Weekly Email 12-8-22
Dear Common Ground Friends,
These winter months often call us to slow down, nourish our bodies with warm things, and get a little more rest. We can learn to respond with care to our fluctuations in energy and the body’s changing needs. It’s possible to resist the urge to try to force things to be the way we think they should and instead to surrender to the way they actually are. It is a relief to set down the push and the grind at times, to check in with ourselves, to check in with each other.
Wishing everyone gentle movement through the rhythms of winter.
Warm Wishes,
Shelly Graf
PROGRAM TONIGHT!
Guest Teacher Talk with Ben Connelly: Imagination, Interdependence, and Liberation
Thursday, December 8th | 7:00 – 9:00pm
In-person and on Zoom
No registration necessary
Weekly Programs
We are experimenting with new ways to get information out about upcoming programs. You may see this weekly email changing some over the upcoming weeks. To view a complete list of our regular program offerings, visit our the upcoming programs page on our website. As always, our the online calendar is the best way to find correct times and zoom links.
Open Meditation- NEW TIMES!
In person meditation is now available, M-Th, starting at 6:30 a.m. Check our online calendar for additional times and details. There are many In-person as well as virtual opportunities for silent meditation, 7 days a week. Visit the calendar for times and details.
Weekly Practice Groups
- Sunday mornings, 10:30-11:45am in-person and on Zoom with Mark Nunberg
- Dec 11th with Patrice Koelsch
- Sunday evenings, 7:00-8:30pm in-person with Mark Nunberg
- Dec 11th with Ramesh Sairam
- Wednesday evenings, 7:30-9:00pm on Zoom with Shelly Graf
- Dec 14th with Jean Haley
- First Fridays, 7-8:30pm on Zoom, Lovingkindness with Mark Nunberg and Stacy McClendon
Community Practice Check-Ins
- Sundays, 4:30-5:30pm with Mark Nunberg and Wynn Fricke, on Zoom
- Tuesdays, 12:00-1:00pm with Stacy McClendon, on Zoom
- NEW! Wednesdays, 8:30-9:30am with Shelly Graf, in-person
- Fridays, 9:00-10:00am with Shelly Graf, on Zoom
- Every other Saturday, 10:30am-12:00pm with Ramesh Sairam, on Zoom
We offer Yoga and Qigong several times a week, both in person and online. Click here for times and details.
Meets every Friday, 7:00-8:30pm.
In-person and on Zoom
Visit the calendar for Zoom link
Youth Programs
- Children’s Program: The Children’s Program is held on the 1st and 3rd Sundays, 10:30 – 11:45am. The program is for kindergarteners – 3rd graders. If your child is preschool age, you are welcome to join the group but a parent will need to stay with the child.
- Teen Program: The teen group will be meet 10:30 – 11:30am on 12/11. You can join the Common Ground teen listserv by emailing Robin: robin@commongroundmeditation.org.
To see full list of programs and access Zoom links for online programs visit our calendar.
SAVE THE DATE! Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction with Nan LeRoy
8 Wednesdays, January 19 – March 8, 7:00-9:30pm and daylong Retreat, Saturday, February 18. Registration coming soon.
MBSR-Based Mindfulness Practice with Nancy Boros
Mondays, 12:00 -1:00pm
InterPlay with Spruce Krause
Thursday, December 8th | 7:00 -8:30pm
Mindful Self-Compassion Practice Group with Jean Haley and Jane Rauenhorst
Friday, December 16th | 7:00 -8:30pm
Upcoming Programs: In Person/Hybrid at Common Ground
To see full list of programs visit our calendar
Guest Teacher Talk with Ben Connelly: Imagination, Interdependence, and Liberation
Thursday, December 8th | 7:00 – 9:00pm
In-person and on Zoom
No registration necessary
All-Night Solstice Retreat
With Mark Nunberg, Cory Clemetson and Robin Major
9:00pm December 20th – 7:00am December 21st
In-person and on Zoom
Register here
Annual New Year’s Eve Celebration and Potluck
Saturday, December 31st | 7:30am – 12:15am
In-person and on Zoom
No registration necessary
Half-Day Retreat with Ayya Niyy?nika & Mark Nunberg
January 7th | 1:00pm – 5:00pm
In-person and on Zoom
Register here
Buddhist Studies: Seven Factors of Awakening with Mark Nunberg
Eight Mondays: January 9th – February 27th
7:30pm – 9:00pm
In-person and on Zoom
Register here
Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation with Mark Nunberg
Six Tuesdays: January 10th – February 14th
7:00 – 8:30pm
In-person and on Zoom
Register here
Upcoming In-Person/Hybrid Programs at our Retreat Center
Common Ground Retreat Center is located in Wisconsin, about an hour-and-fifteen-minute drive from Minneapolis. More information and registration for the following programs can be found here
Retreats:
Year End Retreat with Shelly Graf & Mark Nunberg
Monday evening, December 26th – mid-day Saturday, December 31st
In-person at Common Ground in Minneapolis and on Zoom.
Practice Periods:
Practice Period with Robin Major & Pietro Ferrero
5:00pm Thursday, December 15th – 2:00pm Sunday, December 18th
For more upcoming Practice Periods, click here.
In addition to these weekend retreats, we also offer public drop-in groups on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of the month at the retreat center, 6:30-7:45pm. The groups are led by dharma teachers and community leaders. More info about these Wednesday night programs here.
The Practice of Generosity
Continuing in the tradition of Buddhist monasteries in Southeast Asia, all programs at Common Ground are offered free of charge in the spirit of generosity. This offering is possible because of the generosity of people like you—from the Buddha on down to all the people in our community—who contribute their practice, time, and financial resources to support the continuation of the center.
To learn how to support the center and our teachers, visit this page. Let us know if you have any questions.
Current Volunteer Needs
Please contact Robin Major at robin@commongroundmeditation.org if you are interested in any of these volunteer opportunities:
- Snowblowing and Shoveling: ‘Tis snow season! If you would like to help Ollie and Rob keep the sidewalks and parking lot clear, please contact Ollie at: ostocker1@gmail.com. Ollie and Rob will be happy to train you in with the snowblower if you have not used one before.
- Adopt a Cleaning Task for the Common Ground building! Our meditation home is welcoming more traffic these days. If it would feel good for you to pick up a work task and give to the community in this way, please let Robin know a specific time you would like to come in and we can identify a weekly 15-45 minute cleaning task for you to do.
- Website Volunteer: We are hoping to re-do our website in the coming months. If you have experience building websites and are interested in helping with this, please write an email of interest to Robin.
- Plant Pots: We are looking for two large terracotta, ceramic, or nicely made resin pots for plants at the retreat center. The pots should be at least 15in in diameter.
Community News
Community Potluck!
Our next Community Potluck will be on Sunday, December 18th from 12:00pm – 1:30pm. If you’d like to help out during the event, you can sign up for a volunteer slot here.
An Evening of Kirtan (Sacred Chanting)
January 7th | 7:30pm – 9:00pm
In-person only
Join Temple of Light for an evening of kirtan. Kirtan is from the Bhakti yoga tradition. It is sacred chanting of mantras and the names of the divine set to music. For many it leads into deep blissful states.
Calendar Page Captchas
If you have been experiencing difficulty opening the calendar page, you are not alone! We are working to update our calendar page and hopefully will have it fixed soon. Accessing the calendar through Google Chrome, or another non-Safari platform, works best.
Upcoming Community Group Meetings
View public calendar for Zoom links and more information.
- Be Queer Now, weekly on Wednesday, 7:30-9:00pm
- Community Group for Organizers & Social Justice Activists, Thursday December 8th, 6:00-7:30pm
- Buddhism and Other Religions Book Group, Saturday, December 10th, 9:00 a.m.
- Retirement Group, Thursday, December 15th, 12:00
- Black, Indigenous, People of Color Community Group, Thursday December 15th, 6:30-8:00pm
- Mindfulness & Depression, Sunday, December 18th, 4:00-5:30pm
To see the complete list of community groups, click here.
Weekly Tejaniya
First of All, Take Care of Your Mind
Take care of your mind
first; only then can you
take care of others.
Thanks to The Daily Tejaniya for this quote
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