Just Us: Two Friends Discuss the Meaning of Life

Join us for these lively conversations between a Buddhist nun and a Psychotherapist about living life and finding true meaning in these interesting times.

Venerable Tenzin Chogkyi and Amy Cayton share the microphones on Sunday evenings on October 27 and November 24th for these informative and interactive talks at Land of Medicine Buddha.

Long time friends Ven. Tenzin Chogkyi and Amy Cayton are excited to offer this unique and engaging event. Make sure to be ready with any questions you may have about Buddhism or psychotherapy (or the meaning of life!) as these talks are designed as an informal, conversational style discussion with each other and with participation from the audience.

About the Speakers:

Venerable Tenzin Chogkyi first became interested in meditation and Buddhism after reading Be Here Now and early translations of Buddhist sutras in the early 1970s. Then in early 1991 she became a student of Tibetan Buddhism, studying in India and Nepal with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche and Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

Venerable Tenzin was director of Vajrapani Institute, co-director the FPMT International Office, and coordinator of FPMT Center Services from 1992 to 2000. She also completed several long meditation retreats over a six-year period. Venerable Tenzin took novice ordination in 2004 with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. In 2006 she became a touring teacher in the FPMT, teaching at various centers around the world, as well as visiting prisons on behalf of the Liberation Prison Project.

Venerable Tenzin is authorized by the FPMT to teach at both the foundational and in-depth levels, as well as teaching the a.r.t. of Fulfillment, Cultivating Emotional Balance (a secular program developed by Alan Wallace and Paul Ekman) and Compassion Cultivation Training, a program developed by Geshe Thubten Jinpa and colleagues at Stanford University. She has been one of the resident teachers at Land of Medicine Buddha since August 2018.

Amy Barton-Cayton Ph.D., Sociology, MFT 25317: Amy works with individuals, couples, families, and groups including businesses. She uses her psychotherapy orientations in Existential, Developmental, Mindfulness, Buddhist, Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), R-CS (Re-Creation of the Self), Milton Erikson Hypnotherapy, Family Systems, and Jung according to what will best serve the client. Clients are seen for difficulties such as the array of individual issues, premarital and marital counseling, family life-cycle issues, and divorce counseling.

Her areas of specialty for adult and child psychotherapy are adults recovering from abuse as children, healing the child within, addictions (chemical, work, sex, and love), eating disorders, shame, grief, codependency, and spirituality. She brings over twenty years experience in counseling psychology and addiction counseling to her clients. She has also trained in CBMT (Corporate Based Mindfulness Training).

Amy earned her M.S. with Highest Honors in Counseling Psychology from Baptist University in Riverside, CA, and her PhD in Sociology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is a graduate of the College of Personal and Professional Coaching and has taught from the Hargove “Masterful Coaching” model. She has studied Buddhist Psychology since 1997, has trained with Jon Eisman in Re-Creation of the Self, and trained in EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique Introductory and Advanced). Amy served as an Associate Professor in the Graduate Program in Holistic Psychology at John F. Kennedy University, where she developed and taught an emphasis program in Buddhist Psychology. She also developed and taught courses in Basic Addiction Studies and Individual Development and the Life Cycle.

Amy Barton-Cayton is a psychotherapist providing therapy and counseling in Soquel (Santa Cruz county), California.