Community Meditation is non-profit network of meditation groups. We bring mindfulness and wellness into people’s lives through courses, meditation sittings and group discussions, both in-person and online. By sharing the benefits of meditation and mindfulness, we support the evolution of a wise, caring, and healthy world.
Our network has existed for over a decade and although our roots are Buddhist, we draw on many wisdom traditions as well as contemporary wellness, psychology, and neuroscience. Community Meditation is completely volunteer-based and guided by a council of experienced teachers.
Community Meditation is a Canada Revenue Agency Registered Charity No. 73107 5719 RR0001.
Your donations, either one-time or with a monthly subscription, help us to pay rent, insurance and other basic expenses. We are a volunteer organization and all of our costs are covered by donations and course fees. Online Canadian donors will receive an annual tax receipt for the full amount of their donations in each calendar year.
One-Time Donation Monthly Donation
NOTE: For monthly donations, use the Qty button to adjust the amount in units of $5. For example, a Qty of "3" is 3 x 5 = $15.
All online sessions, except our short morning sessions, include a 20-minute silent meditation. New to meditation? Instruction is available.
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Click here to join on Zoom @ 8:45 AM ET
Looking for a mindful start to your day? We're launching silent group meditations from 8:45 to 9 AM ET, Monday to Friday. There is no meditation instruction available in these sessions–if you'd like instruction, email hello@communitymeditation.net.
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
Please join Brenda, Gordon, and Jim for 20 minutes of silent meditation followed by a reading of Koshin Paley Ellison's book Wholehearted: Slow Down, Help Out, Wake Up. This week, we'll explore Chapter 8, "Being Content With What We Have." All are welcome, and there's no need to be familiar with the book.
What would it be like to be truly content with what you have? You can understand that in regard to material things, of course, but I also mean it in regard to your life in total.
– Koshin Paley Ellison
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
Please join Gloria, Kay Lee, and Marian for 20 minutes of silent meditation. After that, we'll read and discuss the "Night in the Forest" chapter from Tracy Cochran's book, Presence: The Art of Being at Home in Yourself. You don't need to have read the book to come. All are welcome.
Just be still and see. Be willing to be what is, abandoning all hope of things being any other way. Don't try to let go, just let things be.
– Tracy Cochran
Click here for directions
IN-PERSON – MISSISSAUGA
Join us in person on Wednesday as we gather to explore topics such as meditation, mindfulness, compassion, Buddhism, and other related subjects. Our session will begin with 20 minutes of meditation, and there are no prerequisites.
If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.
– Dalai Lama
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ONLINE
Please join Lauren, Adam, and Sandi as we read and discuss Mark Nepo's book, The Power Of Friendship. In a chapter titled "The Laughing Monks", Kanzan and Jittoku are two monks dancing through the brokenness of life into the Mystery of Wholeness. Our session will begin with 20 minutes of silent meditation. There's no need to be familiar with the book.
...with each passing wonder and trial, friends see more of each other's beauty and more and more of each other's souls. Once glimpsing this deeply into another, the journey is not to get anywhere, but to live in this deeply human place together, for as long as we can.
– Mark Nepo
Click here to visit our Meetup
IN-PERSON – OWEN SOUND
Unless you've been meditating alone in a cave for the past few years, you've heard a lot about AI (Artificial Intelligence) and the sweeping social changes it's poised to bring about. Srinija Srinivasan suggests we approach AI with wisdom, love, and compassion, bringing the fullness of our humanity to all that we make and do. We'll begin our session with 35 minutes of sitting and walking meditation. Everyone is welcome!
We won't do this through our intellects alone. This is where the "either-or" cognition of the mind must join forces with the "both-and" cognition of the heart.
– Srinija Srinivasan
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ONLINE
Please join Debbie and Daniel to read Cator Shachoy's Tricycle article, "The Anxiety Of Our Lives." When anxiety arises, how can we use our mindfulness to relate to it so it's less uncomfortable? Our session will begin with 20 minutes of silent meditation.
Anxiety is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind.”
– Arthur Somers Roche
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ECODHARMA
Join Debbie as we continue to watch a video titled Ecodharma: A New Buddhist Path? In it,
David Loy (the author of Ecodharma) discusses how the ecological crisis intersects with the teachings of Buddhism. Our session will begin with 20 minutes of silent meditation.
Friday EcoDharma sessions are designed for those experiencing anxiety or grief relating to environmental issues. The aim is to bring mindfulness and Buddhist practices to our distress, and to build community.
Mindfulness allows us to “really feel and see the preciousness of it all…the incomprehensible, mind-blowing miraculousness of the world."
– Melissa Hoffer
Click here to join on Zoom @ 10:15 AM ET
This Sunday, join Debbie and Darina to read and discuss The Road Home by Ethan Nichtern. In the "Sacredness" chapter, we explore how spirituality and everyday life feed and enhance each other. Our session will begin with 20 minutes of silent meditation. There's no need to be familiar with the book.
When we separate our spiritual self from mundane life in the world, we end up with a kind of spiritual split personality disorder.
– Ethan Nichtern
Alia Crum has a hot take on the stress response: it's not bad. The Stanford researcher and associate professor of psychology is quick to point out that it's not good, either. The stress response itself is neutral; its impact depends to a large degree on how we react to it. That, in turn, comes down to our mindset. Crum defines mindset as assumptions or core beliefs we hold about an area of our life, which orient us to a particular set of expectations, explanations, and goals.
...research on placebo effects demonstrates that when patients believe they are receiving an active, effective medication, efficacy increases – even for inactive medications (e.g., sugar pills)...Likewise, when patients believe medication will cause side effects, side effects increase.
– Medicine Plus Mindset (link to study)
Let's say you're diagnosed with a hernia that will require surgery. The stress response will narrow your focus, deepen your attention, and speed up your ability to process information. All of these could be beneficial, but your mindset will shape what happens next. Do you expect recovery to be long and painful, or short and manageable? After surgery, do you interpret discomfort as a painful side effect or a positive sign of healing? Looking ahead, is your goal to be free of pain, to be as active as before, or to be stronger than ever? The outcome will be, in part, determined by your mindset.
OK, you might be thinking, but how do I get a more adaptive mindset? Jump into the air, click my heels, and shout "Sententia!"? Here's a three-step process from Crum:
We can also shift our mindset around stress with curiosity. Here are a few suggested questions from the Rethinking Stress Workbook:
We have mindsets about many different aspects of life. They help us navigate our lives without getting bogged down in data and decisions. Some, however, are unhelpful mindsets we picked up unconsciously along the way, and that prevent us from leading a healthier and happier life. With curiosity, awareness, and practice, a new and more adaptive mindset can be yours.
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Ken, Sandi, and the Community Meditation Team
Photo by Resume Genius on Unsplash
We started this meditation network to help you bring more clarity, balance, caring and joy to your life and your community.
The truth that many people never understand, until it is too late, is that the more you try to avoid suffering, the more you suffer.
― Thomas Merton
