Who we are
We are a friendly and inclusive group inspired by, and associated with, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh’s Plum Vilage UK and with the Insight Meditation tradition of Gaia House.
What we do
We meet online every Thursday evening at 7:30pm to practise Buddhist meditation and mindfulness. We aspire to bring mindfulness, meditative focus, and insight to daily living in order to increase our peace, happiness and well-being. We set out some of the claimed benefits of practising mindfulness and meditation and of attending a group like ours here.
During our meetings we practice guided meditation, walking meditation and silent sitting meditation. We also share readings from a range of Buddhist teachers. There is an opportunity for “mindful speaking” in which we communicate with compassionate listening and loving speech. (See Our practice evening pages for more details of what we do). Our meetings finish at 9:30pm.
Where and when we meet
We an online-only sangha, and meet every Thursday evening. We do hold occasional in-person events, which are announced through our mailing list. Our Online Sangha page gives more details of our meetings.
Historically, our meetings were held at Our Lady Queen of Peace on Sheen Road, and many of our members are still drawn from the surrounding area of Richmond, Ham, Petersham, Kew, Barnes, East Sheen, Mortlake and St Margarets.
Our sister sanghas in Twickenham and Kingston still meet in person on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings respectively.
New members
Our meetings are open to, and welcome, new members of all faiths or none. We honour the differing religious traditions of our members. No previous experience is needed but please contact us by email before attending for the first time so that we can arrange for your first visit to be on a week in which relevant instruction is being given. Our page “Visiting us for the first time” gives you more information.
About our Group
We are run on a not-for-profit basis. There is no charge for attending our meditation evenings but donations are accepted towards our running costs.
Richmond Mindfulness Meditation Group was founded in 1997. We follow Guiding Principles which encapsulate what we value about our Group. For the avoidance of doubt, we are neither a therapeutic group nor a stress reduction group. Our experience is that many people do enjoy health benefits from mindfulness and meditation practices but the benefits that you derive will depend on the work you put into the practice.
Our meetings have a minimum age limit of 17 and we regret that children cannot be brought to our meetings.
