Staying Connected Through Mindfulness and Compassion Meditation in this Time of COVID-19
| Dear Friends of Mindful Heart Programs, During the last few days it has become known that large gatherings may cause a health risk, and at the same time, it also has become apparent that many of us are quite scared and worried about getting isolated, cut off and thrown out of balance. Anxiety runs high in our local and world community and this seems to be a time when we need mindfulness and compassion practices more than ever. A recent New York Times article tells us, “When the world falls apart, people come together,” and another says, “The Best response to the Coronavirus? Altruism, Not Panic.”Yes, when the world feels uncertain it is important to counteract loneliness and isolation with meaningful, peaceful togetherness. Kindness and care for others allows us not to panic, but instead to feel more secure, fearless and resilient through strengthening our sense of community. Through the practice of mindfulness meditation, we learn to rest in ourselves, and to withstand the pull to be carried away by the reactivity, worry and the frustration that so often permeates our current reality. Effortless mindfulness allows us to affirm that we can experientially access the subtler dimensions of consciousness, where we can experience stillness, bliss, luminosity, and a sense that all of life is interconnected. From that place compassion arises naturally. Kindness and compassion meditation open the heart, where it is tempted to close down to protect itself. In my opinion an open heart is so much safer than a closed heart, as it allows us to feel confident, generous and connected. Because many are advised to not leave home, we enabled an opportunity to meet for meditations online via a video conferencing platform called Zoom. This allows many people to join our meditation meetings and also allows us to chat a bit at the beginning and end of the classes. In that way, we get a feeling of togetherness, just as we do in person. Danjo San, our Japanese monk friend, offered to join Radhule’s 7pm weekly meditation meeting on Wednesdays, and we also added a few additional meetings as well. The upcoming schedule is below: ¨ Mondays 7pm with Radhule ¨ Tuesdays 7pm with Stacy Zumbroigel ( and Radhule in week one) ¨ Wednesdays 7pm with Radhule and Danjo San ¨ Thursdays 2pm with Juliet Rohde Brown ¨ Thursdays 7pm with Renee Golan ¨ Sunday mornings 10 am (starting on March the 29) with Radhule & Michael These are the instructions on how to join in at the scheduled times: Before the meeting, please click the below link. If you don’t already have the Zoom application, it will ask to download Zoom and then once downloaded it will immediately launch the meeting. Zoom is free to download. Please let me know if you have any questions at all beforehand or during the sessions. Join Zoom Meeting link: https://zoom.us/j/5612731921 Many best wishes. See you virtually. With love and gratitude, Radhule |