Hello dear friends,
I am thrilled to announce Nirodha Sangha, a new community for meditation, mindfulness, and other spiritual practices.
Let’s get the first questions out of the way-
Nirodha means cessation. It’s a concept central to Buddhism and Yogic Philosophy. The most basic teaching of the Buddha was the 4 Noble Truths. They are:
Duhkka - the truth of suffering. All beings will suffer.
Samudaya - the cause of suffering. This is interpreted in a lot of ways, but a common one is that we suffer because of craving and aversion, we always want things to be a certain way, and meanwhile, we miss out on the beauty of life.
Nirodha - (ding ding ding) this is the end of suffering. All beings have the ability to end suffering. (note that there is a difference between suffering and pain).
Magga - the path to suffering. In Buddhism, this generally means the 8-fold path. We will likely discuss this at some point in Sangha, but it’s not necessary to subscribe to Buddhism or the 8-fold path to benefit from this community.
In the Raja system of yoga, we use the Patanjali Yoga Sutras as a guide, and they define yoga as yogas chitta vritti nirodha. This means yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind. There are also 8 steps (limbs) in the yogic system, and some amount of overlap with Buddhism, but again, it’s not necessary that you subscribe to yoga or the Patanjali Sutras to benefit from this community.
Speaking of community, Sangha means exactly that. It’s a community of spiritual seekers, supporting each other on the path. For our purposes it means a community that works toward two main goals:
Calming our minds
Ending suffering (or at least lessening it)
We’re sort of Buddhist, but also sort of not. In short, we are a meditation and mindfulness community. We are a place for punks, weirdos, misfits, and anyone who needs somewhere to go. Going a bit deeper, we aim to be a worldwide community of people working together to calm minds, open hearts, end suffering and find true happiness. We support each other like brothers and sisters. We are rooted in Buddhist, Yogic, and Taoist philosophies, but you don’t need to be Buddhist, Yogic, or Toaist to join. In fact, you don’t need to believe in or subscribe to anything. All you need to be is human (we might accept dogs too on a case-by-case basis). You don[t have to have any background in meditation either. We welcome all backgrounds, orientations, beliefs, races, and on and on. The only people who aren’t welcome are those who show up just to start shit, and even those people are welcome when they want to come and actually participate in our community.
So what does this community do? Well, we meet up and meditate (among other simple practices). We use mindfulness, meditation, breathing, some basic physical postures, and discussion to work toward a balanced, happy life. We support each other along the way. We will start by meeting once/a month. If you live in Montreal you may attend in person at Yoga Et Massage Pour Vous and if you live anywhere else you can join online. A zoom link will be sent out via our podia page. This page is where we will have discussions and weekly check-ins between meetings. This is a place to connect with other people on a similar path. This is vital-we are doing this together. If there is enough interest we will expand our meetings to 2x/month, then eventually make it a weekly thing.
Nirodha Sangha will operate primarily by donation (though we will occasionally do paid events as well), or as it’s known in Buddhism: Dana. We want everyone to be able to attend regardless of financial means. That means some people will donate more, and others less, and that’s all perfect. Donations are very welcome, but certainly not necessary. If you’d like to begin donating you can sign up and do so through the following links:
Or if you’d like to donate a random amount or make a one-time donation you can Donate via Paypal
And if you can’t donate at this time, no problem at all. Please join us anyway, your presence is infinitely more valuable than money.
Our first 3 meetings will be:
Thursday, May 18th
Thursday June 22nd
Thursday July 13th
Meeting information is as follows:
7:30-9 pm Eastern Time
Via Zoom Link (to be sent out at the Nirodha Sangha page)
and in person at Yoga Et Massage Pourvous
Meetings will be an hour and a half long and the format will go something like this:
Opening/check in
Walking Meditation
Seated stretching to prepare for meditation
Breathing exercises
Silent Meditation
Speaker
Discussion
Closing/announcements
I know the meetings are a little ways away, but it’s the soonest we could start at the space we’re renting in Montreal (and my tour schedule). That doesn’t mean our work doesn’t begin until then though. The podia page is live, and group discussions will begin there immediately. I will be posting weekly check-ins, as well as periodic pieces of interest. I invite others to do the same, remember, we do this together!
We’re really looking forward to getting started!! In the meantime, head on over to Nirodha Sangha, sign up, and introduce yourself in the intro thread by saying your name, and something you’re grateful for!
High-fives and bowing,
M