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
Join Kaye-Lee in a contemplative journey into the elements of mindful creativity, in the many forms it might take. Everyone is welcome.
What if...?
Two simple words that offer the possibility of expansion.
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 Tara Brach's Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha. This week, we begin Chapter 10, "Widening the Circles of Compassion: The Bodhisattva's Path".
Compassion for ourselves naturally leads to compassion for others. While love describes our basic feeling of relatedness, compassion for others is the flavor of love that arises when we see this truth of our shared suffering.
– Tara Brach
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ONLINE
Join Gloria, Kaye-Lee, and Marian as we continue reading and discussing 'Verses on the Perfection of Generosity' in Norman Fischer's The World Could be Otherwise: Imagination and the Bodhisattva Path.
If those who want to be awake have to give even their bodies,
What need is there to talk about things you simply own?
Be generous without looking
For any return or result–this is the practice of a bodhisattva.
– Ken McLeod, Reflections on Silver River
Click here to join on Zoom @ 10:45 AM ET
NEW DAYTIME SESSION! ONLINE
Please join Sandi and Darina's daytime session, in which we're currently exploring Pema Chodron's book, Another Kind of Freedom. Chodron covers the realm of "poverty mentality", where fundamentally you feel poor, which may present as neediness.
At the outer level, the world never seems to give you enough, while at the inner level, you can't even enjoy what you have.
– Pema Chodron
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ONLINE
Join Sandi, Lauren, and Adam as we do a meditation practice together. Let's try slowing down and being with things as they really are. We will be led in this meditation, so no need to prepare–just tap into your beginner's mind.
We can begin to notice our attitude towards what we encounter in any given moment by asking ourselves, How do I relate to this experience? By looking at our lives in this way, we begin to see with increasing clarity that all phenomena are constantly changing and are therefore unable to offer us lasting satisfaction. Perhaps this is the key to freedom and why we meditate.
As Debbie often says: Let's Just Notice.
OWEN SOUND, IN PERSON
What would our life look like if we were grateful to everyone? What does that even mean? Join Ken this week to continue with Norman Fischer's insightful and challenging article titled "Life is Tough. Here Are Six Ways to Deal With It". Everyone is welcome.
NOTE: Harmony Centre has a new door lock, and we can't make sure it stays open, so please use the doorbell to the right of the door.
Am I a force for good in the world, or am I just another person doing nothing to help and therefore making things worse?
― Norman Fischer
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ONLINE
Please join Debbie as we are introduced to the work of Lama Rod Owens. Considered one of the leaders of the next generation of Dharma teachers, Lama Rod Owens has a blend of formal Buddhist training and life experience that gives him a unique ability to understand, relate, and engage with those around him in a way that’s spacious and sincere. His gentle, laid-back demeanour and willingness to bare his heart and soul make others want to do the same. He invites you into the cross sections of his life as a Black, queer male, born and raised in the South, and heavily influenced by the church and its community.
What would it look like if we formed our activist communities around joy, not the suffering or the anger, as a basis for our change work?
– Lama Rod Owens
Click here to join on Zoom @ 7 PM ET
ECODHARMA
Join Daniel and Adam as we watch a video. Guhyapati (also known as G) is a Buddhist teacher, activist, and writer who focuses on the connection between Buddhist practice, social change, and ecology
👉 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.
Click here to join on Zoom @ 10:15 AM ET
ONLINE
Please join Hazel and Darina to continue reading Pema Chodron's Living Beautifully book. In a section titled "Catalyst for Compassion", we will explore three ways to commit to benefiting others.
There are probably many examples in your life of working on yourself with the aspiration to be present and useful to other people. And there are times when your sorrow has connected you with the sorrow of others...there are also times when you spontaneously put others first.
– Pema Chodron
Mindful.org posted a great article titled "How to Shift Mental Gears: 10 Ways to Build Resilience". Here's an excerpt:
When we try to fix all we face and reach for a perfect picture of happiness, we often undermine our best intentions. There’s a time for action, but quite often there’s benefit from pausing and letting things be. We can shift our perspective to accept that not knowing everything and every outcome for sure is the norm. The perception that life can be anything other than uncertain and changing pushes us far from our most skillful and resilient selves.
Read the full article for helpful tips on becoming resilient using mindfulness.
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Ken, Sandi, and the Community Meditation Team
Photo by Jason Thompson 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
