Meditation Sits
We’re meeting online every Monday at 7:30pm EST
CEC Monday Night Zoom Room: https://zoom.us/j/799184864, passcode = 00000 (five zeros)
Many people, especially busy urban dwellers, feel overwhelmed and undernourished. They struggle alone with their challenges and are only rarely able to discuss – let alone practice – deep matters of belonging and connection and embodiment.
The vision of The Consciousness Explorers Club (CEC) is to provide a fun and accessible venue where people can discuss these things as they emerge from perspective-altering spiritual and psychological and social practices. Our members go on mind-body adventures – together and independently – and then share their insights and discoveries and inspiration with the community.
Details
Please join us Mondays at 7:30pm(EST) to meditate in community and cultivate some connection in these physically distant times. If you live outside of Toronto and have always wanted to check out CEC, now’s your chance!
CEC Monday Night Zoom Room: https://zoom.us/j/799184864, passcode = 00000 (five zeros)
Cost is $10-20 sliding scale, or PWYC. The CEC is a nonprofit – funds go to pay teachers and support the costs of programming. For online sits, the CEC gratefully accepts donations via e-transfer (within Canada) or Paypal, sent to consciousnessexplorersclub@gmail.com. You can also sign up to be a monthly supporter via our Patreon page.
For this month’s offerings, read our current newsletter.
What do we do?
The evening rolls out in two parts:
- Part one is 35-minutes of sitting meditation practice (from 7:30 – 8:30pm)
- Part two is 30-minutes of interactive discussion ending with breakout rooms (8:30 – 9pm)
We experiment with different solo meditations, from restful absorption to creative visualizations, mindfulness-style noting (of various mind-body components), loving-kindness, sound meditations, choiceless awareness and many others. You don’t need to follow any of these techniques if you don’t want to – some people prefer to stay with their tried-and-true regular practice.
“A wise teacher, and a wise center, needs to offer a whole range of skillful practices, because people come along at different stages of their inner development, with different temperaments, and with different sets of problems.” -Jack Kornfield
The CEC is passionately nonsectarian – both humanistic and contemplative traditions are represented. That said, we do have an uber-meditation consultant: the Buddhist teacher Shinzen Young.
If you are interested in our schedule of explorations, sign up for our mailing list to receive our monthly newsletter.
Jeff Warren
President, The Consciousness Explorers Club
Contact us: consciousnessexplorersclub@gmail.com
NOTE: Meditation is a compliment but not a substitute for professional psychological and medical health care. There are risks in any psychological or spiritual method. Those risks increase for people who are experiencing significant distress or dysfunction. Please inquire if you are unsure whether or not meditation is appropriate for your situation.
We will explore the myth of Sisyphus in all of its absurdity, inspired by Camus–the body won’t know the difference. This practice might be incredibly infuriating if you are in it to win it. This is an invitation to come with a sense of play :)
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Tonight we’ll explore the paradox of ‘Now’! On the one hand, Now is timeless; it has no duration (how long is now?). And yet ‘Now’ is all there ever is; it is eternal. Everything is only ever happening Now!
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We’re often told to let go of our worries, our stress, our attachments. But how to do that? Paradoxically, the way to let go is to let it in. If you stop resisting and allow yourself to fully experience the moment, it can pass right through.
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Join CEC for monthly outdoor meditations with the sunset and other human beings this summer! Bring your own cushion/blanket and we’ll sit together and meditate with the nature in the city.
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How do you hold the direction without clinging to the destination? When to try hard in practice and when to stop trying? In this meditation we’ll explore the delicate dance of effort and surrender.
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Join CEC for a nature mindfulness experience in Toronto’s High Park! Inspired by the changing colours of fall and the beautiful practice of labyrinth walking, we’ll start with some kid-friendly mindfulness activities and end with a period of silent practice
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Join the Consciousness Explorers Club teaching team as we explore the weird and wonderful world of meditation at this virtual Halloween retreat. The magic and mystery of contemplative practice will be on full display this weekend. Come get weird with us!
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a virtual half-day meditation retreat with Shinzen Young, sharing teachings to cultivate equanimity
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