RISE-Refuge & Inspiration Sangha for Educators
2025-11-02 12:00 - 13:30 (America/New_York)
Our journey continues of exploring how to heal our own hearts and the heart of democracy- we cultivate Habits of the Heart, find Refuge and Inspiration for ourselves in beloved company of fellow teachers/educators, and explore ways to take these practices to enrich the lives of others within the communities we serve.
This session is from 12 – 1:30 pm ET

Awakening Together Sangha
2025-11-02 19:00 - 20:30
At this gathering we will have the opportunity to imagine together what an awakened and mindful world would be and act like. All are welcome. Karyn will be our host.
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Mentor-led Session | Emily Horn
2025-11-04 11:00 - 12:15
Led by MMTCP Mentors, these sessions offer a place for you to bring any and all of your teaching and practice questions and to be in sangha with alumni peers. In each session, mentors will offer a short talk and then offer guidance and wisdom for whatever is coming up for you – much like we had in peer groups. These sessions have been so rich and supportive that this year we are offering them twice a month and alternating times so our peers around the world can join more often.

This session will be led by Emily Horn and is from 11 am – 12:15 pm ET; the Zoom link is here

More About Emily

Emily Horn is a Certified Mindfulness Teacher via the International Mindfulness Teachers Association. She is also authorized to teach meditation, dharma, and long retreats by Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Insight Meditation Society, and InsightLA.

Emily has been called a “power player of the mindfulness movement” by Wired magazine. Her work is featured in Ten Percent Happier, Boston Children’s Hospital’s Comfort Ability Project, Buddhist Geeks, and apps such as Brightmind and Buddhify. She’s also been mentoring mindfulness teachers with MMTCP led by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach for over five years.

For her, a mindful life is simply learning to dance with all of this human experience: from transcendence to dirty dishes, evolutionary edges to ancient roots, solitary practice to deepening relationships. She lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina with her husband, Vincent, and son, Zander. Learn more about Emily here

White Awareness Sangha
2025-11-06 13:00 - 14:00, 2025-12-04 13:00 - 14:00
First of all, we welcome 2025 graduates to our on-going sangha. We began during our training in 2021 and continued into the alumni association. Some members are not part of the alumni association and they are welcome to join.
Our next meeting will be on the first Thursday of the month at 1:00 PM ET which is our normal time.
The zoom will come in an email a day or two before the event..
Metta,
Jerome
415-299-0428

Jerome Freedman, Ph. D., C.M.T, O. I.
jerome@mountainsangha.org
http://mountainsangha.org

MCMT - Carry Your Vision Forward®: Clearing Away the Static
2025-11-08 12:00 - 13:30
Surprisingly, an authentic vision or aspiration rarely shows up as a fully formed blueprint. Instead, it often comes as what I call a “vision seed”—a small yet powerful spark that holds within it the potential for everything that wants to unfold. In this session, we’ll begin to clear away the static that clouds your clarity and open space for your true vision to take shape.
Please join me with cameras on (if possible) as we engage in an experiential/relational session. Paper and pen are recommended for journaling.

Asia Sangha
2025-11-09 10:00 - 11:30, 2025-12-14 10:00 - 11:30
Monthly Online Meetup. Second Sunday of every month For anyone from, living in, connected to and / or interested in Asian cultural context of practice

Mindful Journaling
2025-11-09 11:30 - 12:30
Mindful Journaling lets you discover your deeper thoughts, create your world, process your feelings or simply pay with words. Everyone welcome.

Disability Affinity Sangha
2025-11-11 14:30 - 16:00, 2025-12-09 14:30 - 16:00
We meet the 2nd Tuesday of every month from 2:30-4pm ET. We are an affinity group that is open to alumni who have a disability, including a chronic medical condition. Prior to attending your first group, please read our sangha page. Here’s the zoom link: https://cuboulder.zoom.us/j/94776947948

MMTCP Connect 2025 - Annual all-alumni gathering (virtual)
2025-11-15 - 2025-11-16
MMTCP Connect 2025: One Heart, Many Voices – our second annual all-alumni gathering (virtual) will be a weekend full of inspiration and community. More details coming soon!

When:
November 15 from 11 am – 3 pm ET
November 15 from 5:30 – 9:30 /10 pm ET
November 16 from 10:30 am – 4 pm ET

We are finalizing topics with the speakers and additional session details and will share that soon. Sessions are spread out throughout the weekend to allow peers in the Asia/Pacific region to join us live.

Some highlights:

James Baraz – 11/15 at 11 am ET

Kaira Jewel Lingo – 11/15 at 1:30 pm ET

Jack Kornfield – 11/15 at 5:30 pm ET

Bhikkhu Bodhi – keynote address 11/15 at 7:00 pm ET

Tara Brach – 11/16 at 11:30 am ET

We will also have other speakers and feature an alumni panel, our fabulous sangha leaders. and fun being-in-community sessions to get to know each other.

Check the MMTCP Connect 2025 tab on our homepage for the most current information.

We look forward to seeing you!

Mentor-led Session | Imee Contreras
2025-11-18 19:00 - 20:15
Led by MMTCP Mentors, these sessions offer a place for you to bring any and all of your teaching and practice questions and to be in sangha with alumni peers. In each session, mentors will offer a short talk and then offer guidance and wisdom for whatever is coming up for you – much like we had in peer groups.

This session will be led by Imee Contreras and is and is from 7 – 8:15 pm ET; the Zoom link is here

More about Imee Contreras
Imee first discovered meditation over thirty years ago, at 16 years old, around the time when she faced one of the most impactful crossroads in her life. She spent a large part of her younger years growing up in the United States and is now based in her motherland; the Philippines. After decades of searching, she discovered a true sense of belonging in nature, motherhood, yoga therapy, meditation practice and the Dharma.
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She mentors with a unique blend of traditional yet progressive, Eastern yet Western, and gentle yet firm approach. She works in Buddhist, secular, and cross-cultural settings that intertwine harmoniously within the mindfulness field. She believes that everything belongs when exploring one’s own mind and heart. Hence, it takes courageous and compassionate enthusiasm to meet ourselves fully. She loves engaging in relaxed, meaningful conversations that build relationship and cultivate connection.

She’s a mom to two boys whom she aspires to raise as respectful, kind, and dignified human beings. She loves dancing to live music, nature hikes and campfires, and soaking in warm ocean waters. She’s a health and wellness advocate, an organic gardener, and a yoga therapist.
Learn more about Imee and her offerings here

Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness Teachers Sangha
2025-11-18 21:00 - 22:00, 2025-12-16 21:00 - 22:00
Please join us for an hour to explore and share the ways in which we show up in the world as trauma sensitive mindfulness teachers. This meeting will be held monthly on the 3rd Tuesday of the month from 9-10pm Eastern. Here is the Zoom link; you can also use the following credentials:Meeting ID: 811 4289 6909Passcode: [REDACTED]

Plant-based Foods Exploration
2025-11-20 21:00 - 22:00, 2025-12-18 21:00 - 22:00
Monthly gathering the 3rd Thursdays at 7 pm EST to discuss individual plant-based journeys, along with teaching about plant-based lifestyles.

Mindfulness and Nonviolent Communication
2025-11-21 13:00 - 14:30, 2025-12-19 13:00 - 14:30
Meeting time is 1 pm ET. Please note that in November and December we will be meeting on the 3rd Friday of the month, which is different than our typical 4th Friday schedule.

Grief Workshop | Lama Rod Owens
2025-11-22 12:00 - 15:00
Grief can take many forms and is a response to many types of losses; grief also shows up in many areas of our lives – personal, collective, political, social, etc. We are living in intense times and tending to our own grief and helping those we work with can feel overwhelming. Lama Rod will guide us in our capacity to notice, allow, hold and experience our grief so that we can find our way of it skillfully. This workshop will also help build our capacity to support others through their grief journey with tools and practices we can utilize.

This session is from 12 – 3 pm ET; the Zoom link is here

In March 2025, Lama Rod led us in a session on Peace and Healing in a Divided World. A recording of this is available under Events–>Recordings of Past Events

More about Lama Rod Owens

Lama Rod Owens is an international influencer with a Master of Divinity degree in Buddhist Studies from Harvard Divinity School with a focus on the intersection of social change, identity, and spiritual practice. Author of The New Saints: From Broken Hearts to Spiritual Warriors and Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation through Anger and co-author of Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love and Liberation, his teachings center on freedom, self-expression, and radical self-care. Highly sought after for talks, retreats, and workshops, his mission is showing you how to heal and free yourself. Learn more about Lama Rod and his offerings here.

LGBTQIA+ November Sangha!
2025-11-24 20:00 - 21:00
Join us in gratitude on Monday, November 24th at 8PM ET for a session led by 2025 cohort member, David Castonguay-Boisvert. We will gather in this Zoom room:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81193401080?pwd=[REDACTED]

Hope to see you for some or all of the session as our year winds down!

Mindful in Nature
2025-11-26 19:00 - 20:00
Monthly Mindful in Nature Sangha meeting. This session will be lead by Philip and is from 7 – 8 pm ET

We look forward to seeing you!

Mentor-led Session | Rio Ellett
2025-12-02 11:00 - 12:15
Led by MMTCP Mentors, these sessions offer a place for you to bring any and all of your teaching and practice questions and to be in sangha with alumni peers. In each session, mentors will offer a short talk and then offer guidance and wisdom for whatever is coming up for you – much like we had in peer groups.

This session will be led by Rio Ellett and is from 11 am – 12:15 pm ET; the Zoom link is here
More About Rio
Rio Ellett (they/them) has been practicing meditation since their teens, studying with the sanghas of Thich Nhat Hanh, Spirit Rock Meditation Center, and Insight Meditation Society during years of intensive retreat practice. They began teaching meditation to young adults and environmental activists in 2013, and have since facilitated several sitting groups in Europe, including LGBTQIA+ sanghas. In 2014, they were ordained into Thich Nhat Hanh’s Order of Interbeing. They’ve been a MMTCP Mentor since 2021.
Influenced by their own experiences of disability (cystic fibrosis), trauma, and queerness, Rio is passionate about making dharma teachings accessible and welcoming to those with non-normative experiences, as well as creating safe(r) spaces. Their teaching style emphasizes easefulness, acceptance, and simplicity, as well as the practice of sangha and community building. They have roots in New Zealand and Germany and will offer groups in English and German.
Rio is a parent since 2022 and is finding parenthood to be the most challenging and transformative practice as of yet. They love tending their garden, traveling, being in the forest, and not taking themselves too seriously.

Brahmaviharas Sangha
2025-12-03 12:00 - 13:30
RSVP! Pls note: new date. Pls plan to stay for the entire session. We’ll be writing and exploring Equanimity! Zoom link below! Check out my newest Blog & pics!
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Linda HIRSCH is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Linda HIRSCH’s Zoom Meeting
Time: Dec 3, 2025 12:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82871026418?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 828 7102 6418
Passcode: [REDACTED]
—

RISE-Refuge and Inspiration Sangha for teachers/Educators
2025-12-03 19:00 - 20:30
in beloved community of fellow like- minded/hearted teachers/educators, we cultivate Habits of the Heart, find Refuge and Inspiration for ourselves, and explore ways to take these practices to enrich the lives of others within the communities we serve. (part of a fall series of Healing the Heart of Democracy (and our own hearts!) All welcome!

Mindful Journaling, Mindful Writing
2025-12-07 11:30 - 12:30
“It’s a wrap”, 2025 that is”.
We will meet the first Sunday in December instead of the second this month.
“It’s a wrap”, 2025 that is. Let’s begin to close the year in writing.
Mindful Journaling lets you discover your deeper thoughts, create your world, process your feelings or simply pay with words.
We will be mindful and journal-ful again together on Sunday, December 7, at 11:30am/EST.
You are welcome as a dedicated journal-er and as a new journal-er.
Feel free to email if you wonder about this Sangha: audreybloom@bellsouth.net
Audrey
Next Meeting: Sunday, December 7, at 11:30AM/EST.
Join Zoom Meeting;
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89079623957?pwd=[REDACTED]

Awakening Together Sangha
2025-12-07 19:00 - 20:30
Monthly gathering with Jerome hosting. Please join us as we explore awakening together. Zoom Sangha Link

Mentor-led Session | Carole Melkonian
2025-12-16 19:00 - 20:15
Led by MMTCP Mentors, these sessions offer a place for you to bring any and all of your teaching and practice questions and to be in sangha with alumni peers. In each session, mentors will offer a short talk and then offer guidance and wisdom for whatever is coming up for you – much like we had in peer groups.

This session will be led by Carole Melkonian and is from 7:00 – 8:15 pm ET; the Zoom link is here

More About Carole
Carole Melkonian has been practicing meditation for decades. In 1980, she spent 4 years in residence at Zen Mountain Monastery under the guidance of John Daido Loori and then 12 years studying closely with Thich Nhat Hanh, helping start his publishing company, Parallax Press. She has attended many three-month Winter Retreats at Chithurst and Amaravati monasteries and dedicated all of 2015 to practice meditation at monasteries in England and America.
She draws inspiration most deeply from the nuns and monks in the Forest Tradition of Luang Por Chah and is especially drawn to the teachings of Ajahn Sucitto and former nun Willa Thaniya Reid, with whom she continues to study.

In her meditation practice, she emphasizes embodiment, metta/loving friendliness, and energy-based body work (qi gong and yoga). To the ebbs and flows of daily life, she directly applies the liberating teachings of the Buddha. She encourages bringing faith, curiosity and kindness to meditation practice and life. She lives with her partner Thomas in Portland, Oregon.

LGBTQIA+ December '25 Gathering
2025-12-22 20:00 - 21:00
Let’s close out this year with some gratitude! Join us for our final sangha gathering of 2025 as we hold space for the theme of “Remembering Gratitude: A way to see clearly in troubling times.” Rita will guide us on Monday, Dec. 22, 2025 from 8-9 PM ET in this Zoom room: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/4049152340 Hope to see you there!

RISE: Refuge/Inspiration and Habits of the Heart
2026-01-04 12:00 - 13:30
Winter/spring series of monthly sessions on how Mindfulness can serve to heal our own hearts and the Heart of Democracy. We explore how Habits of the Heart can serve to ground, inspire and resource ourselves so that we can best contribute and serve our communities and world.
We will kick off the new year with a session on Sunday, Jan. 4 from 12 – 1:30 pm ET
The Zoom link is here – https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6770705919
