You are warmly invited to join us for Embodied Meditation, live on weekday mornings.
Here is your warm invitation to join us for embodied meditation on weekday mornings (in our time zone), offered by donation.
Let's practice meeting the present moment with as much grounded, embodied presence, with as much spacious awareness, and with as much warm-heartedness as we can.
We get good at what we practice. Let's practice together!
When you're growing or maintaining a meditation practice, it can be hugely supportive to gather live with other people. We're happy to be able to offer this support and are thrilled that with the help of modern technology, we can gather in this way without any of us traveling anywhere.
Here's how it works:
Plan to arrive in the Zoom room a few minutes before 6 am Mountain Time.
At 6 am, we'll admit folks who are in the Zoom waiting room to join us. If you're later than 6 am, we won't be able to admit you as we'll be focused on the practice. So please arrive a few minutes early and settle in.
Plan to be in a relatively quiet and settled place where you can sit comfortably upright, either on a meditation cushion or a chair. It's best to be self-supported in your posture rather than leaning back on a chair or couch.
Monday-Thursday, we will offer brief instruction and sit together silently for 20 minutes of practice. Then we'll move into a 10-15 minute break for movement, or resting, or a bathroom break. You're encouraged to use the time as you like to serve the needs of your body. Then we'll return to our seats at 6:35 for a second 20-minute sit. We will finish by 6:55 am Mountain Time with a beautiful dedication prayer. You're welcome to come just for the first sit and leave early if you prefer.
Most weeks, Erin will host Mondays and Wednesdays & Carl will host Tuesdays and Thursdays. We'll alternate hosting Fridays. On Friday mornings we'll offer a bit more instruction and guided practice for the first 20-minute sit, followed by a 10-15 minute body-care break, and instead of a final sit, we will invite questions, sharing, insights, conversation, etc. As usual, we will conclude our practice by 6:55 am MT.
We've each been practicing and studying in a Tibetan meditation lineage since the early 90s, so between us, we have more than 50 years of experience with meditation. We have also spent years studying somatic meditation and a form of embodied meditation inspired by Zen practice.
We have been encouraged by our own teachers to offer this practice freely.
May it be of benefit.
I'm interested. How do I sign up?
We offer this practice by donation through our Patreon Page. Every donation, however large or small, is received with our heartfelt gratitude. Donate between $3 - $100/month. Once you become a patron, you'll receive access to the Zoom link. You're welcome to come and join us for sitting practice anytime. Come every weekday or once in a while. There is a spot for you in our circle.
This is the power of gathering: it inspires us, delightfully, to be more hopeful, more joyful, more thoughtful: in a word, more alive.
-Alice Waters
The Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh said:
“I am inviting you to go deeper, to learn and to practice so that you become someone who has a great capacity for being solid, calm, and without fear, because our society needs people like you who have these qualities, and your children, our children, need people like you, in order to go on, in order to become solid, and calm, and without fear.”
May the precious mind of Bodhichitta
arise where it has not arisen
and where it has arisen may it not fade away
but grow and flourish, infinitely, forever.
May the precious recognition of interbeing
arise where it has not arisen
and where it has arisen may it not fade away
but grow and flourish, infinitely, forever.
May the precious conduct of nonviolence
arise where it has not arisen
and where it has arisen may it not fade away
but grow and flourish, infinitely, forever.
- A traditional Tibetan prayer
We hope you'll join us for the practice of meditation in a warmhearted, respectful, and non-hierarchical way.
Wishing you an unshakable connection with your own inner teacher, with the freshness of your embodied presence, and with your vast, wise, heart-mind, for the benefit of all.
Carl & Erin