English Group Practice Online
Weekly Mondays 7:25pm - 9:30pm
"Meditation is not a part-time occupation. It's not a pastime. It's something we need to integrate into our lives so that it is always there. Because the mind is like a zero-sum game. It's either positive or negative." - Sayadaw Tejaniya, Every moment is time to meditate
Welcome to the HKIMS Monday evening English speaking group practice
We are an English speaking group of established meditators who meet every week to listen to dharma talks, learn from established teachers, take part in formal silent self-practice, as well as to share and discuss our direct experiences. We are here to support one another in maintaining the practice, whether you are just beginning or have been to dozens of retreats.
We welcome meditators who already have an established practice, as well as beginners who are new to meditation. If you have never practiced on your own before, please read the notes below.
In line with HKIMS's objectives, this group's primary focus is on practices and teachings relating to Vipassana (Insight) Buddhist Meditation. We welcome practitioners inspired by all Buddhist traditions, as well as non-Buddhists.
Guidelines For Online Zoom Meetings
We offer these sessions to provide a space for experienced meditators and beginners to support one another through active participation and sharing. In order to facilitate this, we ask all attendees to adhere to the following guidelines:-
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Attend on time by 7:25pm, especially if you are new to the group and / or a beginner - this enables the facilitators to give some orientation and introduction before the session commences formally at 7:30pm
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Enable your device camera - this is particularly important if you are relatively new to the group so that we can support and get to know one another better
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Update your screen name, so that people know how to refer to you
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Attend from an environment that is as peaceful and quiet as possible - this is beneficial both to your practice and experience of the session, as it is for other participants
To help enable an open and safe practice environment for all, the host will ensure:-
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Recording functions within the Zoom platform are disabled for all participants
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During the silent meditation practice period (usually from 8:15pm - 9:00pm), a "waiting room" function will be activated to put any new joiners on hold until the end of the practice period.
Overview
The group has 3 key areas of focus:-
Practice
The primary purpose of this group is to provide a space and environment for practicing meditation on a regular weekly basis. We do this as a group of established practitioners, integrating the opportunity to practice each week, as part of our own individual routine practice, paths of discovery, and self-learning.
Learn
In order to support the practice and the path, we also take time to learn from established teachers and from the Buddhist teachings. We do this through listening to recorded dharma talks by established teachers, or through listening to our own HKIMS teachers in person, as well as raising discussion topics with the group on aspects of our learning.
For information on Vipassana Meditation, visit our Resources section for relevant articles for beginners and experienced meditators.
Share
We seek to foster a close community of fellow practitioners, supporting one another through our journey of exploration and development. As part of the evening, we will discuss and explore together spiritual teachings as taught by the Buddha, as well as each of our own direct experiences and challenges with ones own practice.
NOTE FOR COMPLETE BEGINNERS
We welcome complete beginners who have never meditated before, but we are not usually able to provide in-depth teaching - beginners are very welcome to sit in and listen and take part in the evening where possible.
Once a month the group is lead by a HKIMS teacher, who will be able to offer more instruction and guidance for complete beginners. For the other weeks, an experienced member of the group can provide an offline 5 min meditation introduction prior to the silent practice session, with a set of basic meditation guidelines made available to beginners to read and try during the 30-45min silent sit. You should be prepared to sit silently during that period, to read any handouts and to try out the guided meditations provided.
We encourage you to make the effort to read the meditation instructions here before you attend so that you can get the most out of the evening.
We also recommend you explore our website for details of upcoming One-day retreats (led by experienced meditation teachers) as well as other resources and articles for beginners.
Additionally, you may wish to join the Integrated Medicine Institute Monday evening 6:15pm mindfulness beginner's class which is also held online.
Structure and guidelines
We start at 7:25pm on Monday evenings so ask anyone who wishes to join, especially if it is your first time, to make every effort to be on time. This enables us to have some time to do introductions and to better support each other through the session.
Please could you also update your Zoom screen name to your actual name or whatever name we can call you (instead for example “Galaxy Tablet” or “iPhone 6”). Also, please enable your camera and prepared to briefly introduce yourself and say hello at the beginning. By doing both of these things, we can maintain a supportive and interactive environment for the benefit of all.
The typical schedule we follow is:-
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7:25pm Orientation for newcomers and beginners
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7:30pm Listen to recorded Dharma talk, or to HKIMS teacher (attending once per month)
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8:15pm Silent practice
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9:00pm Open sharing and discussion
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9:30pm Finish
To jump straight to details of topics and other links from previous weeks, click here.