Mindful New Year’s Eve Gathering
with Jon Aaron, Brian Simmons, Lani Miller and Upayadhi (Savanna) Luraschi as ‘Chant Leader’
Tuesday, December 31st, 2019 | 8:00pm – 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, program begins at 9:00pm. Teacher lineup in development.
Registration:
Please register at the highest level that your generosity offers.
Explanations of levels follow below.
If you are registering via a mobile device such as a phone or tablet, you can scroll right and left and up and down within the form if it is partially obscured or cut off. Please contact registration@nyimc.org if you need assistance.
Registration Fees
New York Insight Meditation Center has streamlined the registration fee levels. Members of our Circle of Friends are eligible to receive 20% off of the Sustaining Rate via a code provided in the email confirming membership, which you can enter after clicking the Sustaining Level registration.
*Benefactor Level: Supports NYI’s ability to offer the Subsidized Base.
**Sustaining Level: This level reflects the actual costs to support this program. Circle of Friends members eligible for 20% discount with code. Click here to join.
***Subsidized Base: Made possible by the generosity of Benefactor Level above and other donations to ensure participation by those requiring financial assistance.
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.
If you are unable to pay the Subsidized Base Fee, you can learn about volunteering to offer work exchange and letting us know how much you are able to pay for this program by emailing registration@nyimc.org.
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
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
Upayadhi (Savanna Jo) Luraschi
Upayadhi (Savanna Jo) Luraschi discovered meditation in 2004, living in London and coming across the London Buddhist Center in Bethnal Green. She immediately started sitting meditation retreats several times a year, a commitment that endures. Her explorations have brought her to study with a variety of teachers in several contexts in Europe and the US. After having herself experienced the benefits of an 8-week MBSR cycle in 2009, Upayadhi trained to become a qualified MBSR teacher with the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. She is in the process of pursuing full MBSR certification, and is particularly interested in mitigating the individual and collective cost of stress and burnout of working professionals. She has more than 20 years of business experience in four different countries (USA/UK/France/India), both in the Luxury and Consumer Electronics industries. More recently, she has been training as a coach, and is pursuing a Masters of Divinity at Union Theological Seminary, with a concentration in Buddhist studies. Upayadhi was ordained into the Triratna Buddhist Order in 2018. Born in France, she speaks both French and English fluently.