Lindsey Dorr-Niro is a cross-disciplinary visual artist, arts educator, and Indo-Tibetan Buddhist scholar/teacher. In addition to having an MFA in painting from Yale, she has completed advanced studies in Indo-Tibetan yoga and meditation, including teacher training through the Yoga Studies Institute, which emphasizes the philosophical, psychological, and meditative practices of yoga. She has received grants from The Hemera Foundation to deepen her study of somatic meditation with the Dharma Ocean lineage, as well as from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and the Illinois Arts Council for arts projects that combine her art and contemplative practices.

About Ecstatic Presence and Ecstatic Absence:

The phrase or term “ecstatic absence” is a phrase that came to me to describe the experience of “emptiness” from a somatic perspective.

The term “emptiness” or “shunyata” refers to the lack of inherent nature or “self-nature” of all phenomena. The Indo-Tibetan Buddhist tradition insists that all phenomena, including ourselves, are empty of a fixed nature—instead existing interdependently. Emptiness is this lack—the absence of things existing in and of themselves or by themselves, separate from all else that is arising. So, because of emptiness, rather than our perceived separate selves we’re more like entangled ever-unfolding and transforming emergent processes.

Ecstatic Absence —> Ecstatic Presence 

Having direct felt experiences of emptiness–our radically open and entangled nature both illuminates and expands our sense of interconnectedness which naturally leads to greater compassion and empathy as well as more ethical behavior–being able to hold more space, understanding, and regard for ourselves, others, and Mother Earth. Ultimately, this creates for a much more joyful and ecstatic way of being in and for the world, hence – Ecstatic Presence.

The next Buddha is the sangha (community of practitioners).” – Ken Wilber