Seeking volunteers to facilitate meditation at Shakopee Women’s Correctional Facility

We are a group of eight women who individually facilitate a meditation circle of up to 12 women every Saturday from 8:00 – 10:00 am.  We also offer a half-day retreat once a quarter and a monthly meditation session on Sunday mornings, 9:00 – 10:00, for an accelerated program within the prison.  Volunteers find this to be a very rewarding experience which deepens our practice.  We see ourselves more as meditation facilitators than teachers.  Our weekly sessions typically include several short sitting periods, mostly guided, some mindful movement such as yoga and qigong, and a short reading for discussion.

In the past year, we began teaching a Buddhist Studies class each term of the year.  The chaplain has asked us to expand this effort and to teach two classes each term.

If we are able to recruit two additional volunteers, we will be able to meet this goal.

Ideally, we think volunteers would have a consistent meditation practice, at least two years involvement with Common Ground, some retreat experience, participation in the CG Buddhist Studies class or equivalent, and some community involvement with Common Ground.  Please be aware that all the current activities take place only on weekends.

Requirements of this Volunteer Effort:

– Background check, application approval, and annual training as a Shakopee volunteer.  The initial training is three hours.  Subsequent annual training sessions are about an hour.

– Volunteers need to be able to transport themselves to the prison.

– Only female volunteers are permitted to go by themselves, consequently male volunteers would not expand the capability of the volunteer pool, but would otherwise be welcome.

– Willingness to commit to approximately one Saturday morning a month and one half-day retreat twice a year.  Ideally, the volunteer would also be willing to lead some of the monthly Sunday morning sessions, and participate in teaching Buddhist Studies classes.

The correctional facility has an extensive, lengthy process for approving new volunteers, which includes a thorough background check and annual training.  We ask that you carefully assess your time availability prior to volunteering.  Once the approval and training are completed, volunteers are welcome to simply come along and observe as long as they wish before leading an activity.

Several of our members would be happy to meet with potential volunteers and talk about our practice with the facility residents.  If you are interested, or have questions, please contact Jan Young, who is our volunteer liaison with Shakopee, at jan.young.mpls@gmail.com.