If you have a meditation practice and would like to sit regularly with a group of practitioners, please consider joining us every Wednesday morning at the Meaningful Life Center. We sit in silence for a period of 45 minutes, beginning at 10 am.

We welcome all participants, whether you are accustomed to meditating by yourself at home or you sit with another group. Our purpose is simply to offer the opportunity to meditate regularly with an informal group. Many people find that sitting with others offers a strong support for their practice.

We began meeting in 2016 as the Friday Morning Meditation Group. The participants come from a variety of spiritual traditions and follow their own individual practices during the session. There are no formal instructions or requirements for participating. There is time afterwards for discussion if anyone would like to offer their thoughts or ask a question.

There are plenty of comfortable chairs at the Center, but if you prefer sitting on a cushion please feel free to bring your own. 

All are welcome. We welcome your participation.

Every Wednesday morning
10:00 to 11:00am

Both surrender and forgiveness are powerful tools with which we can change ourselves and change our lives. Their virtues have been recognized through the ages and all the religious traditions of the world have sung their praises. However, as with all powerful tools, they must be used skillfully if they are to be effective. In this workshop, therefore, we will explore the value of surrender, the value of forgiveness, and how they can best be applied in our day-to-day lives.

A major part of discovering how to use them effectively is discerning when each is appropriate and how to apply them in a healthy and balanced way. This will be the focus of our journey

5 Thursdays beginning March 20
6:30 to 8:30pm

Workshop Leader: John Berry

John worked in the Audiology Department of the University of Tennessee for 10 years, coordinating a number of programs. He left UT to found Blount Hearing and Speech Services, which has served over 20,000 patients in the past 35 years. John is also the co-founder and CEO of the Hearing and Speech Foundation, an institution that focuses on conducting research to provide a better understanding of human perception and in so doing to improve the field of audiology.

This season we will be reading Claude McKay, a key poet in the Harlem Renaissance; Elinor Wylie, poet and novelist with a notorious social life; Mark Strand, 1990 US poet laureate; and Denise Levertov, a poet of political and social consciousness.

Each week we'll read and discuss a selection of poems from a single poet. We'll talk about what images it brings up for us, what we think the poet was trying to say and what the poems mean to us. There is no wrong way to read a poem and discussing with others can help each of us find meaning for ourselves and new meanings we may have missed.

We will be reading one poet per meeting. If you have a favorite poem or have one you have written and would like to share, please bring it. If time allows, we can share at the end of each night. A PDF of the poems will be sent to you by email prior to the meeting. It is helpful to have the poems printed out or, if you prefer, available on a screen in front of you. It is also helpful to read the poems previous to their respective meeting. These meetings will be on ZOOM. The link for taking part on Zoom will be provided by email in advance of the first meeting.

The simple act of sitting in one place and not DOING something has been a gateway for liberation for millennia. There is a reason it “works”. Yet it is the willingness to show up and simply sit that transforms us. The reasons are not relevant. Neither is reading about it, thinking about it, or talking about it. To access this ancient avenue, one must experience it. In these morning meditation sessions, you will have an opportunity to experience an extended meditation in a supportive environment.

We will sit as a group and the day will be structured around periods of sitting meditation and walking meditation. There will be some guided meditation. It will be mostly silent sitting and walking meditation. This is a great opportunity for beginners who want to experience longer meditation periods, as well as experienced meditators. There will time before (and during) the session on sitting posture and comfort for those who would like instruction.  While all three leaders practice zen meditation, the structure will be somewhat modified.

If you have a meditation cushion or bench you like to use, please bring it. There will be chairs available but limited options if you want to sit on the floor.

Each month we get together to discuss a film that leads to conversations on how to live a more meaningful life.
Everyone watches the movies on their own time, and then we meet online to discuss the movies.
The discussions can be lively as the group dives into a new film each month. Join us for our next film.

Please RSVP whether you plan on joining online or in-person.
If you have any questions and to get the Zoom link, please contact Chris at austinfamily.chris@protonmail.com

2026's Upcoming Films:

JANUARY: Groundhog Day by Harold Ramis - 1993
FEBRUARY: The Silence by Ingmar Bergman - 1963
MARCH: Vertigo by Albert Hitchcock - 1958

APRIL: Make Way for Tomorrow – Leo McCarey - 1937
MAY: Everything Everywhere All at Once – Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert - 2022
JUNE: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Milos Forman - 1975

JULY: Fearless by Peter Weir - 1993
AUGUST: A Man Escaped by Robert Bresson - 1956
SEPTEMBER: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – Michael Gondry - 2004

OCTOBER: The Seventh Seal by Ingmar Bergman - 1957
NOVEMBER: The Tree of Life by Terrence Malick - 2011
DECEMBER: Tokyo Godfathers – Shogo Furya and Satoshi Kon - 2003