About Meditation
Everyone is welcome.
Regular Sittings
Wednesday evening at 6pm.
20-30 minute Vipassana (insight) or mettā meditation. Instruction available. Check in on what issues we are working with, asking questions and/or other mindfulness activity. Led by Katy Wiss, Nina Nagy, Gina Sharpe, or Richard Smith Check the calendar for teachers or topic if available.
Friday at 1 pm.
30 minute silent meditation 30 minute question period or Dharma talk with discussion. Led by Gina Sharpe or Richard Smith Join our mailing list to receive the zoom link Please log on a bit early to settle in.
Thursday sessions are suspended for summer 2021
20-30 minute Vipassana (insight) or mettā meditation. Instruction available. Check in on what issues we are working with, asking questions and/or other mindfulness activity. Led by Katy Wiss, Nina Nagy, Gina Sharpe, or Richard Smith Check the calendar for teachers or topic if available.
Sunday Mornings
30 minute silent meditation 30 minute question period or Dharma talk with discussion. Led by Gina Sharpe or Richard Smith Join our mailing list to receive the zoom link Please log on a bit early to settle in.
Our Teachers
Generosity - Dāna
All teachings are offered on a dāna basis: they are freely offered. The gift of the dharma is one of the greatest gifts of all. Generosity is the currency of life. If you are so moved, you are invited to make an offering for the teachings. The practice of giving is a chance to become aware of the feeling of generosity in your life and to recognize the joy that grows in you when you give.
Calendar
History and Tradition
Westchester Insight Meditation Community (WIMC) began in 1995 when Gina Sharpe started a Thursday evening community meditation group in Katonah, New York with her beloved husband, John Fowle, now deceased. Gina is our Founding and Guiding Teachers trained jointly by Spirit Rock Meditation Center and the Insight Meditation Society in the Theravāda Buddhist tradition. Over time, our community has grown to include a variety of teachings and offerings for beginning to experienced students and practitioners, including weekly sittings, bi-monthly sittings, kalyāṇa mitta (spiritual friend) groups, and daylong silent retreats. In 2016, we formed a Social Justice Group to deepen our contribution to the transformation of oppressive social systems through personal and collective growth, understanding, and illumined activity. Several members of our community have been trained by Spirit Rock Meditation Center as Community Dharma Leaders and offer the teachings on a regular basis.
Our offerings come from an “insight,” “mindfulness,” or “vipassana” perspective and are rooted in the practices of Buddhist meditation of Southeastern Asia. Also known as Theravāda Buddhism, the teachings of the Elders, this form of meditation focuses on insight that arises from a meditator’s actual experience as the true nature of reality is exposed. The practice also focuses on cultivating moral behavior, walking the middle path, and preserving the Buddha’s teachings.
Message Board
Support each other’s practice, join a Kalyanna Mitta group, more. Password can be obtained at class.
Community Events
On hiatus during COVID
Weather Cancellation policy
all meetings on Zoom under further notice. See schedule Above.
Lee and the teachers try to make judicious calls on whether and when to cancel. If we need to cancel, we try to do it early—usually by 4 pm. Obviously, this is not always possible.
We trust that each and every week you will take your safety and that of others into account first, before venturing out during hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages, torrential rain, lightning, flooding, extreme heat, earthquakes and snow storms–regardless of whether there is a scheduled sitting or not.
We come from many directions and long distances–each with its own weather. So you may not even think there is a weather-related issue because it is sunny and clear where you are.
On days when the weather is iffy, please check for an email from us before heading out. When possible, we also post cancellations on Facebook (under Westchester Insight Meditation Community) and our Google Calendar above.
Please let us know if you have any other thoughts or concerns on this topic.
Thank you for your understanding and patience.