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.
Sunday November 3rd, 7–8:30 PM
We're excited to host a conversation and meditation experience with Craig Mollins, a seasoned mindfulness teacher of over 25 years who lives with Tourette syndrome. Join us on a journey to celebrate the incredible diversity of the human brain! Neurodiversity is all about recognizing and valuing the unique perspectives and experiences that make each of us who we are.
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 reading of Bhante Gunaratana's book Mindfulness in Plain English. This week, we'll discuss the activities of mindfulness as a reminder of what we're supposed to be doing, and as a way of seeing the true nature of phenomena. No need to be familiar with the book and everyone is welcome!
Mindfulness creates its own distinct feeling in consciousness. It has a flavor–a light, clear, energetic flavor.
– Bhante Gunaratana
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
Kaye-Lee and Marian will be hosting this Tuesday. We'll draw on Jack Kornfield's book The Wise Heart to explore the Buddhist concept of storehouse consciousness. You do not have to be familiar with the book.
To bow to the fact of our life's sorrows and betrayals is to accept them, and from this deep gesture, we discover that all life is workable.
– Jack Kornfield
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
Our yearning to belong is constant and often bewildering. Join Adam, Lauren, and Sandi to read and discuss "Three Ways to Search" 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.
The search for belonging–in our own skin, with each other in the world, and even in the history of life–is probably our most persistent and confusing urge, because belonging is a tangled gift.
― Mark Nepo
Click here to visit our Meetup
IN-PERSON – OWEN SOUND
Join Ken this week to explore how we experience, interpret, and work with strong emotions. Our session will start with 35 minutes of sitting and walking meditation.
Is this anxious story I’m telling myself accurate and helpful right now, or just overwhelming? Once we name it, we can work with it.
― Dr. Chris Willard
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
NEW! ONLINE
Join Debbie for a dive into the wisdom of Jon Bernie's book, The Unbelievable Happiness of What Is. We'll start with 20 minutes of silent meditation and everyone is welcome.
When the veil of the knower falls away the creative force of discovery guides your way–each moment is revealed as new.
― Jon Bernie
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
Join Debbie (who was away last week due to illness) to consider how can we cultivate compassion and love for ourselves and others, drawing on Tara Brach's teachings. The session will start with 20 minutes of silent meditation.
Whether we call it compassion, kindness or just love, it is an essential part of the path to a happy, fulfilling life and a better world.
― Tara Brach
Click here to join on Zoom @ 10:15 AM ET
In The Road Home, author Ethan Nichtern examines the relationship between vulnerability and this moment. After 20 minutes of silent meditation to start the session, join Debbie to read and discuss this through Nichtern's writings.
Meditation is not a means of making your mind quiet, it's a means of entering into the quiet that's already there.
― Ethan Nichtern
If you search Google Trends for the phrase "breaking news", you'll find it's been growing in popularity since 2004. It peaked in March 2020–surprising exactly no one–but as of today, it's still more than twice as common as it was in 2012.
A little unpleasantness in the moment, perhaps, is the price we pay to be informed citizens. But over time, little burdens can accumulate, particularly with news outlets reporting more negative stories and using more negative words.
– Lisa Feldman-Barrett
Breaking news is intended to mean "urgent and incomplete", but this morning I saw it in a new light: The news is breaking my peace of mind. Sometimes that's worth it; if there's a tiger loose in downtown Des Moines, where I live, I want that breaking news right now! Thanks to our phones, however, we can quickly be overwhelmed with negative and distressing news from around the planet, leaving us feeling fragile and often powerless.
Things come and go in the news cycle like waves of fever.
– Adam Curtis
What to do? A recent study shows that mindfulness can help, concluding that just two weeks of MBSR reduced the participants' stress and negative emotions when reading about global climate change.
Here are a few other ways to improve your digital life, courtesy of the Center for Humane Technology:
PS. Want to meditate regularly but haven't quite made it happen? Try this: commit to meditating for just two minutes every morning for the next two weeks. If that works, make it three minutes for the next couple weeks. Still good? Keep adding a minute every two weeks until your heart and mind have found their sweet spot 🧘♀️
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Ken & the Community Meditation Team
Image by Sewupari Studio 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
