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 our ongoing discussion of Pema Chödrön's Welcoming the Unwelcome: Wholehearted Living in a Brokenhearted World. Tonight, we'll continue to explore "the ultimate wish of bodhichitta", from Chapter 20, "Mission Impossible". There's no need to have or be familiar with the book, and everyone is welcome.
The longing to help all beings wake up can draw us out of ourselves, out and out until we enter the realm of vast mind and vast heart.
– Pema Chödrön
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
Join Caitlin, Marian, Kaye-Lee, and Gloria as we continue to read and discuss Kaira Jewel Lingo's book We Were Made for These Times. This week, we take up Chapter 10, "Don't Lose Heart".
There's no need to have read the book, and everyone is welcome. Our session will begin with 20 minutes of silent meditation.
My friends, do not lose heart. We were made for these times...I urge you, ask you, gentle you, to please not spend your spirit dry by bewailing these difficult times.
– Clarisa Pinkola Estes
Click here for directions
IN-PERSON – MISSISSAUGA
Join us on Wednesday to gather in person and continue studying Pema Chodron's Living Beautifully. We're in the chapter titled "Second Commitment–Take Care of One Another." Our session will begin with 20 minutes of meditation, and there's no need to be familiar with the book.
If you acknowledge what’s happening and refrain from acting, that opens up some space in your mind.
– Pema Chodron
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ONLINE
You're invited to join Adam, Lauren, Sandi, and Stephanie to read and discuss Mark Nepo's book You Don't Have To Do It Alone. We'll be exploring the "Regardless of What Happens" section, in which Nepo asks us to reflect on what suffering, joy, and work going forward have to do with each other. We'll begin with 20 minutes of silent meditation, and there's no need to be familiar with the book.
We are asked to listen more deeply, with our heart, to the spaces between the words, to listen slowly and closely to the feeling and questions that give rise to a friend's words.
– Mark Nepo
Click here to visit our Meetup
IN-PERSON – OWEN SOUND
Join Ken to read and discuss the role of vigilance in being mindful. We'll be exploring a simple practice you can use during the day to come back to being present. Our session will include 35 minutes of sitting meditation and walking meditation.
The quality of vigilance...is a valuable ally in your practice of mindfulness meditation.
— Joel and Michelle Levey
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ONLINE
How can we be content with moving forward into an imperfect future with our limited selves? Join Debbie as we read and discuss the "Imperfectly Onward" chapter in Oliver Burkeman's book, Meditations for Mortals. 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.
Humans get to experience a rich panoply of emotions. But the price we must pay is facing hard truths.
– Oliver Burkeman
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ECODHARMA
Join Debbie to read a Naomi Klein article titled "Capitalism vs. the Climate." What needs to happen to create a better future? We'll begin with 20 minutes of silent meditation,
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.
We live in a time of overlapping crises, and we need to connect the dots, because we don’t have time to solve each crisis sequentially.
– Naomi Klein
Click here to join on Zoom @ 10:15 AM ET
Join Debbie this Sunday to consider this question as we read Ethan Nichtern's book, The Road Home. We can use a spiritual path to avoid facing and feeling reality–and that's not helpful to anyone.
Our session will begin with 20 minutes of silent meditation. There's no need to be familiar with the book.
John Welwood coined the phrase "spiritual bypassing" to refer to this way of using spiritual teachings to sidestep the difficult parts of our journey.
– Ethan Nichtern
Karla McLaren offers a novel way to avoid repressing negative emotions. She calls it "Conscious Complaining', and it goes like this:
When you’ve found your perfect complaining site, let yourself go and give a voice to your dejected, hopeless, sarcastic, nasty, bratty self. Bring sarcastic humor out of the shadows and really whine about the frustrations, impossibilities, and absurdities of your situation. Complain for as long as you like (you’ll be surprised at how quickly this works), and when you run out of things to say, thank whatever you’ve been whining or yelling at: the furniture, the walls, the ground, the trees, your complaining shrine, or your god for listening, and end your Conscious Complaining session by bowing, shaking off, and then doing something really fun. That’s it!
You can read the whole short article on Awakin.org.
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Ken, Sandi, and the Community Meditation Team
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya 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
