Looking to connect with a regular meditation practice? Join us for free, gently guided, early morning meditations every weekday from 7:30-7:50am (EST) on Zoom.
🔹 Specially designed with queer and trans people in mind
🔹 Suitable for beginners and advanced practitioners alike
🔹 Each weekday offers a different form/style of meditation to help us get grounded in the present moment
* Only the facilitator’s microphone is on – all other participants are muted. Feel free to have your camera open or closed depending on whatever feels most comfortable for you.
What to expect?
| Mondays | – 20 minutes of guided affirmations with optional self-administered bilateral tapping techniques (demonstrated and guided) * examples of affirmations we might use: “even though I feel overwhelmed by emotions sometimes, I am learning to let my feelings flow through” * not all statements will resonate with every person, so take what works and leave what doesn’t |
| Tuesdays | – 5 minutes introduction and guidance into the practice of stillness and silence – 10 minutes of total silence, together – 5 minutes of guided centring and grounding to close * capacity for stillness and silence varies widely based on physical (dis)ability, neurodiversity, mental health, and other factors. You are the expert on your own bandwidth and tolerance for either physical stillness or mental quiet. |
| Wednesdays | – 20 minutes of a guided body scan (moving our awareness from the feet, to the head, and back down to the feet again) * this embodiment exercise focuses on feeling/sensing the physical body and is designed to be as accessible as possible to individuals with dysphoria, dysmorphia, and/or disabilities (visible or invisible). That being said, embodiment practices always have the potential to be activating or triggering, and will not be right for everyone. You are the expert when it comes to your own body, so listen to your physical needs and boundaries, and set your own pace |
| Thursdays | – 20 minutes of guided visualization – designed to (re)align your core values, emotions, thoughts, and hopes/dreams using imagination and visualization techniques * not everyone has a visual-spacial imagination, and that’s ok! Some people find visualizations tedious, silly or even uncomfortable, so take what works and leave what doesn’t. |
| Fridays | – 20 minutes of guided preparation for death – first we take about 5 minutes to connect with the signs of aliveness in our bodies, and to remind ourselves of our connection to all living things – then we flow into about 10 minutes of guidance through some preparations for death, continually returning to the phrase: “Everything alive will die; I am alive and I will die” – finally we finish off with about 5 minutes of (re)connecting to our sense of aliveness and how that can connect us to what really matters to us * contemplating mortality is a difficult but ancient spiritual practice that can feel uncomfortable or even overwhelming for some people. We use this form of meditation to ground us in the reality of the natural cycles of life and death. * side note: apart from morning meditation, we highly recommend that people think through and write down your desires for end-of-life care (regardless of age, health, or other factors). This could include: writing/updating your “Final Will and Testament”, registering as an organ donor , outlining what kind of funeral or service of remembrance you might want, or just generally talking with your loved ones about natural process of death and dying. If you’re looking for more resources, please reach out. |
** an anti-racist, anti-oppressive, body positive, trauma-informed, anti-appropriative space
What is an anti-racist space?
All morning meditation sessions that we host are carefully curated and heavily moderated. We acknowledge and resist all forms of racism, white supremacy and colonialism, especially when disguised in language and practice of religious belief or spirituality. See “our commitment to you” below, for the specifics on how we aim to create safer spaces with BIPOC in mind.
If you have suggestions to improve or clarify our anti-racist policy, please reach out.
What is a body positive space?
All bodies are amazing, powerful, and inherently worthy of love. We affirm and celebrate the diversity of human form, size, and shape whenever we engage with our physical bodies in the context of spiritual practice, meditation, or movement. We also take into account the wide range of physical (dis)ability, both visible and invisible, and strive to make our morning meditations as accessible as possible.
If you have any suggestions for increased accessibility, please reach out.
What is a trauma-informed space?
We come from an understanding that trauma affects our whole person (body, mind, and emotions), and that whenever people gather together there is potential for trauma responses to be activated or triggered. Sometimes trauma affects us at the individual level, other trauma is generationally inherited, and some forms of trauma are experienced across entire populations or groups of people.
All trauma responses are natural and valid, and we hold a space that acknowledges that sometimes our nervous systems just can’t handle any more. If for any reason you feel activated or triggered during a morning meditation, we encourage you to do whatever you need in order to take care of yourself.
Check out our resources page for more about what trauma is, how to build resilience practices, ideas on what to do when activated or triggered, or to find therapists who are qualified to help.
What about cultural and spiritual appropriation?
As white, European settlers in Canada, we acknowledge the problematic and harmful trend in many spiritual communities towards cultural and spiritual appropriation. That’s why we’re doing our best to stay in our lane. Whenever we come together, we only share from our own lived experience of spirituality — honouring keepers of wisdom and tradition in their original context. The forms and practices used in morning meditations draw from Pip’s personal practice, which has been informed by (1) universalist, post-christian mysticism, (2) animistic paganism drawing from her own eclectic witchcraft, (3) “western esotericism” via ceremonial magick and (4) contemporary scientific research on techniques to calm the mind and ground the body (like Generative Somatics).
We think this is an important issue, which is why we encourage people to read through this guide and list of resources from the team at Native Governance Centre, Cultural Appropriation and the Wellness Space.
Our commitment to you
As organizers and facilitators we commit to:
(a) stay in our lane by not using iconography, music, clothing, sacred medicines, regalia, or embodiment practices from outside our lived experience, and by ensuring proper compensation for any special guests from outside our religious or spiritual context,
(b) regularly remind the room (in verbal and written form) about cultural and spiritual appropriation, and call individuals in for a private conversation or call out publicly depending on the nature of the situation,
(c) interrupt racism, classism, fat-phobia, misogyny, ableism, transphobia, homophobia, and all other forms of discrimination immediately, and call individuals in for a private conversation or call out publicly depending on the nature of the situation,
(d) be open to being called in or called out if we have failed to maintain group safety as facilitators, and we will work to repair the situation,
(e) create and encourage opportunities for honest feedback and constructive criticism to continue to improve on our ability to offer safer spaces for spiritual work in community.
* Morning meditations are an independent spiritual offering and are not affiliated with any religious institution or organization. We have no expectations on your beliefs, morals, philosophy, spiritual practices, or religious/cultural identity – and we do not tolerate proselytizing or evangelizing of any kind.
* In the spirit of inclusion and accessibility, there is no cost to attend morning meditations. If you would like to make a contribution to support this work, please reach out.
This sounds wonderful. I was directed to your page by my therapist and would love to join you.
Thanks Sarah, it was lovely to have you this morning! Feel free to join in anytime <3