Contemplative Practices & Retreats

Please see event list on this page for the latest offerings.  Some programs are offered via Zoom, in-person, or hybrid.

The Unitarian Universalist Church of Concord supports and offers an array of contemplative practices which includes meditation from several traditions and other offerings such as yoga. Church members and people from the wider community are welcome and encouraged to attend any special programs or ongoing groups.

The Contemplative Practices Group organizes a number of programs each year, including one or more more teacher-led retreat days, a silent retreat day, and our signature silent mindfulness meditation weekend retreat each winter/spring. To get involved with the Contemplative Practices Group, contact Jeanne Ann.

The group’s mission is to align the peace, love and compassion we aspire to find in the outer world with the peace, love, and compassion within each of us by offering a broad array of contemplative practices to the UU and wider communities. Aspirational Guidelines

Upcoming Contemplative Retreats & Courses

Coming up:

  • Happiness is a Muscle: Wisdom and Practices from Positive Psychology, Six week course starting October 13, 11:30 am.
  • New Year’s Self-Directed Meditation Retreat, January 1, 2025
  • Practice for Your Life: Five-session course, beginning January 12, 2025

More information on Upcoming Events

Ongoing Contemplative Groups

The Daily Sit

Every day (that’s right, 7 days a week, 365 days a year) at 7 AM you are invited to join an online group of your friends and fellow congregants for a 30 minute period of silent meditation. A volunteer rings a bell at the beginning and end of the 30 minute period, and everyone else keeps their microphone muted for the entire period. Friendly smiles are exchanged, but silence is maintained, except for the last Friday of each month when the sitting will be shortened to 5 or 10 minutes and then everyone will unmute to chat and catch up.

Anyone with an interest is invited to join, as often or as rarely as you like. All you need to do is to write to Becky in the church office (becky@concorduu.org) and request the link to join the Zoom room. You can come for the whole 30 minutes, or you can drop in late and/or leave early. No meditation instructions are given, so each person guides themselves in their own practice. If you are new to meditation and would like some instruction, you can listen to one of our guided meditations. As long as you keep yourself muted, you can listen to a guided meditation while enjoying the support of the group.  

Please join us. We love to see new faces! 

Thursday Morning Meditation Group

Zoom | Thursdays 7:00-8:00 am ET

All are welcome at this drop-in group facilitated by Jeanne Ann Whittington. This is a chance to connect with others and ground yourself in practice before beginning your day. There is no charge, but several times a year, interested members of the group offer a donation to a local non-profit. The group meets every Thursday on Zoom; if interested in joining please contact Jeanne Ann, or you can simply log on by going to blossomyoganh.com, click on the Schedule tab, and find the Thursday offerings.  Rare cancellations will be posted on that same website.

Second Hour Contemplative Practice (Sept-May)

Second and Third Sundays | Zoom & In-Person | 11:30 am-12:30pm ET

There is a contemplative practice activity offered during Second Hour on the second and third Sundays of each month.

Monday Mindful Yoga Series

First and Third Mondays of each month, 6:00 pm to 7:00pm

Craig Whitson and Susan Casey will lead a 6-session series of Mindful Yoga classes, both in person and online. The series begins September 15. Sign up at uuconcordnh.breezechms.com/form/2024-2025MindfulYogaRegistration.

Taizé Services & Labyrinth Walk

Our monthly Taizé-style services are on the first Sunday of every month (October through April), and we would love to have you join us online or in-person for an hour of meditative singing, a brief reading, a period of extended silence, and candle lights.

Contemplative music will welcome you by 6:50 pm and the service will begin at 7 pm. Masks are optional in the sanctuary. Online you can find the service live streamed at concorduu.org/live. Learn more about Taizé here.

Mindfulness Practice Group Zoom

Meets the Second & Fourth Mondays | 6 – 7:30 pm ET
In-person and Zoom

We are a self-led group of practitioners of mindfulness meditation. We offer an inspiring range of mindfulness activities with some group members voluntarily rotating as facilitators. 4th Mondays is a book talk with no prior reading required as an audio section is played each week. Everyone is welcome to join us, beginners and experienced meditators alike!

This is our group intention: “Grounded in Mindfulness Practices taught in the course Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, we come together in community with the intention to cultivate open-heartedness in a safe, trusting environment and to be friends with and IN the present moment. We encourage you to mindfully experience the wide variety of practices that our member facilitators share.”

For the Zoom link or more info please request it through office@concorduu.org

Community Mindfulness Activities

PLEASE NOTE: These programs are not directly affiliated with the church. The activities described below may be offered live online, as a Zoom gathering, or be on temporary hold to keep everyone safe during the coronavirus outbreak. Please check with the contact person.

East Coast Mindfulness ET

East Coast Mindfulness LLC (ECM), established by Margaret Fletcher and Rebecca Eldridge, provides premier online teaching and training in mindfulness. The mission of ECM is to elevate mindfulness as a force for clear seeing, honesty, liberation, health, and flourishing. All online. Your space. Your time zone. Your life. For more information, please visit: www.eastcoastmindfulness.com/. 

Resources

Aspirational Guidelines for Leaders

Friendly Mind 2.0 Practice Resources

Contemplative Practices Audio Library

Reflections

Worldwide Online Sit with East Coast Mindfulness, free, weekly on Thursdays 12:10-12:50 Eastern:
www.eastcoastmindfulness.com/Programs/Online-Sit/

Mindfulness programs:
www.copperbeechinstitute.org/online-offerings

Mindful poetry:
www.ayearofbeinghere.com/p/mindfulness-poetry.html

Jaya Rudgard
www.jayarudgard.co.uk/retreats

UU Groups

Unitarian Universalist Buddhist Fellowship (UUBF) – Congregational Contact:  Betsy Black.