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 (dÄna.) DÄna 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.
Special Programs
From Delaware Valley Insight Meditation
Equanimity: Balance in the Worldly Winds –
A DVI Community Sit with Aishah Simmons
Saturday, January 11, 3:00-5:00pm
Summit Presbyterian Church & On Zoom
| Aishah Shahidah Simmons (she/her) is a Black feminist lesbian survivor-healer, Theravadin Buddhist, and trauma-informed, certified Mindfulness meditation teacher. She’s been studying and practicing vipassana meditation since 2002 and has more than one year of cumulative silent retreat practice in the United States and India. Read more here. Register here. |
Recurring Programs
Sundays
Sunday Morning Mindfulness in Person and on Zoom
NEXT: Sunday, January 19, 8-9:30am
Please note: the date has been rescheduled from Jan. 12
Usually led by Brian Arnell
Our Sundays in Sullivan are usually led by senior teacher Brian Arnell and are hybrid events, so in person and on zoom. Please arrive a few minutes early. The sessions are free but donations are appreciated. Please find the Zoom link on Springboardâs 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
As of January, 2025, Deborah Cooper has stepped back from leading these midweek sessions. We are grateful for the many years she gave to her gentle practice.
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 beginnerâs 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
The next session of weekly gentle yoga for flexibility, strength, and balance starts the week of November 11 and go through January 18. 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.
Wed. 12-1pm and 5:15-6:15pm: gentle mat class.
Fri. 9:30 am: chair-to-mat for joint health.
Sat. 9:00 am: deep stretch mat class.
Contact Esther at ewyssflamm@gmail.com for details and registration or explore Whiteflameyoga.com.
Unitarian Universalism and Buddhism
Like UUâs âfree and responsible search for truthâ, 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 Buddhaâs last teachings was to âbe a lamp unto yourself.â
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.