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, Jim, and Sharon for 20 minutes of silent meditation followed by our reading of Wholehearted: Slow Down, Help Out, Wake Up by Koshin Paley Ellison. This week, we will be reading the second chapter, "Opening Up to Life’s Trolls and Bullies - Receptivity." There's no need to have or be familiar with the book.
True receptivity is a lot harder than it seems. And yet, if you can stay open to the lessons that are the hardest to learn, you can learn to swim, not drown, in the ocean of life.
– Koshin Paley Ellison
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
You're invited to join Marian, Gloria, and Kay Lee for a 20-minute meditation, followed by an ongoing reading and discussion of Chapter 1, "Down the Well", from Tracy Cochran's book Presence: The Art of Being at Home in Your Self. There's no need to have read the book, and all are welcome.
Everything we need to live a good life is here on Mother Earth.
(From the Mohawk, Thanks to the Creator)
– Tracy Cochran
Click here for directions
IN-PERSON – MISSISSAUGA
Join us on Wednesday to gather in person to explore a book or article and discuss what arises. Our session will begin with 20 minutes of meditation, and there's no need to be familiar with the book.
Live. For Now. For the time being.
― Ruth Ozeki, A Tale For The Time Being
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ONLINE
This week, join Adam, Lauren, and Sandi as we read and discuss Mark Nepo's book, You Don't Have To Do It Alone. In a chapter titled "The Garden In Our Heart", we'll explore what we plant in our inner garden, and how. Perhaps there's no need to exile our feelings or suppress love–even after we've been hurt. Our session will begin with 20 minutes of silent meditation, and there's no need to be familiar with the book.
I need an inner space in which my love can evolve over time. To grow in our love requires that we discern the truth of what stirred our love and what failed our love, in us, and in those we cared for.
– Mark Nepo
Click here to visit our Meetup
IN-PERSON – OWEN SOUND
Join Ken this week for a look at attachment. What does it mean to be attached to a person, a thing, or a thought? How would our life be different if we loosened our grip on what we think we must (or must not) have? Our session includes 35 minutes of sitting and walking meditation, and everyone is welcome.
...by letting go, we can enjoy our health, our relationships, any wealth we might have when it’s there, and be relaxed when it isn’t.
― Ven. Thubten Chodron
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ONLINE
Join Debbie to view and discuss Kathryn Shultz's TED talk video, "On Being Wrong". What's behind our tendency to overestimate our belief in being right? "Wrongologist" Schulz makes a compelling case for not just admitting but actually our fallibility. Our session will begin with 20 minutes of silent meditation.
Most of us do everything we can to avoid thinking about being wrong, or at least to avoid thinking about the possibility that we ourselves are wrong.
– Kathryn Shultz
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ECODHARMA
Join Debbie to read and discuss David Loy's "Awakening in the Age of Climate Change" article in Tricycle magazine. In it, Loy talks about the intersection between Buddhism and the climate crisis. 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.
If Buddhism is to address the ecological crisis, it must clarify its essential message.
– David Loy
Click here to join on Zoom @ 10:15 AM ET
Join Debbie and Darina this Sunday to read from Ethan Nichtern's book, The Road Home. We'll continue with the chapter titled "Four Types of 'Idiot Compassion'", exploring some of the ways we confuse unskillfulness with compassion. Our session will begin with 20 minutes of silent meditation. There's no need to be familiar with the book.
If we burn out, we help nobody, and we actually might end up romanticizing destructive tendencies as some kind of spiritual narrative.
– Ethan Nichtern
Having a mindfulness practice typically means carving out some time in our schedules to sit quietly and place our attention on the sensations of the body breathing. Sooner or later, the mind wanders, we eventually notice, and return our attention to the breath. If you manage to accomplish this with anything resembling regularity, congratulations–it's a major feat!
Paying attention to what's arising in each moment can be more than a few pre-ordained minutes in the morning, though. Once you get the hang of it, you can dip your toe into the waters of The Rest Of Your Day. This means pausing from time to time and turning your attention to the panorama of your thoughts, emotions, and sensations.
You can encourage this day-to-day mindfulness in several ways, including something like our Community Meditation practice cards (created by Debbie McCubbin). It's a collection of business cards, each with a single prompt. For example:
You might put a card on your kitchen counter or desk, or stick it to your bathroom mirror, or copy it into your online calendar as a recurring entry. However you do it, the key is that it interrupts your day-to-daze and invites you to be mindful for a minute or two.
The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.
– Thich Nhat Hanh
I've tried this with my phone, but there's something about my relationship to that device that makes it less effective. Each additional ping! is an opportunity to get pulled into the digital "stream of unconsciousness." I don't know about you, but I don't need any help in that regard 🤓
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Ken, Sandi, and the Community Meditation Team
Photo by Bülent Özgöç
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
