yoga
See our Meetup pages for scheduled yoga and meditation events.
We start with some (hatha) yoga, followed by sitting meditation. We are learning a yoga sequence (or sequences) that we can perform together and later on, whenever we have the desire to do so, whether alone or with other people. Each of us could learn how to describe the positions, so that any of us could lead a group if desired. Our yoga session will help to prepare our bodies and minds for sitting meditation afterward.
meditation as experimental exploration
Here are some elements of this meditation group:
- we get together to meditate and converse
- we take an experimental approach without any particular teachers or gurus
- we individually define what our goals or aims are
- we share thoughts, strategies, and resources for how to clearly recognize progress toward or attainment of goals and how to achieve that progress or attainment
We encourage a skeptical but curious and even playful and adventurous evidence-based approach. We emphasize a non-competitive, cooperative attitude, and we attempt to give any sought opinion or advice in a constructive, positive, and humble manner.
We may also organize small personal or group retreats and may go to relevant events together.
elaboration
The main idea for this meditation group is not just to meditate together but to help each other to find clear ways to recognize and make progress in our own path as we each define it and to experiment with different techniques and approaches to discover what works best for each of us. Instead of having talks given by a teacher or guru that may or may not be applicable to us, we can use the time when not meditating to think about and discuss things that are immediately relevant to each of our current experiences and gain some confidence in framing and analyzing our own situation. Teachers and gurus can be very helpful, and sometimes may even be necessary for achieving certain goals, but this group is meant to serve the purpose of developing some amount of independent thinking and exploration.
No one here is necessarily any more experienced or knowledgable than you, but we’re here to share our experiences and see if we can help each other along. The assumption is that each person may have quite different experiences, perspectives, and goals, and that the steps to make progress may be quite different for each person, but that there may be some larger principles or commonalities that will emerge in our exchanges. At the very least getting together to meditate and chat will give extra motivation to continue our efforts and an opportunity to compose our thoughts. With more people we can also widen our search to more techniques, traditions, and schools of thought to share with each other.
A major motivating idea for this group is that meditation is not just about calmness and concentration, even though those are very important aspects. Meditation is part of a wider project of exploring, developing, and integrating awareness, which is the foundation of all our experience and all our knowledge. In this sense meditation is about every possible experience we can have and can be aware of. It is about the superficial and the profound, about the core and the periphery of experience, and everything in between. Although one can definitely use meditation to cultivate peace and equanimity in one’s life, one can also potentially use it to cultivate other qualities, including curiosity and adventure. Particularly curiosity about what may be discovered next with meditation and a sense of adventure about exploring new experiences and awarenesses, or awareness of things that have always been present but unrecognized.
