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. If you cannot afford this amount, feel free to attend without giving, or give whatever is affordable.

Special Programs

BEING WITH OUR LIFE Silent Retreat with Brian Arnell
Thursday October 5, 6-7pm
Friday and Saturday October 6 & 7, 7am-8:45pm
Sunday October 8, 7am-12pm 

USG’s Center for Meditation partner, Springboard Meditation Sangha, is offering a multi-day silent retreat with senior teacher Brian Arnell at Pendle Hill in Media, PA. 
 
It is rare that we have the opportunity to “simply be with life as it appears,” to take a few days and dedicate them entirely to our own wellbeing. Our practice will be simple, being with the breath, paying loving attention to whatever is arising in each moment. We will train ourselves to be conscious of the flow of experience, each moment a new arrival.
 
We will have a full day schedule, practicing while sitting and walking, eating and resting, gently, with kindness and compassion.
 
For more information and to register, https://www.eventbrite.com/e/being-with-our-life-a-three-day-meditation-retreat-registration-637233511587


Recurring Programs

Sundays

Monthly Sunday Morning In Person Mindfulness Sit at USG, also on Zoom.
NEXT: Sunday, September 10, 8-9:30am
 

Springboard Meditation Sangha & USG’s Center for Mindfulness would like to extend an invitation to sit together. Brian Arnell (Springboard’s senior teacher) will be leading a sit via zoom. Thanks to technology, we can offer a hybrid event where everyone present can hear AND see each other. You can log in via zoom by finding the link on Springboard’s website. Hope to see you there! Questions to info@springboardsangha.org

The Springboard Sangha teachers offer their time and guidance freely, in the spirit of generosity. If you are inspired to support Springboard Sangha’s mission as a community hub for lay Buddhist practice and teachings (they are a 501c3), you can donate here: paypal.me/springboardsangha. Thank you for your generosity.

*For more info, click here.

Co-sponsored by Springboard Sangha and USG

A New BIPOC Sitting Group
Every second Sunday from 12 to 2pm
Offered by Delaware Valley Insight, a USG partnering meditation group
Led by Pamela Freeman, contact her at pfree12334@aol.com or (215) 435-5866 for more info.

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

MINDFUL YOGA WITH ESTHER
Live practices via Zoom to build strength from the comfort of your home

This fall, 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 SESSIONS BEGIN WEEK OF September 5.
      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.