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.
NOTE
For all the sessions listed below:
Click here to join on Zoom @ 5 PM ET
ONLINE
Please join Kaye-Lee to continue exploring the intersection of mindfulness and creative practices. How is creativity different when viewed through the experience of mindfulness? Let's explore!
Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow.
– Kurt Vonnegut
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ONLINE
Please join Brenda, Jim, and Gordon for 20 minutes of silent meditation followed by a reading and discussion of Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha by Tara Brach. This week, we continue discussing chapter 7, Opening our Heart in the Face of Fear.
Being genuinely awake in the midst of fear requires the willingness to actively contact the sensations of fear.
– Tara Brach
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ONLINE
You are welcome to join Gloria, Kaye-Lee, and Marian as we begin reading and discussing "The Bodhisattva Path" in Norman Fischer's book, The World Could be Otherwise: Imagination and the Bodhisattva Path. We look forward to seeing you as we explore how imagination enriches the Bodhisattva journey as well as our own.
Mahayana bodhisattvas are the Energizer Bunnies of Buddhism. Innocent and enthusiastic, they make endless effort to do endless practice and to perform endless beneficial acts on behalf of others.
– Norman Fischer
Click here to join on Zoom @ 10:45 AM ET
NEW DAYTIME SESSION! ONLINE
Please join Sandi and Darina for our daytime session. We're excited to bring you readings from Pema Chodron's new book Another Kind of Freedom. This week, we'll look at learning to be with life as it is.
The path to awakening is not about becoming perfect or getting rid of our flaws, but about learning to be with ourselves exactly as we are.
– Pema Chodron
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ONLINE
Please join Lauren, Adam, and Sandi to read a Susan Piver article from Happier Meditation. It seems all relationships inevitably bring discomfort–from first dates to daily annoyances. But what if this friction isn't a sign of trouble, but rather an invitation?
... discomfort does not mean you or your partner is doing something wrong. It’s the nature of human life and human relationship. Life is uncomfortable.
– Susan Piver
OWEN SOUND, IN PERSON
This week, we will move on to the fourth and final pillar of the Born to Flourish book: "Purpose." What is purpose and why can it play such an important role in our lives?
Having a sense of purpose starts with getting clear about what really matters in life.
– Davidson and Dahl
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ONLINE
Please join Daniel as we continue exploring the work of some of the most well-regarded teachers of mindfulness and meditation. This week, we take a look at Eckhart Tolle, who is best known for his books The Power of Now and A New Earth. His teachings center on presence, mindfulness, and transcending the ego to find inner peace.
The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it.
― Eckhart Tolle
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ECODHARMA
Join us as we carry on withLama Rod Owens' video "Embracing Earth, Embracing Self." In this keynote, he explores the essential connection between our well-being and the health of our planet. As we confront the challenges of climate change, he addresses how systems of violence, such as capitalism, racism, and patriarchy, intersect with environmental crises and impede sustainability efforts.
👉 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.
My broken heart is not a judgment or a crime. It is a detailed record of how I have tried to meet the violence of the world with as much openness as possible.
– Lama Rod Owens
Click here to join on Zoom @ 10:15 AM ET
ONLINE
Please join Jim, Sandi, and Hazel as we continue to read Pema Chodron's book, Living Beautifully. In the " Beyond the Comfort Zone" section, we'll explore the idea of committing to benefit others.
Regardless of what specific action we take, our aspiration is to benefit the other person and wish them well.
– Pema Chodron
At 22, Suleika Jaouad was diagnosed with leukemia and a 35% chance of survival. She would spend nearly five years battling the disease before she was "according to the doctors, cured". Jaouad writes about her experience in her book, Between Two Kingdoms.
My diagnosis forced me to pause, to be present, to meet myself in the now, rather than some aspirational version I was constantly chasing after.
The phrase "meet myself in the now" resonates. It acknowledges the existence of a deeper, more fundamental self, a self we may have yet to recognize, and one we encounter only in the fullness of now.
When we practice mindfulness, on the cushion or in day-to-day activities, we’re opening to who we truly are in the moment. And practice we must. Good intentions, delightful books, practical plans–these are helpful but they’re not enough. We won’t always practice, of course 😏, so returning to the practice is part of the practice.
No one would wish to be forced as Jaouad was, and continues to be (her cancer returned in 2021). She reminds us of our mortality. That it’s all too easy to overlook the preciousness of this human life. That it’s about starting, not finishing.
She’s got answers to some questions I would not dare to ask Survival’s never graceful When the changes come that fast
– Guy Clark, Madonna w/Child Ca. 1969
She also reminds us that acceptance is essential. We show up, we notice, we hide. We try, we fumble, we show up again. With practice, time, and a bit of luck, we’re able to accept it all–over and over and over 🧘
Note: this article was originally published in this newsletter on June 3, 2024.
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🙏
Ken, Sandi, and the Community Meditation Team
Photo by Nothing Ahead
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
