Please note the upcoming changes to the in-person meetings:
The Saturday morning in-person meditation is cancelled on 11/12/22. It will resume the following week on 11/19/22 and will transition to meeting indoors at that time. The Wednesday morning in-person meditation will take place in the sanctuary on 11/2 and 11/9. Access the sanctuary through the front doors of the church. It will continue meeting indoors in the Parish Hall from 11/16 onward.
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The current series of Thursday night talks are exploring topics related to meditation in more detail, starting with the approaches recommended for developing mindfulness. The talks for the next couple of months will be based on the Satipatthana Sutta, the Buddha’s discourse on the foundations of mindfulness. In that discourse the Buddha gave a clear description of many different approaches to mindfulness meditation, beginning with the body, but also including mindfulness meditation of feelings, thoughts and emotions, and other topics. A good resource for this series of talks would be the book “Satipatthana Meditation: A Practice Guide” by Bhikkhu Analayo. However, the talks will be self-contained, so it won’t be necessary to read the book, and we’ll give other resources for the meditation approaches covered in the talks.
After the 7:30 meditation this Thursday evening, 11/3, Heidi will lead a discussion of the hindrances and how they affect the practice of mindfulness in meditation and daily life. The following Thursday, 11/10, Chris will give a talk after the 7:30 pm meditation on desire and the way it can affect our ability to be present in the moment. Once we see how desire impacts the mind and heart we begin to awaken, even though we’re still frequently caught in desires. Chapter VIII in Bhikkhu Analayo’s book, “Satipatthana Meditation: A Practice Guide” would be a good resource for this topic, or see the additional resources below.
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Zen Retreat with Debra Seido Martin ~ November 5, 2022
A Zen retreat with Debra Seido Martin on Saturday, November 5th from 9:00 am – 4:00 pm will open for registration on October 4th. This retreat will be hosted by the Walla Walla Dharma Sangha. The retreat is slated to be a hybrid retreat, with some people attending the in-person retreat in Walla Walla, and others joining online. Additional information about the retreat can be found here: https://www.wwdharmasangha.org/meditationretreat.htm. To register for the retreat, please contact Janaki Howard at [email protected]
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Weekly Meditation Schedule:
We have three online meditations a week, on Wednesday morning, Thursday evening, and Saturday morning. The Zoom links for those meetings can be found on the Events Calendar and you will also find more detailed information below. You’re welcome to join us online for any of the 3 meetings each week.
In addition to our regular online meetings, we are now meeting for outdoor in-person meditation sessions every Wednesday morning (9:30am) and Saturday morning (8:00am) at All Saints Episcopal Church in Richland. Bring whatever you would like to sit on and join us in the beautiful outdoors. Please see the Events Calendar for specific details.
During the Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday online meetings, we “sit together” for meditation for half an hour. Meditations include guided meditations, meditations with some initial guidance and instruction, and silent meditations. The Wednesday morning meditation starts at 9:30 am, with half an hour of meditation, followed by half an hour of sharing. On Thursday evenings there is a talk or discussion and sharing following meditation. Meditation is from 7:30 until 8:00 pm, with the talk and discussion ending at about 9:00 pm. The Saturday morning meditation starts at 8:00 am, with half an hour of meditation followed by half an hour of sharing.
If you can’t or don’t wish to join the online sessions you can just meditate at the same time as we’re meeting and know that there are others from the group who are meditating with you.
Warm regards,
Insight Meditation of the Mid-Columbia