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. Oline 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, Jim, and Sharon for 20 minutes of silent meditation followed by a short reading and meditation practice from Pema Chödrön's Welcoming the Unwelcome: Wholehearted Living in a Brokenhearted World. The final meditation practice, "Locate, Embrace, Stop, Remain" or LESR, is a concise and simple way to apply what we've learned from the book. There's no need to have or be familiar with the book, and everyone is welcome.
LESR and its related practices provide you with the means to expand your view and open your heart and mind at the very point where we all habitually contract and go inward. These are practices for a lifetime that you can begin today.
– Pema Chödrön
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
Join Gloria, Kay Lee, Marian, and Caitlin for 20 minutes of meditation followed by the reading and discussion of a new book by Tracy Cochrane, Presence: The Art of Being at Home in Yourself. There's no need to have read the book, and everyone is welcome. Our session will begin with 20 minutes of silent meditation.
Be open to the small moments in your own life. Be patient and love the mystery and all the weird little twists life takes.
– Tracey Cochrane
Click here for directions
IN-PERSON – MISSISSAUGA
Join Tammy on Wednesday to continue studying Pema Chodron's Living Beautifully book. We're in the chapter titled "Second Commitment–Take Care of One Another." We'll begin with 20 minutes of meditation, and there's no need to be familiar with the book.
....to help others implies that instead of holding our own individual territory and defending it tooth and nail, we become open to the world that we are living in. It means we are willing to take on greater responsibility, immense responsibility. In fact, it means taking a big chance.
– Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ONLINE
Please join Adam, Lauren, and Sandi as we read and discuss Mark Nepo's book You Don't Have To Do It Alone. We are starting a new chapter, "Brought Together", in which Nepo examines the qualities birthed and nurtured in friendship. We'll begin with 20 minutes of silent meditation, and there's no need to be familiar with the book.
Sitting, listening and helping are the resources that let us find the extraordinary, in the ordinary. These practices allow us to discover the friend that waits in every stranger.
– Mark Nepo
Click here to visit our Meetup
IN-PERSON – OWEN SOUND
We'll continue to read and discuss the "Have Your Feelings (Or They Will Have You)" chapter from the book Difficult Conversations, including the many ways that unexpressed feelings can derail our attempts at having an important conversation. Our session will include 35 minutes of sitting meditation and walking meditation.
We don't cry or lose our temper because we express our feelings too often, but because we express them too rarely.
— Stone, Patton, and Heen
@ 7 PM ET
ONLINE
Please join Debbie as we read The Gift of Anxiety: 7 Ways to Get the Message and Find Peace by Ariella Baston. We'll dive into a few helpful ways to relate to our anxiety with mindfulness. There's no need to be familiar with the book, and the session is open to all. We'll begin with 20 minutes of silent meditation.
Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.
– Pema Chodron
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ECODHARMA
What happens when a group of Buddhist teachers gets together to talk about EcoDharma? Join Debbie to explore David Loy's take on this question. We'll begin with 20 minutes of silent meditation, and there's no need to be familiar with the book.
Friday EcoDharma sessions are for those experiencing anxiety or grief about environmental issues. The aim is to bring mindfulness and Buddhist practices to our distress, and to build community.
How is the eco-crisis affecting people differently?
...Which eco-practices seem most useful, and to whom?
– David Loy
Click here to join on Zoom @ 10:15 AM ET
Please join Debbie to continue reading and discussing Ethan Nichtern's book, "The Road Home". In the chapter titled "A Bodhisattva's Boundaries", we'll look at the difference between true compassion and just enabling someone. Our session will begin with 20 minutes of silent meditation. There's no need to be familiar with the book.
To avoid burnout, we need a much more balanced approach to [compassion].
– Ethan Nichtern
Gina Rollo White asks if there's a time and place to "suck it up" when it comes to strong emotions. In certain stressful situations, such as arriving on the scene of a car accident, getting in touch with strong emotions will be less helpful than regulating ourselves in the moment, and then dealing with intense emotions later.
White writes:
Mindfulness interventions and Tactical Brain Training are not just about creating calm; they’re about regulating the nervous system, enabling someone to approach their job or their partner with purposeful actions rather than just reacting.
You can read the full Is There a Time and Place for “Suck It Up" article on Mindful.org.
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Ken, Sandi, and the Community Meditation Team
Photo by RDNE Stock project.
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
