Getting Started with Meditation:
An Online Course on Mindfulness
Six Thursday evenings | 7 to 8:30pm EDT
Live classes via Zoom
*Click here to be notified when registration opens for the next cohort of this course*
Designed for anyone interested in a regular meditation practice (even if you’ve tried it before and decided you were “bad” at it!)
Meditation got its start thousands of years ago in monasteries. Now modern neuroscience confirms that the tools of meditation can help us stay more focused, better connect with others, and lead more balanced and peaceful lives — all without wearing saffron robes.
In this intro course, we’ll take a practical, experiential, and secular approach to integrating the benefits of meditation and mindfulness into our days. Together, we will:
• Demystify “mindfulness”: We’ll learn what mindfulness is (and isn’t). We'll also dispel myths, and explore the scientific benefits that drive activists, artists and CEOs alike to embrace stillness.
• Learn by doing: Fortunately there’s no one “right” way to meditate! All you need to do is find 1-2 practices that are a fit for you. Each week you’ll be introduced to a mix of solo and interpersonal techniques that you can try on for size.
• Keep it practical: You’ll be set up for an enjoyable home practice. This means learning to integrate mindfulness into everyday activities like washing the dishes, showering, and eating chocolate.
• Build community: Meditation apps can be useful. But they're no replacement for the power of a supportive community. Each week, we'll practice relational mindfulness—sharing in small groups, exploring meditation techniques that strengthen human connection, and learning informally from one another.
• Have fun!: The benefits of meditation may be serious, but we’ll be taking our practice (and ourselves) lightly.
Course experience includes:
- Six live Zoom calls on Thursdays (7-8:30pm EDT)
- Weekly guided meditation recordings, tailored to each week's theme
- Email communication in between sessions to support your practice
- A copy of Sharon Salzberg's Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation (along with a handful of other surprise course materials mailed to you)
Other details:
- Students will be asked to commit to 5 to 20 minutes of daily meditation during the course
- If taking this course alongside a small group of friends, family or colleagues, their participation will enrich and deepen your own experience (each person registers separately).
- Choose your own registration fee: $25, $75, $125, or another amount
What Past Participants Have Shared about This Course
"As a result of this series, I deepened, and frankly corrected, my understanding of meditation, and also developed a regular practice to which I've been able to commit (and not in a forced way). My expectations were not just met but exceeded. "
"You are a natural teacher who makes the practice of meditation simple, accessible and joyful. I think your emphasis on loving kindness is what we need in these difficult times, and I appreciate your sense of humor which added so much joy to the experience. "
"I really enjoyed the different methods of meditation, as it expanded my thinking about what meditation is and means."
"Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness in leading the course, it was such a welcoming atmosphere, and it was a nice space once a week to pause and reflect on meditation and how it can benefit my daily life."
"Even a few sessions for a few weeks can allow one to step back and reflect/gain more insight on physical and mental inner states."