contemplative life. Through her guidance, I have been able to cultivate positive change within myself while also learning how to bring that positive change outward into the world around me.”
Tell me more about the mentorship…
Need more info on what you can expect?
Step 1: Set the Ground
We’ll meet via Zoom every two weeks. In our first call, we’ll assess what you and the folks that rely on you need right now, and how Buddhist practice can help.
Step 2: Engage the Path
You’ll begin the curriculum and engage your daily practice. We’ll connect weekly via voice memos to discuss your home practice and the material covered in the modules.
Step 3: Monitor & Assess
We’ll assess where you feel you need to focus, where you need extra support, and how you can begin to deepen your engagement further through your relationships, work, and activism.
Step 4: Reflect & Plan
We’ll reflect, clarify, and make a plan for further study, practice, and retreat. I’ll help you find an in-person sangha, specific tradition, or other ways for you to continue to deepen your practice further.
Looking for something more flexible?
The Engaged Dharma Intensive is designed for ongoing, structured support. If you’re looking for a one-time conversation about your Buddhist practice, meditation, or spiritual questions, you can also work with me through a one-off mentoring or spiritual counseling session.
Have more questions?
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Buddhist mentoring focuses on your long-term growth and deepening within Buddhist practice. It’s an ongoing relationship where we explore your meditation, study, and ethical practice over time, helping you integrate the Dharma into your daily life. Mentoring often involves guidance on practice structure, accountability, and personal development rooted in Buddhist teachings.
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Buddhist mentorship is an ongoing relationship focused on deepening your Dharma practice. Unlike therapy, life coaching, or spiritual counseling, mentorship is about long-term growth in your Dharma practice.
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Nope! This program is open to folks of any spiritual, religious, or secular background.
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Sessions often include guided meditation, Dharma discussion, Q&A, and personal reflection. I tailor each meeting to your needs, goals, and current life context.
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It’s ultimately up to you! Our Zoom calls are 50 mins each. If you plan on keeping up with the workbooks and readings, it will likely take you an additional 1hr/week.
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We meet 2x/month via Zoom for four months. You can also send me messages via Signal or email for asynchronous support in between.
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Formal mentorship with Zoom meetings, Signal, and curriculum is a 4-month container. If you are unable to commit to a formal mentorship container, I recommend booking a one-off mentorship session instead.
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Yes, absolutely.
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Book a complimentary 30-minute session here. We’ll get to know each other, talk about your practice, and see if this path feels right for you.
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Yes, I offer a limited number of scholarship spots starting at $900. If the standard rate is not accessible to you, please indicate that you are requesting a reduced scholarship rate when booking your call.
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Socially engaged Buddhism (SEB) is Buddhism that is engaged with the social, political, economic, and material conditions of suffering and liberation. The term “engaged Buddhism” was originally coined by Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh in the 1960s.
Me back in 2018 on retreat thinking about Buddhist ethics or snacks
Hey! I’m Adriana 👋
I’m a Buddhist meditation teacher, scholar, chaplain, and parent. I help meditators integrate their social justice values and spiritual practice.
Several years into my meditation practice, I had a nagging feeling something was missing.
I watched as mindfulness became increasingly popular as a secular tool for productivity and stress-relief and found myself asking—was meditating to keep up with middle-class pleasures—surely this wasn’t what the Buddha meant by liberation in this lifetime?
…Right?
I hit a wall in my practice and life, and became frustrated with how Western Buddhist communities' omissions and deemphasis of ethics showed up in their own crises and misconduct.
Even after hundreds of hours of meditation and study, my practice felt shallow, fragile, and disconnected.
It wasn’t until I connected to the Buddha’s teachings on moral discipline and very intentionally applied it to my daily actions, relationships, and activism, that my Buddhist practice developed depth, came alive, and felt integrated.
It was at the same time that I began to wrestle with the way that capitalism and the dharma’s commodification in the West—specifically the disjointed separation of study, embodied practice, and ethical training—prevented my practice from deepening for a long while.
Me several years and a lifetime later, still thinking about ethics or snacks
If you’re like I was years ago, you feel connected to the Buddha’s teachings on compassion and suffering. You’ve read a few dharma books, meditate regularly, and maybe gone on a retreat.
You know the dharma can help you better show up for the people and communities you love, but you need to take the next step to deepen your practice.
You’re looking to bridge your spiritual development with your aspiration to build a more life-affirming world because you understand they are ultimately connected.
Let’s start by cultivating a meditation practice that has the depth and rigor to meet the confusion of our times.
Let’s wrestle with Buddhist teachings and connect it to your aspiration to help and serve other beings on our path to collective liberation.
Let’s deepen your practice through radical, accountable spiritual friendship.
With love,
Adriana