MMTCP

Mentor-led Session | Rio Ellett
2025-12-02 11:00 - 12:15 (America/New_York)
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!
——
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!

White Awareness Sangha
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

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

Disability Affinity Sangha
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

Asia Sangha
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

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.

Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness Teachers Sangha
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
2025-12-18 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
2025-12-19 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.

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

MCMT Sangha: Opening to New Possibility - A New Year Practice
2026-01-10 12:00 - 13:30
Opening to New Possibility: A New Year Practice offers a gentle, spacious pause at the beginning of the year—an opportunity to slow down, listen inwardly, and reconnect with what matters most beneath habit, pressure, and expectation. Drawing from Buddhist teachings, accessible insights from neuroscience, and a deeply guided, trauma-sensitive meditation practice, this 90-minute live gathering invites participants to meet their experience with awareness and compassion, creating conditions for clarity and fresh possibility to emerge in their own time. Through reflection and shared inquiry, we’ll explore how listening itself becomes a doorway to wisdom, steadiness, and a more grounded way of meeting the year ahead.
Please join with your camera ON, if at all possible, and bring paper and pen for journaling.
Hope you can join us!

MINDFUL WRITING
2026-01-11 11:30 - 12:30
Mindful Journaling lets you discover your deeper thoughts, create your world, process your feelings or simply play with words. Everyone welcome.
We will be mindful and journal-ful together this new year on Sunday, January, at 11th at 11:30am/EST.
You are welcome as a dedicated writer or as a new journal-er.
Feel free to email if you wonder about this Sangha: audreybloom@bellsouth.net

Mentor-led Session | Rio Ellett
2026-01-13 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 (rescheduled from December 2); 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.

LGBTQIA+ Sangha
2026-01-22 20:00 - 21:00
Happy New Year dear Sangha! We kick off our first gathering of the year on Thursday, January 22nd from 8PM ET-9PM ET. Alyssa will guide us on the theme, “Making Space: What are you inviting in for 2026?” Come join us with a word, a theme, or a phrase about what you’re calling in for the near future. Join us in the Zoom room for all or part of the session:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81193401080?pwd=[REDACTED]

Hope to see you there!

Mindful Nonviolent Communication
2026-01-23 13:00 - 14:30
Happy New Year, Sangha! Please join us for our first 2026 monthly meeting with guest facilitator, Sunil Joseph. Sunil will present on how to use NVC to transform shame into remorse with the power of empathy.
——
“If you put shame in a Petri dish, it needs three things to grow exponentially: secrecy, silence, and judgment. If you put the same amount of shame in a petri dish and douse it with empathy, it can’t survive.” — Brené Brown
——
Join us in using our practice to bring light to corners too long in the dark…

Mentor-led Session | Deb Kerr
2026-01-27 19:00 - 20:30
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, lead a reflective or practice exercise and then offer guidance and wisdom for any questions you have – much like we had in peer groups. This session is from 7 – 8:30 pm ET and will be led by Deb Kerr; Zoom link is here.

Please note: these sessions are not recorded. Now more than ever we need to be in community and though we can’t be together in person, please join us live for this valuable sangha.

more about Deb Kerr
Debra Kerr (she/her) identifies as a cisgender heterosexual white woman living with a disability. She is a partner, mother, grandmother, and retired speech pathologist who has meditated since 1991 and taught since 2002. Deb loves being in nature, community building, scuba diving, juggling, music, and humor. A graduate of Spirit Rock’s Community Dharma Leaders Program, Deb is a Core Teacher at East Bay Meditation Center, where she also guides the Every Body Every Mind Sangha for people with disabilities and chronic illnesses. Her meditation practice is influenced by both Theravada and Dzogchen teachings. Deb is dedicated to waking up as much as possible, and to using the tools of Buddhist practice to dismantle racism and other forms of oppression and exclusion. She loves maximizing well-being and human potential through the practices of lovingkindness, compassion, and wisdom.

Brahmaviharas -
2026-01-28 12:00 - 13:30
– I wish you, your families and friends wellbeing, inspiration and peace of mind throughout and beyond 2026. May our sangha bring us together more often in meaningful exchanges of insight, resources, ways to embrace and teach the 4 Divine Abodes.
– I would like to sit together on a date and a time that suit more of you. Last Wednesdays, noon-1:30 pm EST are not ideal for those of you who work full-time. I would appreciate your feedback, regarding preferred days and times, going forward.
– Until and unless I hear from those of you are listed as Members of this sangha, I will continue to open my portal on the last Wed./mo., noon-1:30 pm EST. Next session: Wed., January 28th. Rf: Zoom Link below. I am hoping to bring a delightful, unique guest speaker on this date; stay tuned for further details. (image: Aspiration (c) Linda J. Hirsch, 2018/2025. All Rts. Rsvd.)
Happy, Meaningful New Year to All!
Linda (508.202.2923)
Zoom Link:
Linda HIRSCH is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Linda HIRSCH’s Zoom Meeting
Time: Jan 28, 2026 12:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84136844470?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 841 3684 4470
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Mindful in Nature
2026-01-28 19:00 - 20:00
Greetings friends, we look forward to seeing you at this link for mindful in nature sangha!
https://meet.google.com/fmp-yofm-wsg

RISE: Refuge/Inspiration Sangha for teachers/Educators-Habits of the Heart
2026-02-04 19:00 - 20:30
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.
This session is on Wednesday, Feb. 4 from 7:00 – 8:30 pm ET
The Zoom link is here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6770705919

Mindful Writing/Mindful Journaling
2026-02-08 11:30 - 12:30
Mindful Writing/Mindful Journaling is a WHOLE hour to be with your thoughts and your creative imagination. Everyone welcome.
This meeting is from 11;30 am – 12:30 pm ET
Here is the Zoom information:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89079623957?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 890 7962 3957
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Awakening Together Sangha
2026-02-09 13:00 - 14:00
Awakening Together Sangha invites you to spend some time with each other as our unique journeys coalesce together in reverence to the oneness that is at our core. We cultivate our awareness by spending time together sharing experiences and practices that enhance our own understanding as we gather in spiritual friendship.

Mentor-led Session | Genevieve Tregor
2026-02-10 11:00 - 12:30
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, lead a reflective or practice exercise and then offer guidance and wisdom for any questions you have – much like we had in peer groups. We have extended the sessions to allow time for skill-building and/or reflection time with peers.
This session is from 11 am – 12:30 pm ET and will be led by Genevieve Tregor; the Zoom link is here.
Please note: these sessions are not recorded. Now more than ever we need to be in community and though we can’t be together in person, please join us live for this valuable sangha.
More about Genevieve
Genevieve Tregor, MS, a mindfulness instructor and health educator, has been a committed mindfulness practitioner since 2008 with extensive long-term retreat experience. She teaches Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and other mindfulness courses and workshops — with a trauma-informed approach — through Solution Mindfulness, and serves as an adjunct instructor at South Mountain Community College in Phoenix where she teaches Cultural Aspects of Health and Illness. She is founding teacher of Insight Meditation Scottsdale community, SolutionMindfulness.com, and OneWorldMindfulness.com—creating and teaching classes, workshops, and retreats in secular and Buddhist contexts, and teaching alongside senior teachers in the Insight tradition. Learn more Genevieve’s offerings here

MCMT - Bodhicitta and the 5 Dimensions of the Heart
2026-02-14 12:00 - 13:30
Bodhicitta – is developing the awakening heart-mind.
The 5 Dimensions of the Heart is a simple framework that identifies the 5 unique aspects of the heart we all possess but aren’t necessarily aware of as discrete elements.
Facilitator for the February session: Steve Kaplan
You will have a new understanding and appreciation of this amazing organ by the end of the program.

There will be a lively, fun format: meditation, a talk, discussion, and more meditation.
This session is from 12 PM ET to 1:15 PM ET
If possible, we invite you to join the session with your camera on, as it helps support connection and presence in the space. This call will not be recorded.

Metta for Peace
2026-02-15 11:00 - 12:30, 2026-02-15 20:30 - 22:00
These dark, challenging times can fill us with despair and make us feel hopeless, unsure of what to do. But one thing we do know how to do is practice and one practice we know is metta – loving kindness that is directed inward and outward in multiple directions. Directed towards ourselves, metta reminds us of our intention of how we want to be in the world and enhances connection both to ourselves and of belonging to the world. In expanding the practice to include others, we reduce isolation, foster a sense of shared humanity, transform negative emotions, and promote empathy. Metta is a loving, intentional, emotional energy which can counteract hostility, fear, and anger.

On Sunday, February 15, let us pause and collectively put more of this radiant, heart-centered energy out into a world that could use more compassion and light. Wherever you are or whatever your daily practice is, please take time today to do a dedicated metta practice knowing that you will be in the company, and energy field, of other alumni around the world sending the same messages of loving-kindness. Let this be our offering to the world – holding all beings, everywhere, without exception in a field of love, protection, acceptance, and compassion.

You can do this solo on your own schedule; we will also be hosting several opportunities to be together:

Sunday, February 15 from 11 – 12:30 am ET; Zoom link is here
Sunday, February 15 from 8:30 – 10 pm ET; Zoom link is here

We are not alone – either in our pain of the moment or in our love and compassion for all beings. A friend once said to me, ‘hope is not just a feeling, it is something we do” This is something we can do, together.

Here is a pdf with some additional information.
Thank you for your contribution to the well-being of the planet and all beings.

Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness Teachers
2026-02-17 11:00 - 12:00
Facing Trauma in a Changing World
An international TSM sangha

Let’s explore how trauma shows up in our communities online and in person and the skillful means that we need as TSM teachers and/or facilitators to be of help in stormy days.
“Freedom is not given to us by anyone; we have to cultivate it ourselves,” Thich Nhat Hanh.

This sangha provides a grounded and safe space to be present with your peers who share one simple yet profound goal: Peace in every Step (á la Thich Nhat Hanh). Let us reclaim our deep listening and deep seeing into shared humanity. Let us discuss cross cultural sensitivities at the junction of trauma and mindfulness. Let us recenter, inquire and clarify what resources may be best to offer to our communities.

May this space be a home base for kindness, curiosity and inspiration amidst the chaos.

We will meet on the 3rd Tuesday of every month @ 11:00 am ET USA, which is

5:00 pm in Warsaw, Poland

6:00 pm in Jerusalem, Israel/Palestine

7:00 pm in Abu Dhabi, Emirates

11:00 am in Washington DC, USA

4:00 pm in London, UK

Please use the conversion app for your time zone, respectively.
