Compassion Meditation
I integrate traditional Buddhist practices with key concepts and techniques from Western Psychology to help people navigate the challenges of daily life & work.
Upcoming Offerings:
CCT live, online through Compassion Institute, Fall 2026
CCT is an 8-week course that meets for 2 hours live on Zoom each week. CCT helps participants uncover their inherent capacity to care - to access and grow their compassionate nature. It is a secular program designed to be accessible to people from varied backgrounds that draws on perspectives and tools from Buddhist meditative traditions, Nonviolent Communication, contemporary psychology, and neuroscience. I helped create this program with Thupten Jinpa at Stanford University in 2009 and have been enjoying teaching it ever since.
Tuesdays, 9am-11am Pacific time
October 6 - November 24, 2026
Sunday Dharma Talks at Nyingma Institute — “Emotions as Teachers: What We Can Learn From How We Respond” — Sunday, March 15 from 6-7pm Pacific time. Offered in person and online.
“We can be grateful for our emotions, for our frustrations and sorrows; they help us to wake up. We have no clearer messages about what is happening in our lives.”
–Tarthang Tulku, Openness Mind, p. 51
Emotions can be binding and painful, but they can also be great teachers. Erika Rosenberg, Ph.D., emotions researcher and Nyingma instructor, will discuss how we can work with relaxation, mindfulness, and an open heart to appreciate the transient nature of emotions, be freed from the tendency to cling to both pleasant and unpleasant experiences, and learn to understand ourselves in relation to the world we inhabit. Offered in person and online.
Teaching Affiliations
Erika Rosenberg, Ph.D., has been teaching compassion meditation for close to 30 years. Her notable teaching affiliations include the following institutions:
The Compassion Institute
Stanford University Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE)
Nyingma Institute
Esalen
Kripalu
Psychedelic Sangha
Join my mailing list to learn about classes and workshops in the Bay Area and elsewhere, and receive a free audio meditation!
Photo from Stanford University CCARE Research and Experiments on Compassion II Meeting with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, October 10, 2020. Watch the full video of this scientific panel discussion.
“Taking your class is one of the best decisions I've made in my life so far….I have enjoyed being a part of your class and am so grateful for your vulnerability and leadership. Your teaching has given me the tools I was looking for to better help my self and my community…I am empowered to help in ways I didn't think possible before. “
— Mary Ann Martin, Birmingham, AL
“I took the class so I could grow in my self-compassion. I did not expect that it would change the way I interfaced with the world and humanity. This is just the beginning. The words Thank You feel so small. You have personally elevated my purpose in life. The work that you do leaves me in awe.”
— Rose Hayes, Technologist (Retired)
Psychedelic Integration
I lead sessions for integration of psychedelic experiences, in which we work with meditation and other exercises to incorporate the range of states and insights — both pleasant and unpleasant — that can arise from such inner journeys.