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.
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 ongoing discussion of Pema Chödrön's Welcoming the Unwelcome: Wholehearted Living in a Brokenhearted World. We'll start Chapter 13, "Cool Emptiness," and discuss how we can change our relationship to difficult emotions such as boredom, loneliness, and depression. There's no need to have or be familiar with the book and everyone is welcome. Our session will begin with 20 minutes of silent meditation.
Gradually, our relationship with emptiness will go from hot to cool, and we will discover how much enjoyment and freedom is to be found in the wide-open state that exists outside our habitual bubble.
– Pema Chodron
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
Please join Gloria, Kaye Lee, Marian, and Bob to continue our exploration of We Were Made for These Times, by Kaira Jewel Lingo. This week, we dive into Chapter 6, "Impermanence and the Five Remembrances", to explore why Impermanence is one of the key marks of existence. There's no need to have read the book and everyone is welcome. Our session will begin with 20 minutes of silent meditation.
Impermanence is not an idea but an insight. An insight that can be enormously empowering because we're opening to the truth of how life is, not remaining confused by our delusions and how we want it to be.
– 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 the chapter titled "The First Commitment" from Pema Chodron's book Living Beautifully with Uncertainty and Change. 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 discuss Mark Nepo's book You Don't Have To Do It Alone. In a chapter titled "Some Trusted Other", we'll explore the lifelong challenge of how to love another without giving ourselves away. Perhaps this dance requires not only finding trusted others but also being a trusted other. We'll begin with 20 minutes of meditation, and there's no need to be familiar with the book.
Each friendship evolves a language of its own with each difficulty and joy unearthing another word in that language. But the opposite is equally true: each time we turn away from each other, we lose a word, and a piece of understanding between us evaporates.
– Mark Nepo
Click here to visit our Meetup
IN-PERSON – OWEN SOUND
We're conditioned to believe that when we get the right job, meet the ideal person, or follow the prescribed rules, we'll find safety and satisfaction. This belief persists even though a cursory look in our review mirror puts the lie to it. Join Ken to explore how our "drive to arrive" often cuts us off from a bigger love. Our session will include 35 minutes of sitting and walking meditation.
When I start to feel stressed, frustrated, stuck, short-fused, or highly reactive, this is usually my cue that I’m not thinking big enough.
— Ali Schultz
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ONLINE
Please join Debbie and Caitlin as we read and discuss the "A Good Time Or A Good Story" chapter in Oliver Burkeman's book, Meditations for Mortals. When we realize that we can't control life, we discover that some of our most profound moments are borne out of surprise. 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.
Maybe you'll get what you wanted, or maybe you won't–and sometimes, not getting what you wanted will leave life immeasurably better.
– Oliver Burkeman
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ECODHARMA
This week, after 20 minutes of silent meditation, join Debbie and Darina to read and discuss an article by Peter Kalmus. Kalmus observes that as a climate scientist, the film Don't Look Up "captures the madness I see every day".
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.
How did 'Don't Look Up' capture our reality–and what has happened since?
– Peter Kalmus
Click here to join on Zoom @ 10:15 AM ET
Join Debbie this Sunday to read and discuss Michael Singer's book Living Untethered. What might we notice arising as we begin to explore awareness and resistance? Our session will begin with 20 minutes of silent meditation. There's no need to be familiar with the book.
Only by accepting reality can we work with the flow of life as it passes by, and create a better world.
– Michael Singer
Have you ever come across the concept of a "social bid"? It was new to me, and immediately intriguing. It originated with psychologist John Gottman and refers to the verbal and non-verbal cues we use to initiate a connection with, or respond to, others. Some examples of a social bid include:
Essentially, we're saying "Hey, I'm interested in connecting with you" and the other person can respond by:
How we initiate and respond to social bids–or don't–is important. Over time, these bids compound and can prove decisive. For example, while studying married couples, Gottman observed:
The couples who got divorced had only turned toward their partner’s bids 33 percent of the time. The couples who stayed together had turned toward 86 percent of the time...How people reacted to their partner’s bids for connection was in fact the biggest predictor of happiness and relationship stability. These fleeting little moments, it turned out, spelled the difference between happiness and unhappiness, between lasting love and divorce.
I can see several ways that mindfulness would apply to social bidding, and how it could be helpful not only for marriages but virtually any relationship. Here are a few:
Let the mindful social bidding begin!
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Ken, Sandi, and the Community Meditation Team
Photo by Kevin Andre on Unsplash
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
