Center for Mindfulness at USG

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

A July Mindfulness Retreat
REGISTER NOW
(The link says “gina laroche” but it’s the correct link for Rae’s program.)
 
     This is an in-person retreat appropriate for both new and experienced mindfulness practitioners. In this daylong retreat, we will explore practices to support an integrated internal connection of body, heart and mind. And we will use our internal explorations of connection as a platform to investigate and understand what happens for us when we connect with others. 

This program is sponsored by USG, Delaware Valley Insight, and Springboard Sangha

Resting in Stillness
led by Brian Arnell
Saturday, July 27, 9:30a-4p
USG’s Sullivan Chapel
REGISTER HERE

“In meditative training we are taught to cultivate a mind that is clearly present in this moment, to calm our habits of distractedness and learn to make our home in stillness. . .  because the still mind and heart are the source of joy.”
– Christina Feldman

In this retreat, Brian will lead a daylong session of practice, with some instruction and teaching. Our focus will be on developing a collected stillness, an abode of peace and ease. The practice will be based on the Anapanasati Sutta – particularly this summary: Knowing Steadying Calming Releasing

This program is co-sponsored by USG and Springboard Sangha. 


Recurring Programs

Sundays

Monthly Sunday Morning Mindfulness in Person and on Zoom

NEXT: July 28, 8-9:30am
Led this month by Brian Arnell
 

Our Sunday in Sullivan will be led by senior teacher Brian Arnell and will be a hybrid event, so in person and on zoom. The session is free but donations are appreciated. Please find the link on Springboard’s website.  Any questions, please contact info@springboardsangha.org Please join us for this wonderful opportunity for beginner and experienced meditators.

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:

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

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

More information at: Community Events – White Flame Yoga.

Dive Deep into Yoga this summer!

Weekly gentle yoga for flexibility, strength, and balance starts the week of July 8 and goes through August 10. All classes offered virtually (first trial class is FREE; discounted rate for USG members).

Fees are on Esther’s website.

Tues. 9:30 am: chair-to-mat for bone health. Summer Session (5 weeks): Jul 9 – Aug 6, 2024. 
Wed. 5:15-6:15pm: gentle mat class. Summer Session (5 weeks): Jul 10 1 – Aug 7, 2024 
Fri. 9:30 am: chair-to-mat for joint health. Summer Session (5 weeks): Jul 12 – Aug 9, 2024 
Sat. 9:00 am: deep stretch mat class. Summer Session (5 weeks): Jul 13 – Aug 10, 2024. 

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 truth”, 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.