USG currently offers mindfulness programs VIRTUALLY and IN PERSON.

This page includes all of USG’s practice-based spiritual development including meditation, yoga, and conscious dance. The Adult Spiritual Development page has discussion-based spiritual development.

The Zoom links for all weekly Mindfulness and Wellness sessions are sent out in a separate monthly email entitled “News and Zoom Links from the Center for Mindfulness at USG.” If you would like to be put on the list to receive these announcements, contact communications@usguu.org. If you have questions about the classes, please email mindfulness@usguu.org

Teacher Donations and the Practice of Dana                        
In the Buddhist tradition the teachings are offered freely, and the teachers lives are supported by donations (dāna.) Dāna translates into the Buddhist principal of generosity. Please donate to our teachers. USG does not pay or employ the teachers; most teachers provide their services free of charge, and in doing so sustain mindfulness programs at USG. Suggested donation for non-fee sessions is $10-$20 to the teachers to support their livelihood. If you cannot afford this amount, feel free to attend without giving, or give whatever is affordable.

 
     If you would like to receive the once monthly Mindfulness News with Zoom links, please email your request with your name and your email address to communications@usguu.org.

Special Programs

Sunday, April 21, 4:00 – 5:00pm
Movement & Meditation w Esther Wyss-Flamm
Come celebrate Earth Day – We will be outdoors in USG’s grove of trees to open up to kinship with the world around us. Together we will experience an accessible movement sequence and settle our minds with quieting meditation. We will have an opportunity to dive into heart-opening conversation about practices to honor and reciprocate the generosity of the Earth.

Where: We will meet for our adventure in the parking lot located BEHIND the Unitarian Society of Germantown – the GPS is 359 W Johnson St. It’s a short walk to the grove from there.

What to bring: your mat, pen & journal, water bottle or a thermos of hot tea (if it’s brisk!). Wear layers and dress for comfort.

This is a FREE COMMUNITY EVENT for anyone who can attend. We suggest a donation to benefit the Environment Committee of Weavers Way Co-op (funds raised are used for the committee’s annual small grants to neighborhood environmental initiatives).

Let Esther know you are coming with a quick e-mail to ewyssflamm@gmail.com.

From Delaware Valley Insight, a USG partnering meditation group:
You Are Enough: Mindfulness, Self-Compassion & Healing with Ofosu Jones-Quartey
Saturday, April 27, 2024 
10:00-4:00pm Summit Presbyterian Church & Online Via Zoom
Join Ofosu Jones-Quartey for a daylong session of practice and discussion, hosted by Delaware Valley Insight.
Info & register here.

In this day-long mindfulness retreat, we will seek to answer how we might bring Dharma practice into our daily lives through the practice of Merit. Merit is the cultivation of generosity, ethics, and a kind heart. We will explore Engaged Buddhism through the practice of the Three Tenets of the Zen Peacemakers; discuss how the 5-precepts offer both protection for our mindfulness and represent an object for mindfulness; and practice cultivating the stabilizing qualities of kindness, compassion, and shared joy. Find more information and register HERE.

Recurring Programs

Sundays

Monthly Sunday Morning In Person Mindfulness Sit at USG, also on Zoom.

NEXT: April 14, 8-9:30am
Led this month by Brian Arnell
 

Brian Arnell of Springboard Sangha will lead this in-person and online meditation sit and dialogue as part of the monthly Springboard Sangha “Second Sundays at Sullivan.” Please join us for this wonderful opportunity for beginner and experienced meditators. The session is free but donations are appreciated. Hope you can join us in person or log in via Zoom by finding the link on Springboard’s website.  Any questions, please contact info@springboardsangha.org

Co-sponsored by Springboard Sangha and USG

Wednesdays

Meditations for the Mid-Week led by Deborah Cooper, Wednesdays, 2:30-3:30pm

Please join Deborah Cooper as she leads us into calm and reflection with meditation, inspiring writings and poems from the great meditation teachers, and teachings based on her own extensive training as a mindfulness teacher.  Deborah also shares how she has applied mindfulness in her own life experiences and guides us in applying mindfulness to ours.  Email mindfulness@usguu.org for the link.

Dana to Deborah:

• Paypal at: paypal.me/deborahmeditation or
• US Mail at: 125 W. Durham St., Philadelphia, PA 19119
  

Thursdays

THURSDAY NIGHT MINDFULNESS
Online with Jesse Frechette from 7:15-8:30pm 
Access: bit.ly/Jessethursday
Please note that bit.ly links are case-sensitive.

Appropriate for all levels. Enter into this practice with a beginner’s mind and fresh eyes, whether this is your first time or you have been practicing for many years.
The fee to the instructor for this one hour session is $15-$20 if financial circumstances allow, but no amount is too small and all are welcome regardless of ability to pay.
Please send to:
Venmo: Send to Jesse-Frechette-1
Use PayPal under “family and friends” and send to: jesse@centermindful.org 
Mail check to: 1405 Reiner Rd., Eagleville, PA 19403

BIPOC Sitting Group
Every second Thursday from 7-8:30pm
Offered by Delaware Valley Insight, a USG partnering meditation group on Zoom.
Led by Pamela Freeman, contact her at pfree12334@aol.com or (215) 435-5866 for more info.

Also from Delaware Valley Insight:
A sit the first Thursday of the month at 7pm for individuals new to meditation. All are  welcome. Location: Zoom. Meeting ID: 890 9218 6030, Passcode: sit. (Call John Howell, phone 571-228-1579 for information.)

MINDFUL YOGA WITH ESTHER

Weekly live practices via Zoom to build strength from the comfort of your home

Sunday, April 21, 4:00 – 5:30pm — Special Community Gathering for Earth Day with mindful movement, journaling, and inspired conversation  to support and heal the Earth. Look for details at: Community Events – White Flame Yoga
Interested? Contact Esther Wyss-Flamm: ewyssflamm@gmail.com.

Commit to self-care and boost your flexibility, strength, and balance with a weekly class! All classes offered virtually (first trial class is FREE; discounted drop-in rate for USG members). NEW WINTER/SPRING SESSIONS BEGIN WEEK OF March 4th.
      Tues. 9:30 am: chair-to-mat for bone health. 
      Wed. 12 noon: gentle mat class.  
      Fri. 9:30 am: chair-to-mat for joint health. 
      Sat. 9:30 am: deep stretch mat class.  
Contact Esther at ewyssflamm@gmail.com for details and registration or explore Whiteflameyoga.com.

Unitarian Universalism and Buddhism

Like UU’s “free and responsible search for meaning”, Buddhism is non-creedal. In his first mindfulness precept, Thich Nhat Hahn says Buddhist teachings are not doctrines but guiding means to help us develop understanding and compassion. One of the Buddha’s last teachings was to “be a lamp unto yourself”.

The inherent worth and dignity of every person is evident in Buddhist teaching that everything in the universe shares Buddha nature.

The Universalist emphasis on the saving power of love can be seen in the Mahayana Bodhisattva vow to renounce nirvana until all beings are enlightened, and in reverence for Avolokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of great compassion.

UU respect for the interdependent web of all existence mirrors the Buddhist teaching of emptiness, what Thich Nhat Hahn calls inter-being–that everything in the universe exists only in its connection with everything else, and nothing has an absolute separate identity.

UU affinity for Buddhism goes back to Thoreau. There has been an active Unitarian Universalist Budddhist Fellowship for many years. It is still considered an independent affiliate of the UUA.