Live meditations in a virtual space

Mindfulness Collectives
#1

Hello,

I wanted to share a community with you that’s one of a kind. I started this about 9 months ago and we now have daily sits happening (3 times/day) online via Google Hangouts. In a short time the community has really expanded. Now we have lots of meditators but not enough hosts for the sits. As you can imagine, there are many reasons why someone might meditate in an online group rather than a physical location. Some people have geographical or time limitations but also health reasons that prevent them from leaving the house. I’d like to see this community be accessible with good hosts and a working platform. Right now we also have a 10 person limit in Google Hangouts which causes some issues. We’re working on a site (http://MeditationOnline.org) to increase the capacity utilizing video conferencing software. Here’s the Google+ page too - https://plus.google.com/u/0/+RedditationOnline/posts

Anyway, I’ll be going to India in the near future, as a monk, I have some studies and retreats to do. If anyone has ideas or would like to help keep this community going, I’d warmly welcome any contributions.

With kindness,

Dawai

1 Like
#2

Hello Dawai:

As someone who participated in the October 2015 monthly Mindfulness Summit online , to include a live stream meditation with Jon Kabat-Zinn, I love this idea. I know there is the Insight Timer app which currently has people all over the world meditating simultaneously. https://insighttimer.com/ , and possibly others, so it’s an idea whose time has come IMO.

But my interest in your group also stems from the fact that I presently run a small mindfulness website for military veterans in Delaware. We are all graduates of the MBSR as offered by the Wilmington, Delaware VA and we’re looking into having this sort of thing for our vets groups. This is particularly helpful for those whose medical conditions or distance from us make travel a challenge, or even prevents them from being part of our group meditations (which mean alot to us, some having been in the group over 5 years).

So…I applaud your effort and ask you to please send an email to me at dhisu_at_sign mail.com and I’d like to discuss this further with you before approaching our group. Namaste

#3

Hey there Ken,

Sounds like you have a great little group going. My mom is also a veteran
and runs a mindfulness group.

Please get in touch if possible - thabkeydorje@gmail.com

#4

So sorry Dawai, I just now saw this!

The website is: mindfulvets.net, please pass on to your mom and if she registers to mention our conversation here.

Thanks!

#5

I also have been part of an online group which has been meeting for formal practice and learning for over three years now. We recently switched over from Adobe Connect to Zoom due to pricing and performance considerations.

It’s as you say, a wonderful opportunity for those who are geographically or ideologically isolated to find others with whom to practice. The Center for Mindfulness is exploring opportunities for online community building, so there’s certainly more to come on this topic!

#6

I am so glad to see that this opportunity may soon be availabe.

#7

Thank you so much, Dawai for creating this online meditation space. It is really helpful. Now I have the opportunity to meditate online in a group every weekday, twice a day! Beautiful.

Khare