South County Meditation Group

The South County Meditation Group meets in Oceano on Sunday mornings from 9:00am  ‑  10:15am for meditation and study in the Gudrun Hus Studio at Tierra Nueva Cohousing, adjacent to the town of Halcyon (see Maps) (see Brochure).

Our meditation practice is informed by the wisdom tradition of Buddhism. All levels of meditation experience are welcome, and it is not necessary to be a member of White Heron Sangha to attend. If someone is new to meditation, and new to the group, the facilitator, or one of our group members, may guide the meditation for the first 10 minutes or so.

We are a peer-led group, in the tradition of kalyanamittata ("admirable friendship", or "spiritual friends").

The usual meeting format is: start with reading the Beginning Practice, meditate for 30 minutes, read the Ending Practice, then announcements and discussion. On the first and third Sundays of each month, we extend the meditation period to 45 minutes.

When there is a White Heron Sangha weekend retreat, Gudrun Hus Studio will be available for meditating, but there will not be a Program.

Books that we have read include:

• Dhamma Everywhere: Welcoming each moment with Awareness+Wisdom by Sayadaw U Tejaniya
  
• Emptiness: A Practical Guide for Meditators by Guy Armstrong
• No Time Like the Present: Finding Freedom, Love, and Joy Right Where You Are by Jack Kornfield
  
• The One Who Is Not Busy: Connecting with Work in a Deeply Satisfying Way by Darlene Cohen
  
• Parami, Ways to Cross Life's Floods by Ajahn Sucitto
  
• The Sound of Silence: The Selected Teachings of Ajahn Sumedho by Ajahn Sumedho and Ajahn Amaro
  
• Tonglen: The Path of Transformation by Pema Chödrön
  
• True Refuge: Finding Peace and Freedom in Your Own Awakened Heart by Tara Brach
  
• The Work of This Moment by Toni Packer
  

The book that we are currently reading is:

• Food for the Heart: The Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah by Ajahn Chah and Ajahn Amaro
  
  

Date	Opener	Facilitator	Program  (updated 6/18/2019)
Jun 23	Steph R	Lisa	Food for the Heart | Chapter 6 | UNDERSTANDING VINAYA
Jun 30	Steph W	Mary	Food for the Heart | Chapter 7 | MAINTAINING THE STANDARD
Jul 7	Susan	Steph R	Extended Meditation (45 minutes) Food for the Heart | Chapter 8 | WHY ARE WE HERE?
Jul 14	Kathy	Nancy	Nancy Hilyard | Talk, Question & Answer (Nancy co-founded the WHS South County Meditation Group in 2007)
Jul 21	David		Extended Meditation (45 minutes) How is your practice going?
Jul 28			Food for the Heart | Chapter 9 | THE FLOOD OF SENSUALITY
Aug 10 & 11	n/a	n/a	WHS Retreat  Mindfulness Now: Meditation for the Modern World
Aug 11			Extended Meditation (60 minutes) for those who will not be at the WHS retreat

The Book Queue  This is the list of the final six books that were being considered by the group in March, 2019. The book that was selected is Food for the Heart.

• Approaching the Buddhist Path by Bhiksu Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, and Bhiksuni Thubten Chodron
• The Buddha's Teachings on Social and Communal Harmony: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon by Bhikkhu Bodhi, forward by the Dalai Lama
• The Dhammapada: A New Translation of the Buddhist Classic with Annotations, Translated by Gil Fronsdal
• Food for the Heart: The Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah by Ajahn Chah and Ajahn Amaro
• Samadhi is Pure Enjoyment by Ajahn Sucitto
• The Sound of Silence: The Selected Teachings of Ajahn Sumedho by Ajahn Sumedho and Ajahn Amaro

In addition to our regular Sunday morning meditation, we also have other get‑togethers from time to time.

The Google Group White Heron Sangha - South County Meditation Group [whsscmg] is at http://goo.gl/zxJXUD

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For further information on the South County Meditation Group, feel free to contact any of these WHSSCMG members: Lois Richerson <thelois@gmail.com>, Kathy Headtke <kheadtke@sbcglobal.net>, Harry Hōetsu Heck <hoetsu@icloud.com>