The meditations and other events are mostly free.
Meditation : We have regular Meditation Meetups where we teach and practice a guided Vipassana (buddhist) meditation. The format we follow is to notice the body, notice the breath, send kind thought/feelings to others.
At all locations we have extra floor cushions, and, chairs and couches to sit on
All groups are good for beginners. If you do not meditate yet and would like to practice before you come you can do this: Sit in a chair quietly and comfortably and keep your spine straight and back muscles relaxed. Close your eyes and start to notice your breathing. Feel your stomach as it rises and falls with each breath. Keep noticing your stomach rising and falling until you notice yourself thinking. This thinking will be taking your attention away from your stomach. Calmly identify what type of thought it is by saying to yourself something like: "worry" or "fantasy" or "planning" or "fear" or "doubt" or "joy" or "sorrow" or "anger" etc. Then gently let the thought go and return to the sensation of breathing in your stomach. Keep doing this and over time lengthen the amount of time you meditate in this way. The main goals for this type of meditation are to develop the ability to: 1) concentrate (in this case on your breath); 2) notice your thinking, and 3) gently let thoughts go. Being still with a quiet peaceful mind is not the goal. A quiet peaceful mind is more of a side effect that will come with time (and then leave again :). After all, we are humans and not the perfect little creatures that we keep hoping for.
In a nutshell, Buddha’s Three R’s of meditation are:
Recognize, Release and Return.
BUT to really master them…
find a teacher!