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.
All online sessions, except our short morning sessions, include a 20-minute silent meditation. New to meditation? Instruction is available.
🧘
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 reading of Bhante Gunaratana's book Mindfulness in Plain English. We begin Chapter 14 this week with a look at the differences between "mindfulness" and "concentration" in meditation. There's no need to be familiar with the book–everyone is welcome!
Mindfulness is not limited by any condition. It exists to some extent in every moment, in every circumstance that arises.
– Bhante Gunaratana
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
Join Gloria and Ryan to continue reading and discussing Jack Kornfield's book, The WIse Heart. After 20 minutes of silent meditation, we'll continue with the section titiled "Past-Life Unconscious".
When the awareness is clear and focused, even the repeated movement of the in- and out-breath can be a most wonderful experience.
– Jack Kornfield
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
We are taught that to have ambition is how we contribute to the world. Is that true? Join Sandi, Lauren, and Adam to read and discuss "Not Getting What We Want" from Mark Nepo's book, Seven Thousand Ways to Listen. Everyone is welcome, and you don't have to be familiar with the book. We'll begin with 20 minutes of silent meditation.
We begin to associate getting what we want with success and not getting what we want with failure. Soon we wake with a sense of entitlement that we have the right to have things go our way, a right to get what we want, a right to steer people and events toward our will.
― Mark Nepo
Click here to visit our Meetup
IN-PERSON – OWEN SOUND
Join Ken this week to look at how unconscious habit loops form, how they can keep us stuck in unhealthy behaviours, and how we're able to rewire these loops and transform our lives. Our session will start with 35 minutes of sitting and walking meditation.
Practicing mindfulness and observation techniques allows you to explore the issues behind your habit triggers and gain power over them.
― Judson Brewer
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
NEW! ONLINE
What makes the best friendships? Join Debbie on Thursday to examine the balance between authenticity and "being a good friend", drawing on the work of Mark Nepo. We'll start with 20 minutes of silent meditation and everyone is welcome.
I spent many years trying so hard to be good that I would end up ignoring how to be authentic.
― Mark Nepo
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
Can mindful awareness reveal our interconnectedness with everyone and everything? Join Debbie to read and discuss this through "Community: The Healing Power of Connection", a Robert Waldinger article in Lion's Roar. The session will start with 20 minutes of silent meditation.
Science now confirms what philosophers, poets, and lovers have known for millennia—that our connection to other human beings is both an essential truth of our existence and a pillar of happiness, health, and longevity.
― Robert Waldinger
Click here to join on Zoom @ 10:15 AM ET
Join Debbie to examine how our meditation practice can help us be more "here", using Jon Bernie's book The Unbelievable Happiness of What Is. We'll begin the session with 20 minutes of silent meditation.
Most people find it helps to allow a bit of freedom into their meditation practice.
― Jon Bernie
Imagine you have an hour-long appointment scheduled and, at the last minute, it gets postponed. What do you do? Pivot to getting a few groceries? Find a Starbucks, open your laptop, and get to work? Organize your sock drawer? When time feels like a scarce commodity, the urge to fill any gap can be powerful.
...we stay so busy, and so out in front of our life, that the truth of how we're feeling and what we really need can't catch up with us.
– Brene Brown
Writing in Psyche, Thuy-vy Nguyen suggests that weaving solitude into our days can be a nourishing alternative to the relentless ticking off of boxes. When done with intention, solitude offers relaxation and a reduction in stress, collectively described as the "deactivation effect".
Beware the barrenness of a busy life.
– Socrates
Nguyen is quick to point out that practicing solitude makes sense when you have a support system of friends or family, and may not be appropriate if you're prone to rumination or have a mental health condition that could be exacerbated by being alone. Otherwise, here are some tips to get started:
Like any new practice, it takes time to figure out what works. Be patient and go easy on yourself as you explore the possibility of establishing a solitude practice.
Redefining your relationship with solitude means pursuing opportunities to enrich your life with intentional, solitary moments that help you get in touch with your internal world, and find rest and relaxation.
– Thuy-vy Nguyen
The next time you're tempted to whip out that phone and start scrolling, consider practicing a few moments of solitude instead. Who are you when the thrumming, bustling world is allowed to flow past you like a river coursing around a stone outcrop?
🙏
Ken & the Community Meditation Team
Sergio Cerrato - Italia from Pixabay
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
