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 Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha by Tara Brach. This week, we'll continue discussing Chapter 2, beginning with an exploration of "Common Misunderstandings About Radical Acceptance." Everyone is welcome, and there's no need to have or be familiar with the book.
I like to remind students that "radical" is derived from the Latin word radix, meaning 'going to the root or origin.' Radical Acceptance enables us to return to the root or origin of who we are, to the source of our being. When we are unconditionally kind and present, we directly dissolve the trance of unworthiness and separation.
– Tara Brach
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
Join Gloria, Kaye-Lee, and Marian for 20 minutes of silent meditation followed by the reading and discussion of the chapter "Speechless" in Tracy Cochran's book, Presence: The Art of Being at Home in Yourself. Everyone is welcome, and you don't need to be familiar with the book to join us.
I saw that an act of heroism can be an action that happens on the inside without anyone noticing. A movement of availability. A willingness to be seen, heard, and touched by life.
– Tracy Cochran
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ONLINE
Please join Lauren, Adam, and Sandi for several Wednesdays of contemplation and connection. We'll be reading Murray Hidary's 5-part exploration into the nature of joy. In Part 2, we look at the relationship between suffering and joy. One of the bedrocks of Buddhism is that pain is unavoidable, while suffering is not. Suffering is what happens when we resist pain, when we take on stories like, "this shouldn’t be happening", "my life is ruined", or "I’ll never be happy again." Our session will begin with 20 minutes of silent meditation.
The truth is, pain and joy are not opposites. They are partners in the dance of being human. And the way we meet pain determines whether it becomes a doorway to suffering…or to awakening.
– Murray Hidary
OWEN SOUND, IN PERSON
As a new year arrives, the push to rewrite our lives and somehow become a better person is everywhere. What if, instead of promises and plans, we chose renewal? Our session begins with some informal chat, followed by 35 minutes of sitting and walking meditation.
The shift from aversion to befriending is the most radical shift any student of mindfulness can make.
– Willem Kuyken
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ONLINE
Please join Debbie and Stephanie to discover how stress can serve as a doorway to awakening and personal growth, rather than a source of suffering. In this talk, Tara Brach explores how our habitual reactions to stress create cycles of pain and separation, and how shifting our attention and presence can transform those moments into opportunities for evolution.Our session will begin with 20 minutes of silent meditation.
With conscious intention and deepened attention, the stressful difficulties we encounter can become the very grounds of healing and spiritual awakening.
– Tara Brach
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ECODHARMA
Join Debbie to read a Nikayla article in the Blue Planet Newletter from One Earth Sangha. How can we respond emotionally to what is happening to the Earth? 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.
Gathered, rooted, connected, oriented, courageous, attentive, responsive, these words (as a practice, in that order) remind me of what is possible right here and now when it all can seem so impossible.
– Nikayla
Click here to join on Zoom @ 10:15 AM ET
ONLINE
Join Debbie to read and discuss "Running the Gauntlet of Hope and Fear" from Ethan Nichtern's book, Confidence. We'll delve into exactly what hope is and how it affects us. Our session will begin with 20 minutes of silent meditation. There's no need to be familiar with the book.
Hope carries the reminder and the promise of what we can achieve. But we need to remember that the winds of hope–pleasure, praise, recognition, success–are changeable.
– Ethan Nichtern
In Rob Nairn's insightful Diamond Mind: A Psychology of Meditation, he outlines the cycle of a thought when mindfulness is minimal or absent. Here's my adapted version of this:
In psychology, the word "subliminal" refers to material that's below the level of conscious awareness, while nonetheless being processed in ways that can subtly influence your thoughts, feelings, or behaviours.
...the powerful patterning within the mind has the capacity to overwhelm our normal intentions or desires to be one way or another.
– Rob Nairn
In Nairn's cycle, two steps get special attention. In Step 2, "Detect existence of the thought," the following happens:
In Step 4, "Identify with the thought as 'my thought'," what happens is:
One way we cultivate mindfulness is by sitting in silent meditation, becoming aware of the body breathing, and noticing what happens. When we recognize we're identified with a story, we gently bring our attention back to the breath. Eventually, we discover that we're not our thoughts (Step 4). Over time, we identify less and less with thoughts and become increasingly free to choose our response to them. We're seldom swept away by thoughts and strengthening habits (Step 5) that don't serve us.
Then what? Step 2. But that's a topic for another day 😉
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Ken, Sandi, and the Community Meditation Team
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
