Zaw Maw
Theravada Buddhist Practitioner/ Meditation & Life Coach
Professional/Bio:
Zaw Maw’s formal offering of meditation practices to the community began when he founded Annapolis Mindfulness in 2018. He led monthly introductory courses and weekly open practices there, making meditation practices accessible no matter what their background is with meditation, or lack thereof. Drawing from his unique learning experience at St. John’s College, he designed his courses by overcoming the common barrier of just learning about meditation or not knowing how or where to begin properly and infused his teachings and guidance with simplicity and consistency as the key components of Zaw Maw’s offerings.
Zaw Maw’s style of meditation originates in the Theravada tradition of Burmese Buddhist culture. He was formally introduced to Vipassana or Insight Meditation practice at age 13 when he was ordained as a Buddhist novice at a rural monastery in central Burma. He also studied Buddhist Philosophy under late retired professor Dr. Khin Maung Win (Yale University) after finishing high school in Yangon, Burma. Later, he came to the U.S. pursuing a Bachelor's Degree in Western Philosophy at St. John’s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He moved to Annapolis, Maryland in 2014 finishing his final two years at St. John’s College at the Annapolis campus. He’s been living in Annapolis since then, starting a family after college and now a father of two: 4-year-old daughter Thida and 2-year-old son Nico. Zaw Maw’s quiet success with Annapolis Mindfulness drew attraction from UpStArt Annapolis and was featured in an article about his personal background and how Annapolis Mindfulness came about. (The Novice Monk - Issuu) Additionally, Zaw Maw has formally run workshops and given talks about practicing meditation at places such as local schools, Public Libraries in multiple counties around the area.
One authentic feature of Zaw Maw’s teachings of meditation is that all the practices he offers are silence-based, instead of the meditation practices being guided by a voice. There are specific instructions given prior to the silent sits; discussions and reflections follow afterward. Zaw Maw believes that an individual's peace and happiness is not something given to him or her by an external source -- however, it is an innate quality within, intuitively realized in silence and stillness. Zaw Maw also believes that the ultimate goal of a meditation teacher is not to create dependency on that teacher but for the meditation practitioner to become entirely free in his or her meditation practice, eventually being able to let the teacher disappear once what is to be learned is learned.
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240-203-8995