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, and Jim for 20 minutes of silent meditation followed by a reading of Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha by Tara Brach. This week, we continue reading and discussing Chapter 1, starting with the section "Strategies to Manage the Pain of Inadequacy." Everyone is welcome, and there's no need to have or be familiar with the book.
Every time we hide a defeat we reinforce the fear that we are insufficient.
– Tara Brach
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
Please join Kaye-Lee, Marian, and Gloria for 20 minutes of silent meditation followed by continuing the reading and discussion of the chapter, "In the Midst of Winter" in Tracy Cochran's book Presence: the Art of Being at Home in Yourself. In Buddhism, one definition of faith is to keep our hearts open in the darkness of the Unknown. There's no need to be familiar with the book.
We make ourselves available to life, opening our hearts to the passing flow of it, knowing we will blunder and get it wrong but sometimes right.
– Tracy Cochran
IN-PERSON – MISSISSAUGA
Join us in person on Wednesday as we gather to explore topics such as meditation, mindfulness, compassion, Buddhism, and other related subjects. Our session will begin with 20 minutes of meditation, and there are no prerequisites to participate.
Our journey of making friends with ourselves is not a selfish thing. We’re not trying to get all the goodies for ourselves. It’s a process of developing loving-kindness and a true understanding for other people as well.
― Pema Chodron
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ONLINE
Please join Lauren, Adam, and Sandi as we come to the end of Mark Nepo's book, The Power Of Friendship. The last few chapter headings are "true north", "all this has yet to happen", and "one more attempt." Nepo uses these three to summarize this lovely book about open-hearted friendship. Our session will begin with 20 minutes of silent meditation. There's no need to be familiar with the book.
...you only need claim the events of your life to make yourself yours. When you truly possess all you have been and done–you are fierce with reality.
― Florida Scott-Maxwell
IN-PERSON – OWEN SOUND
There will be no session on Thursday as Ken is away this week.
The list of possible simple pleasures is limitless and varies from one person to another.
– Susan Bauer-Wu
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ONLINE
Please join Debbie, Daniel, Hazel, and Stephanie to read an article by Pema Chodron called "The Fundamental Ambiguity of Being Human". In it, Chodron explores how uncertainty is uncomfortable, and how we can meet it with more wisdom. Our session will begin with 20 minutes of silent meditation.
What is it like to realize we can never completely and finally get it all together?...How can we make friends with unpredictability and uncertainty—and embrace them as vehicles to transform our lives?
– Pema Chodron
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ECODHARMA
Join Debbie to continue reading and discussing an interview with Jane Goodall by Andrea Miller in Tricycle. In it, Goodall speaks about the compassion that exists in our natural world and the enduring hope that guided her life’s work. 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.
Most of us don't realize the difference we could make. We love to shrug off our own responsibilities, to point fingers at others.
– Jane Goodall
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ONLINE
Join Debbie and Hazel as we continue reading Michael Singer's Living Untethered book. In the "Paradigm Shift" chapter, we encounter this question: What do we really want at the deepest level? We'll sit for 20 minutes of silent meditation. There's no need to be familiar with the book.
...you think the answer is in the world. You think the answer lies in what is unfolding in front of you. It isn't wrong to go to the world for what you think you want–it simply doesn't work.
– Michael Singer
In Simple Was Satisfying, Susan Bauer-Wu writes about the simple pleasures life offers, even in the difficult circumstances her father faced in the last two years of his life:
Pause for a moment, expand your field of awareness, and answer these questions: What simple pleasures are true for you right now? What can you see, hear, smell, taste, or feel that is pleasing to you at this moment? What pleasant colors, shades of light, shapes, scents, flavors, or skin sensations are you aware of? Let gratitude fill you. Rest in awareness of feeling grateful.
You can read or listen to this short, insightful article on Awakin.org.
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Ken, Sandi, and the Community Meditation Team
Photo by Daniel Thomas 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
