Celebrating 6 Months of Meditate Together!

Almost 6 months have gone by and I am so grateful for the ongoing learning which started in these Zoom rooms. I couldn’t have anticipated the extent to which these strangers would transform my life. While my friends and colleagues were suffering from isolation and boredom, I was being challenged to be 100% present for the sake of others. I experimented letting go of myself. It was never about me. It was about being there for others. I had to give my time, and definitely received back much more than what I had given. I experimented with neither having control over technology, nor whom I would meet. Never knew what would come out of these interactions. I only had control over my own emotions (if I can dare say so), and these, always set the pace to what came after. These encounters apart from opening my heart, provided peace and a place for people to “be”. 

The George Floyd episode was a definite threshold. People came in thriving for a pause. Emotions were stirred up, the sense of unity, and the planet crying. Compassion and pain were all over the place. The unheard voices were making themselves heard, and a room with no faces and no voices had given place to emotions, opinions and sorrow. People were very sensitive, each person with their own perspective, and suddenly what would have been news on TV was a real experience recently integrated into my own soul. In silence, I cried and mourned together with them. I grew. I expanded my worldview. I wished for a fairer world, I wondered if others would also change. I learned that even though I was empathic, the fact that I had been shaped by systems of privilege and oppression revealed that I still had to cover miles ahead of me. Gosh, how much these people have taught me! 

- Suzy 

I joined Meditate Together six months ago as a volunteer facilitator because I knew I and many others would need an oasis and a safe space during the pandemic, and I wanted to feel useful in a time when many of my own projects and plans were stopped in their tracks. As a long-time mindfulness meditation practitioner, I've learned how it can help me feel grounded in the midst of difficulty, uncertainty, fear and sadness, and I had a strong feeling that if more of us could do this together we'd feel less alone and more connected. I've gotten so much out of the experience of being a volunteer facilitator. My responsibility to show up for our session on the regular has kept me meditating more regularly and it's become an anchor in my day.  The two volunteer teams I've been working with since April have become colleagues and co-curators of our safe space, and that's been rich and meaningful for me.  Being present with whoever shows up in our session, from all over the world, does make me feel useful and connected, and I'm constantly moved by the energy of the group and the commitment to connectivity and compassion we experience together. It fosters hope for our collective future and reminds me that we are better together.