We meet every Tuesday for meditation and discussion. Free meditation instruction is available.
For the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, we'll be meeting online using Zoom (details below).
See the Contact page to get in touch.
This week, we'll sit together online and then look at how we see ourselves and what we carry with us from the past. Alain de Botton, writing in The School of Life, comments:
One of our greatest challenges is to understand the peculiar content of our own minds. We may look like the ultimate owners of our skulls, but we remain practical strangers to much of what unfolds within them...We are frequently the very last people to know what is at work with "us".
Looking forward to seeing you.
If you're new to Zoom, check out The Art of Zoom page we put together. Good to go with Zoom already? You can join a Community Meditation session using the button below.
Community Meditation will be offering four online meditation and discussion sessions (including this one) each week, using the Zoom video conferencing app. Free meditation instruction is available at the start of each session. Check the Weekly Online Sittings section for a list of the days and times.
Our hearts go out to everyone — all of us are experiencing disruption of our normal lives and various levels of increased anxiety and sadness. It is an important time to pause, be present, and open our hearts.
We at Community Meditation have transitioned to online sitting, discussion, and programs as of March 21st. These new online sessions will be available to everyone, not just the local group, creating more opportunities for you to participate. Discussions are led by local teachers, including Debbie McCubbin, Ken Dow, Bob Hollett, Tammy Russell, Stephanie Stewart, Erin Vanderstelt and Adam Wilkinson.
For those of us working from home or self-isolating, these session provide a much-needed chance to connect with others in a heartfelt way. We will keep you informed as new sessions and programs are launched. All are welcome!
Our future discussion topics will include ways to work with with anxiety and the current situation, along with our usual offerings about meditation, Buddhism, awareness and emotions.
We invite everyone to come together as a community to support each other in working towards a wise, caring, and healthy world.
Several times a year, we draw from a wide range of insightful teachers who educate and inspire us, choosing one to feature and then sharing readings, videos, exercises or other explorations with our local groups.
Rev. Angel Kyodo Williams is a writer, activist, ordained Zen priest and the author of Being Black: Zen and the Art of Living with Fearlessness and Grace, published by Viking Press in 2000, and the co-author of Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love, and Liberation, published by North Atlantic Books. Called "the most vocal and most intriguing African-American Buddhist in America" by Library Journal. Williams is the Spiritual Director of the meditation-based newDharma Community and founder of the Center for Transformative Change in Berkeley, California and is also credited with developing fearlessMeditation, fearlessYoga and Warrior Spirit Training. As of October 2013, she is the world's 2nd female Zen teacher of African descent. Her given Buddhist name, Kyodo, means "Way of Teaching."
Angel is a social visionary that sees Transformative Social Change: applying inner awareness practice to broad-based social change, as America’s next great movement. She is an early shaper and leading voice in that work and coined the name for the field. For over 15 years, she has deeply invested her time and energy to putting into practice her unwavering belief that the key to transforming society is transforming our inner lives. She has developed comprehensive systems for illuminating both practical personal change and the profoundly liberating potential of mindfulness, yoga, and somatic practices coupled with wisdom teachings. Calling for a paradigm shift that “changes the way change is done,” angel envisions the building of a presence-centered social justice movement as the foundation for personal freedom, a just society and the healing of divisions of race, class, faith and politic.
Both fierce and grounded, angel is known for her unflinching willingness to sit with and speak uncomfortable truths with love. Her work has been widely covered by such publications as New York Times, Boston Globe, Ms., Essence, Buddhadharma, Village Voice, and on the Oxygen Channel. She notes, “Love and justice are not two. Without inner change, there can be no outer change. Without collective change, no change matters.” Whether in writing, teaching or speaking, her voice is unique.
Visit angel's Web site to learn more.
Online using Zoom
We started this network to help you bring more clarity, balance, caring and joy to your life and your community.
You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
- Marcus Aurelius
