Our Community

	Pat Harada Linfoot E-RYT® 500, YACEP®The practice of meditation has been a game-changer for me. It’s been all about building relationships and community in a safe container that has inspired my teaching for the past 24 years. My hope is that we’ll realize that we’re not alone and that social engagement and genuine interest is a portal into a life worth living. That offering mercy is necessary, useful, and kind. That we can make a difference and begin to change our world, one person at a time, starting with ourselves. That together we can develop personal and community practices based on respect, gratitude, resiliency, receptivity, and grace. I’m also inspired by the rich, collaborative process of mentoring—of developing the sacredness and uniqueness of each person’s voice. My current teachers are my meditation sangha and the communities created by my teachers Miles Neale and Ethan Nichtern.
	Josh Cohen I first discovered meditation while traveling through India in my late twenties and from that moment it became an essential practice for helping me improve concentration and manage the ups and downs that inevitably arise in our lives. As I practised more and more I started being asked to teach and now almost 20 years later I find myself sharing the techniques and concepts to inquisitive minds who also wish to calm and centre themselves and find a greater sense of ease. I draw upon eastern philosophies, natural physics and western psychology in relating the timeless and universal principles and I treasure the opportunity to share space with beginners and dedicated practitioners alike as we settle into the present-moment awareness of simple being.
	Jennifer Helland E-RYT® 500, YACEP® Meditation has had a profound effect on my life. It has helped me dig a deeper well of tolerance for my challenging and uncomfortable life stuff. It has helped me become more present and compassionate with the people I love. But the honest truth is that meditation has also been a bumpy road. Stillness is difficult for me. I LOVE to move, even if sometimes moving means avoiding. I have found an embodied movement practice an incredible gateway into meditation. I’m excited to share movement and stillness with you.
	Tracy Heffernan A long time social justice lawyer and community activist, meditation has given me permission to wrestle with heartache, to notice but not be so caught in the turbulence of life, and to take long deep dives into stillness, calm and clarity. My practice is grounded in the quintessential question: how can one best engage the richness of life with justice, kindness and love? I have studied with many teachers, most recently at the Nalanda Institute in New York City
	Ronalyn Dziklinski As a journaler for the last 20 years, reflective writing is a practice that began the journey towards mindful reflection. Meditation found me during my 200hr Yoga Teacher Training in 2015. Since then, I have combined journaling and mindfulness as a joint contemplative practice to explore emotions, thoughts, and sensations that arise during a sit. In doing so, my practice has strengthened the commitment to taking time daily to pause, breathe, and reflect.Join me in exploring a contemplative practice that helps cultivate self-awareness, increase focus, and compassion while learning reflective writing exercises to help ease the thinking mind and simply be.
	Shir Givoni As a linguist and mindfulness practitioner, I am fascinated by words and even more so by how we may use them to guide ourselves towards stillness. With each word we mindfully encounter, begins a journey of discovery. When we allow ourselves to notice our reaction to a word, to observe where our breath goes, what sensations arise in the body, and what emotions are present, we give ourselves space in silence. As we are able to extend the gaps between one word and the next, sitting with whatever arises, we give ourselves permission to simply be. Join me for a contemplative practice where language and mind reconnect with body and breath.
	Anita Katakkar Anita began practicing meditation and yoga, as it was informing her approach to music. Having completed the meditation teacher training through Our Meditation Channel, Anita now explores the use of sound and silence to settle into a meditation practice.
	Marco Fiorante Learning to meditate is a practice. Having no destination in mind, we learn to slow down, we feel our breath and we feel our body. Creating space within to notice on a journey inwards, we find ourselves. My first meditation teacher once said; “you have to have a self before you can let go of the self.” These words have always stayed with as I’ve learned to reconcile spiritual work with therapeutic study and client work. My meditation practice started over 15 years ago introduced to me by my first therapist, the practice and time spent sitting and exploring the teachings of the Buddha and many others have held me in many ways, and more importantly, it introduced me to the practice of compassion. A practice I wish to share with others, cultivating compassion for ourselves and others on a journey towards greater empathy, intimacy and community.