The Meditation Centre was CLOSED effective IMMEDIATELY due to Covid-19. All regular programs were suspended. The Centre remains available to members who have the door code, but please observe all best practices for dealing with the virus.
This also means the Gourmet Dinner fundraiser scheduled for April 18 was postponed until September 19, and subsequently cancelled entirely.
We wish everyone health and wellness, and look forward to welcoming you back when it is safe to do so.
The Annual General Meeting of the South Shore Buddhist Meditation Society was held on Saturday, March 14 2020 from 10am – noon. If you are currently signed up for a membership at the Mahone Bay Meditation Centre, you are a member of SSBMS.
At this meeting:
Our by-laws allow us between 5 and 7 directors, approximately half of whom will resign (and maybe re-offer) each year. This year 3 directors stayed on, 1 director resigned and re-offered, 3 directors resigned outright, and we had 3 nominations for new directors. Members were invited to email us before March 7th if they wished to nominate anyone.
A light lunch was served following the meeting.
Close to 30 people attended in person or via Zoom.
It can be confusing or even intimidating to begin a new meditation practice. How do you start? Close your eyes, take a breath, then thoughts flood in, taking over your best intentions. It’s easy to give up in frustration. It’s honestly that way for everyone, you are far from alone. Cultivating a calm mind is a skill that comes with time and practice. Every time you sit with the intention to meditate, no matter the immediate results, you have indeed begun to nurture the practice that will grow over time.
Joining us for this morning session will provide you with the tools you need to begin a meditation practice at home, and to join a group of meditators with confidence, You will learn how to make time and space in your day for meditation, what to do when the mind fills with thoughts and won’t let you focus, and the benefits (there are so many) of a daily meditation practice. Time to ask your questions and offer your reflections (if you choose), will be woven around short practice sessions.
The holidays are fast approaching. It can be a time of anxiety and frustration for many of us. Learning to be in control of our reactions to others, to busy schedules, and external expectations of us is a gift of cultivating a meditation practice. It is not necessary to repeat the same old behaviour and thought patterns of the past. We will spend some time focusing on the holidays and how to best navigate them in ways that invite joy and peace.
Claire Bowers, our guide, has been practicing meditation since 1983 and has facilitated meditation groups in various formats since then. She studied the contemplative traditions of the west at the University of Toronto as part of her Master of Divinity degree and continued on to receive a Master of Arts in Creation Spirituality at Holy Names Collage in Oakland California before turning her focus to the east and studying the practices of Tibetan Buddhism.
In this workshop, we will rely on meditation, deep sharing & listening, collective wisdom, creative exercises and our own open-heartedness to look deeply into our grief and concern for our ailing world, and how we can practice and act to help restore harmony and well-being.
We’ll begin by stopping and calming with silent and guided meditations. Together, we’ll explore obstacles to awakening to the reality of what is happening in our world, and to taking skillful action. We’ll discuss the Buddhist teachings of interbeing, ethics, and well-being. We’ll examine our own consumption habits and ways to simplify our lives. Finally, we’ll talk about how we can take meaningful action to help heal our ailing society, ecosystems and planet.
Bring your own mug or water bottle. There will be a lunch break of about 1 hour around midday. Please make your own meal arrangements.
This is an opportunity to open our hearts more fully to the suffering in ourselves and the world to help heal and transform it with compassion. This Day of Mindfulness is a gift to yourself and others – to calm and nourish your body and mind, to share from your heart, and to practice compassion!
The day was conducted in noble silence (no unnecessary talking), and included sitting and walking meditation, guided meditations, dharma discussion, a sharing circle, and a simple vegetarian lunch.
September 21st 2019 from 10am-noon was the first official General Meeting of the South Shore Buddhist Meditation Society.
This was also a meeting for the whole MBMC community, so non-members were strongly encouraged to come and participate. We asked everyone:
A pizza lunch was served afterwards.
Starting on June 4th 2019 we started conducting two consecutive half-hour sitting meditation sessions on Tuesday mornings. These are listed in our calendar as “Simple Sit” which reflects the nature of the event.
At 10:30, after a brief introduction, we begin sitting meditation. If novice meditators are present basic meditation instructions are given. About 10:55 we practice a little walking meditation, and the door is opened to allow people to leave or to join us. Shortly after 11:00 we resume sitting in silence, and at 11:30 we finish with an informal chat about our experiences.
If you are new to meditation, please come for the basic instruction at 10:30 at least once.
This is one of our Regular Programs: everyone is welcome. Drop-in guidelines apply.
On Sunday May 19th 2019 we officially celebrated the opening of the all-new MBMC.
The Sunday morning meditation ran from 9am till 11:15am and was followed by an open house to celebrate the open space. May 19th was also Vesakha Day, the festival commemorating the birth, enlightenment and death of Gautama Buddha.
There was an Indian themed potluck lunch at noon to which the the public was invited. MBMC members and friends brought dishes to share with others. The buffet included:
Approximately 60 members, friends, and guests were welcomed and fed.