New Year’s Eve Gathering
Monday, December 31, 2018 | 9:00pm – 12:30am
Join us in reflection and celebration as we come together, in compassionate community, to welcome the New Year. We’ll enjoy periods of silent meditation, as well as music, poetry, small group discussions and an intention setting ceremony, with opportunities to both honor the year that has passed and to prepare our hearts and hands to engage in the world that is beginning anew. The evening is sure to be joyful, bright and nourishing for all those seeking a spirited sanctuary in this challenging time. Doors open at 8:00pm.
Note About Registration:
If you have questions about your registration (cancellation policy, membership discount, email confirmation, etc.), please read our FAQs. If your question is not addressed in the FAQs, please email registration@nyimc.org.
New York Insight Meditation Center is offering a new structure for registration. Members receive 15% off of the Sustaining Rate via a code provided in the membership email confirmation.
NYI is committed to ensuring that our programs are available to all, regardless of ability to pay. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. No financial assistance application is needed when registering for a program.
We offer new sliding scale fees, and ask that you choose the highest fee you are able to afford based on your financial means. The Sustaining rate represents the actual program operating cost. If you can afford this level or higher, you assist our efforts to offer reduced rates and support ongoing financial assistance. If you are unable to pay the Base Fee, you can set up a payment plan or let us know how much you are able to pay at this time by emailing registration@nyimc.org.
For more information about our generosity policy and the sliding scale fee structure, please click here.
Teacher(s)
Brian Simmons
Brian Simmons is a longtime teacher at New York Insight. He is a former award-winning Writer/Producer for Comedy Central and is currently a District Level administrator for a Westchester School District. Brian has pioneered the use of mindfulness in diverse educational environments, and published a chapter on Mindfulness in a college textbook on lowering school violence from Springer Publications in 2023. Brian has maintained an intensive daily practice since the 1990’s and completed teacher trainings at the Center for Mindfulness at UMASS Medical College as well as the Community Dharma Leaders program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California. Brian’s mindfulness work in education has been featured in a documentary on Audible, a NY Times cover story and various other outlets.
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
karen g. williams
karen g. williams, Ph.D. (she/her) is on New York Insight’s Teachers Council and the board of Insight Meditation Society. She also co-chairs the Diversity, Equity and Liberation committee at New York Insight. In 2017 she graduated from the joint Insight Meditation Society and Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leader Training Program; and since then she has taught around the NYC metropolitan area, primarily in communities of color and in the LGBTQI community. karen is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Guttman Community College. Her research focuses on the carceral state and the aftermath of mass incarceration. Specifically, her scholarship examines how the institutionalization of evidence-based practices has ushered in a new wave of governance, one that synthesizes punitive power with systems of care within prisons. She brings mindfulness and meditative practices to her research and teaching to build compassionate engagement and to recognize the interconnectedness of all things. When karen is not writing or teaching, she can be found knitting or inhabiting her alter ego, “BackAlley Dred” (ohh, dare we talk about egos) who coaches junior roller derby.
Lani Miller
Lani Miller has been practicing Insight Meditation since 1976. She is a graduate of the third Community Dharma Leaders Program. Lani is also a graduate of the MMTCP – “Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program” and “The Mindful Mentor Training Program.”
As a teacher, Lani values the opportunity to be a “channel” for supporting individuals and groups to find and explore spiritual truth through their own present moment experience. As part of this, she feels honored to introduce beginning meditators to meditation.
Lani is also a Singer/ Songwriter who is interested in how music and other creative arts can be a vehicle for sharing spiritual truths and values.
“You must have shadow and light source both. Listen, and lay your head under the tree of awe.” Rumi
Sandra Weinberg
Sandra Weinberg is a co-founder and member of the Board of Directors of NYI. She has studied the Dharma and practiced mindfulness meditation for over 30 years and is a graduate of the first Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leaders Program. She is a psychotherapist in private practice in New York City.
“Things are not what they appear to be: nor are they otherwise.” Surangama Sutra