A clas­sic hand mudra dur­ing med­i­ta­tion closes the energy circuits

There are scores of places where you can dip into med­i­ta­tion in a shared envi­ron­ment — churches, reli­gious com­mu­ni­ties, yoga stu­dios, self-​​help groups, etc. A list could stretch out for screen after screen. Here I am just going to list a few links here.

You can also check out the blog Cap­i­tal Dharma, which started up fairly recently and, hope­fully, will be around for a while.

• Insight Med­i­ta­tion Com­mu­nity of Wash­ing­ton (IMCW) for Vipas­sana med­i­ta­tion with Tara Brach. This group has meet­ings all around the DC area. Con­sult the web site for specifics and the  archive of Tara Brach’s weekly Dharma talks, which are extra­or­di­nary vis­tas into the human soul and med­i­ta­tive prac­tice.  Jonathan Foust, Hugh Byrne and Tara Brach. Also note that IMCW has sit­ting and neigh­bor­hood groups, men­tor­ing, classes, work­shops and retreats across the DC area so there are many options to choose from.
• Shamb­hala – DC – affil­i­ated with Shamb­hala Inter­na­tional, a world­wide net­work of urban med­i­ta­tion and retreat cen­ters. Shamb­hala was founded by Tibetan med­i­ta­tion mas­ter and scholar Vidyad­hara Chö­gyam Trungpa Rinpoche.
• Med­i­ta­tion in DC Vajrayo­gini Bud­dhist Cen­ter offers the path of Kadampa Buddhism.
• The Mind­ful­ness Cen­ter (Bethesda) offers a full range of well­ness and heal­ing ser­vices, as well as med­i­ta­tion class. Dr. Debor­rah Nor­ris leads a fam­ily business.
• Still Water Mind­ful­ness Prac­tice Cen­ter is in the tra­di­tion of Viet­namese Zen Mas­ter Thich Nhat Hanh. It has activ­i­ties in Sil­ver Spring, Takoma Park, and Colum­bia, Mary­land, and Chevy Chase, DC.
• Vajrayo­gini Bud­dhist Cen­ter fol­lows the Kadampa Bud­dhist tra­di­tion.
• The Inter­na­tional Bud­dhist Center
• Visit Your­self is a ser­vice for the work­place.  Klia Bass­ing, a IMCW mem­ber, leads ses­sions at the World Bank.
• Mind­ful­ness Train­ing Insti­tute of Wash­ing­ton:  Train­ing hearts and minds to reach their full poten­tial. IMCW mem­bers lead mindfulness-​​based stress reduc­tion (MBSR) lessons.