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.
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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.
Join Debbie McCubbin and Ken Dow on April 5/6 for our annual Community Meditation retreat at Harmony Centre in Owen Sound.
Together, we'll explore practices that can help us find peace in turbulent and confusing times, including silent and guided meditation, breathwork, discussion, VOICE, and tonglen.
Awakening is...a process of relaxing in the middle—the paradoxical, ambiguous middle, full of potential, full of new ways of thinking and seeing.
— Pema Chodron
This event is open to beginners, experienced meditators, and anywhere in between. We'll have all day Saturday (9 AM to 5 PM) and a half-day on Sunday (9 AM to 1 PM). Lunch will be provided on both Saturday and Sunday, so plan to leave early afternoon on Sunday.
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 be reading Chapter 11: "The Practice of Open Awareness". No need to have or be familiar with the book–all are welcome!
Whatever happens, the method is to keep letting go of the extra stuff and return to just what’s here.
– Pema Chödrön
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
Please join Kaye Lee, Gloria, Marian, and Bob for 20 minutes of silent meditation, and then reading and discussing the book We Were Made for These Times.
We'll be exploring Chapter 5, "Caring for Strong Emotions". You don't need to have read the book to attend–all are welcome.
Mindfulness is a middle way, a third option that often leads us to transformation and peace.
– Kaira Jewel Lingo
Click here for directions
IN-PERSON – MISSISSAUGA
Join Tammy for 20 minutes of silent meditation followed by a look at making peace with the inevitable uncertainty and change that arises in life. We'll be drawing on Pema Chodron's book, Living Beautifully with Uncertainty and Change, chapter The First Commitment. We'll begin with 20 minutes of meditation and there's no need to be familiar with the book.
It is wonderful that human beings are willing to let go of even their smallest corners of secrecy and privacy, so that their holding on to anything is gone completely. That is very brave.
– Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ONLINE
Please join Sandi, Lauren, and Adam as we start a brand new book, "You Don't Have To Do It Alone, by Mark Nepo. There's an invisible chord that runs through all human beings, yet it's only felt when we dare to open our hearts to each other. Our session will begin with 20 minutes of silent meditation, and there's no need to be familiar with the book.
I have been blessed to have deep friends who not only accept me for who I am but are interested in knowing all of me, even the parts both they and I don't understand.
– Mark Nepo
Click here to visit our Meetup
IN-PERSON – OWEN SOUND
How often do you find yourself judging–family, strangers, situations? This week, join Ken to explore the role of judgement in our lives, using VOICE (Voice Of Innate Clarity Exercise). Our session will include 35 minutes of sitting and walking meditation.
The more we practice sitting with our whole selves non-judgmentally (the good, bad, beautiful, and painful), the better we get at opening ourselves up to every kind of moment with discernment and acceptance.
— Mark Bertin
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ONLINE
How can we cultivate more compassion for ourselves in the face of our often relentless drive to "get stuff done"? Join Caitlin and Darina this Thursday to explore this as a practice, drawing on Oliver Burkeman's Meditations for Mortals book. 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.
Facing up to reality–as finite humans must–means facing up to the reality of your moods, desires and interests too.
– Oliver Burkeman
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ECODHARMA
This week, after 20 minutes of silent meditation, join Debbie to consider the psychology of how people encounter climate change. Psychologist Renée Lertzman says "It's normal to feel anxious or overwhelmed by climate change". How might we turn those feelings into something productive?
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.
One thing that you can do right now to help deal with your eco-anxiety and feelings of isolation, is to join a community of like-minded people.
– Sophie, from Sustainably Lazy
Click here to join on Zoom @ 10:15 AM ET
Join Bob this Sunday to explore four obstacles to listening well, using Ethan Nichtern's book The Road Home. Our session will start with 20 minutes of silent meditation. There's no need to be familiar with the book.
We are generally the most mindful when we approach the process in [this] order: first, listening, and then, speaking.
– Ethan Nichtern
Most definitions of mindfulness include not being judgmental. To those new to meditation and mindfulness, this can come across as a pretty dumb idea! Are you saying that climate change is good? That having lunch with your best friend is bad? Well, no. This isn't about ditching your critical thinking skills; it's about learning to see things as they truly are, without the distorting lens of judgment.
How would your life be different if…You stopped making negative judgmental assumptions about people you encounter?
– Steve Maraboli
When we practice mindfulness, we become more aware of our thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations. We start to notice when judgment shows up, typically as automatic and habitual reactions to our experience. While judging something or someone can feel empowering, it's often defensive, distancing, and even hurtful. It's also limiting. Judgment prevents us from taking in the whole picture and finding options. Enter discernment!
With discernment, we become the curator of our experiences, carefully selecting what to focus on, what to let go of, and what to learn from. Instead of making snap judgments or reacting impulsively, we can take the time to reflect, consider, and choose wisely. By practicing mindfulness, we begin to notice judgment before it's grabbed the reins and sent us galloping down a path we'll later regret.
Non-judgment quiets the internal dialogue, and this opens once again the doorway to creativity
– Deepak Chopra
Ultimately, our practice allows us to move from judgment to discernment, leading to greater freedom, flexibility, and compassion in our lives. By cultivating discernment, we can navigate life's challenges with greater ease, make more informed decisions, and develop more authentic and meaningful relationships with ourselves and others.
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Ken & the Community Meditation Team
Photo by Elina Sazonova
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
