Launch of the Sacred Earth Sangha
with Jon Aaron
Monday, July 8th, 2019 | 7:00pm – 9:00pm
As promised at our Climate Crisis Community Meeting last month, NYI is relaunching the Eco Sangha as the new “Sacred Earth Sangha.” We are planning monthly evening gatherings co-led by rotating NYI teachers, Sebene Selassie, Lin Gordon, and Jon Aaron. This first meeting will be led by Jon Aaron. We invite all of our Dharma friends to come together as a community and create a this new sangha around deep practice and conscious engagement of the challenges of this global emergency.
Please join us for an evening with Jon Aaron of teaching, meditation, and discussion as we embark on this journey together. The teachers are in the process of putting together a curriculum and format for this sangha that best supports your individual and collective practices and we’d like your input at this first meeting.
In her recent manifesto, Declare Climate Emergency Now, teacher Thanissara offers some guiding principles around this work for our consideration:
With climate breakdown, we determine to shake off the spell of individualism and fabricated division. Instead, we work together to create new ways of being on this Earth that are collaborative, mutually supportive, empathetic, and authentic. Together, we can take courage and move through the fear of speaking out, of breaking rank, and of being disparaged. We speak up and out. We encourage ourselves and others to be mindful of our personal and communal carbon use. Together we commit to becoming more conscious. Together we are powerful.
This event has no pre-registration, $15 suggested donation.
Teacher(s)
Jon Aaron
Jon Aaron is a Dharma and mindfulness teacher based in New York and Chicago. Since 2006, he has taught at the New York Insight Meditation Center, offering Dharma and MBSR classes. He regularly leads retreats around the U.S. He is primarily grounded in the Theravāda tradition, alongside non-dual and Mahayana approaches. His teaching emphasizes integrating Dharma and mindfulness into daily life to foster clarity in addressing personal and social challenges. His teachers include Matthew Flickstein and, more recently, Kittisaro and Thanissara through their Dharmapala program. Jon also studied contemplative care at the Zen Center for Contemplative Care and completed the Integrated Study and Practice program at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies. He is a certified MBSR teacher and teacher trainer and a Somatic Experience Practitioner®. In response to the pandemic, he and his partner, Upayadhi, launched the Space2Meditate community, offering daily meditation since March 2020. Additionally, he co-hosts the podcast Diggin’ the Dharma with scholar Doug Smith, now in its third season. JonAaron.net