Today we’d like to introduce you to Mary Stancavage.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Mary. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
We were founded by teacher and author Noah Levine in 2008, and opened our first center in East Hollywood. Our intention has been to make the teachings of the Buddha available to any who are interested. We offer weekly classes, daylong events, class series and residential retreats. We teach mindfulness meditation and other topics in Buddhism. We opened our second center in Santa Monica in 2009, and a center in San Francisco in 2015. We have trained teachers and facilitators and have affiliated groups around the country and internationally.
I have been with Against the Stream since before it existed. I was on the initial board of directors and the main volunteer after we opened. About six months in I was hired as the director of the organization and have been in place ever since. I have also studied with Noah and become a teacher so I serve a dual role at ATS.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Our mission is to make the teachings of the Buddha available to all and to do that we have chosen to work mainly on a donation basis. All of our classes are offered by donation. Our longer classes and residential retreats do have a fee, but they are quite low and the teachers offer their time freely. We have been successful with this model, but our challenge is always financial. We opened our doors just as the financial recession was beginning but we have been able to survive due to the generosity of our community and their trust in our vision. We have also touched a chord with so many people that although we cannot do everything we would like and go everywhere we are invited, we are making use of podcasts and social media to insure our work is available throughout the world.
Insuring we meet the needs of a diverse community is important to us as we move into these very complicated times.
Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We are proud that we have been able to make the teachings of the Buddha available to all who are interested and we seem to have reached a demographic that has not connected with the more typical Western Buddhist Insight communities. Our founding teacher Noah Levine has an atypical background in that he was incarcerated as a teen and began meditating in Juvenile Hall when he was 17. He is also very into a punk rock ethos. This feeling of being an outsider, yet also extremely true to the dharma and the Buddha’s teaching has resonated with a younger community who might not normally be drawn to Buddhism. Noah was trained to teach by Jack Kornfield at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Northern California which is a traditional Insight community in the Thai Forest tradition. The teachers and facilitators at Against the Stream adhere to high ethical standards, are deeply integrated with the dharma and teach from a place of transparency.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I have so many proud moments, but I think what is most meaningful is when I get emails or phone calls, or someone pulls me aside after class and tells me how much Against the Stream has meant to them and how the teachings have transformed their lives for the better. The Buddha’s teachings were very simple: identify suffering and the end of suffering. If what we do here helps to lessen a person’s stress, discomfort or suffering then that is something we can be proud of and a reason to continue doing what we do.
Pricing:
- Our drop in classes are by donation (suggested $15). No one is turned away for lack of funds.
Contact Info:
- Address: 4300 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90029
1001a Colorado Ave., Santa Monica CA 90401 - Website: www.againstthestream.org
- Phone: 323.665.4300
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: againstthestream
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Against-The-Stream-Buddhist-Meditation-Society-168520669831614/
- Twitter: @againststream
- Yelp: Against the Stream
Image Credit:
Sam Diephuis Photography (Mary Stancavage image)
Linda Rennie
February 28, 2018 at 21:03
I would love to know where you got that statue from, please.