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 reading and discussing Chapter 2, starting with the section "Facing the Anguish of Trance." Everyone is welcome, and there's no need to have or be familiar with the book.
It began to feel as if I were gently cradling myself. Every wave of life moving through me belonged and was acceptable.
– Tara Brach
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
Please join Marian and Gloria for 20 minutes of silent meditation, followed by the reading of the last section of "The Hessian Soldier," a chapter from Tracy Cochran's book Presence: The Art of Being at Home with Yourself. Please join us–there's no need to be familiar with the book.
The Practice of Core, and of all spiritual practices, invites us to unfold, discovering that our true nature is mysterious and marvelous beyond measure.
– Tracy Cochran
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ONLINE
Please join Lauren, Adam, and Sandi for a deeper dive into Murray Hidary's article, "The Eight Pillars of Joy — A Mindful Foundation for a Joyful Life." His subject is The Book of Joy by the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Last week, we delved into Perspective, Humility, Humour, Acceptance, Gratitude, Forgiveness, Compassion, and Generosity. We'll continue on Wednesday to explore even more aspects of the architecture of JOY. Everyone is welcome, and our session will begin with 20 minutes of silent meditation.
Small acts of awareness, repeated often, become the quiet rhythm of a joyful life.
– Murray Hidary
IN-PERSON – OWEN SOUND
We'll be back on January 1st.
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ONLINE
Juliana Sloane's "A Practice for Connecting with the Four Elements" article explores the elements of earth, water, fire, and air within our own bodies as a way to deepen our connection to nature and the dharma. Join Debbie to learn about this fascinating practice. Our session will begin with 20 minutes of silent meditation, and everyone is welcome.
Establishing a meditation practice where we become intimate with the elements offers us a way to connect to the presence of nature within ourselves, seeing over time that we are nature, not something separate from it.
– Juliana Sloane
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ECODHARMA
Join Debbie to explore a work by David Loy titled "The Buddha on Poverty and Plutocracy." Solving climate change involves looking at our political and economic underpinnings. 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.
We can’t understand why it is that we, as a civilization, are finding it so difficult to respond appropriately to the ecological crisis unless we also see this extraordinary resistance on the part of wealthy people and corporations, most of whom don’t want significant change because they benefit so much from the way things are now.
– David Loy
Click here to join on Zoom @ 10:15 AM ET
ONLINE
Join Debbie as we read and discuss Ethan Nichtern's book Confidence. In the chapter titled "Running the Gauntlet of Hope and Fear," we consider how hope and fear impact us, and look at ways to meet them more skillfully. We'll begin by sitting for 20 minutes of silent meditation. There's no need to be familiar with the book.
Hope and fear. These two words summarize a tremendous amount of human experience and the way we are programmed to either chase after or fight against whatever the world serves up to us.
– Ethan Nichtern
What comes to mind when you think of generosity? Maybe it's a financial donation to your favourite cause or a special gift under the tree. It's often framed in the context of money or time.
In Buddhism, generosity is one of the six paramitas. The word "paramita" is derived from Sanskrit and means "to cross to the other shore." It's a virtue that helps us travel from the shore of ignorance and suffering to the shore of awakening.
To be generous in that sense, then, we look at how we show up in the world and to ourselves. It applies broadly to our thoughts and actions, from the judgments we hold to the kindnesses we deny. Zen teacher Norman Fischer puts it this way:
Life is generous. It's abundant and expansive, never stingy or small-minded. It keeps on going, bubbling up and expanding wherever it has a chance.
Mindfulness practice can be a powerful tool for cultivating the paramita of generosity. The more clearly we see our clenched viewpoints and stingy behaviours, the greater our opportunity to open. Whether you celebrate Christmas spiritually, materially, or not at all, this is a season when families, friends, co-workers, and strangers will find themselves together.
What better time to practice being generous with our behaviours, words, and thoughts? Fischer offers this approach to doing just that:
With lots of patient repetition and training, eventually we learn how to notice these things before they run away with us. We learn to catch ourselves in midstream and just literally stop. We take a conscious breath or two and ask ourselves, is this really true? Am I really under attack? Is there really not enough to go around?
We are part of life. Our heritage is one of great abundance; we wouldn't be here otherwise! The time to move toward to the "other shore" is always now.
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Ken, Sandi, and the Community Meditation Team
Photo by Jonathan Bean 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
