Beginning Meditation Instruction

Beginning Meditation Instruction

No Cost and **No Registration. In general, registration is not required to participate in IMC’s offerings. Although there is no cost for any of our programs, we are grateful for donations to support our activities and teachers.

**In the era of Zoom, many of these courses now do require a short signup to receive the Zoom link.

IMC offers a number of different avenues to learn and practice mindfulness meditation. Classes range from a single, one-hour session to a five-week course exploring and practicing mindfulness. Also, a few times a year a single, longer class on mindfulness is offered on a Saturday. In addition, a regular session on loving-kindness meditation is offered weekly.

Students are welcome to take any course and to take courses in any sequence. Many students report that attending a number of different courses or the same course repeatedly is supportive for establishing a meditation practice. For the most up-to-date schedule of classes please see the IMC calendar.


Happy Hour: Practicing Loving-Kindness

Join us as for an hour of gladdening the mind and heart! In these Monday thru Friday weekday offerings we will explore gentle and gradual cultivation and expansion of heart practices, which are known to be both supportive for a mindfulness practice and transformative in their own right. Our hour together will start with a brief introduction to the week’s topic, followed by a 30-minute guided meditation and conclude with discussion and a question and answer period. No pre-registration necessary.

Monday thru Friday, 6:00 – 7:00 pm, on Zoom with Diana Clark and Nikki Mirghafori (see the calendar for details).


One-Hour Basic Mindfulness Meditation Instruction–Live at IMC

Taught by experienced meditators, this drop-in class teaches the basic elements of mindfulness meditation and an orientation to IMC. The small class size often provides opportunities to ask individualized questions about beginning a meditation practice.

Beginning whenever IMC re-opens for live classes, we will resume our regular schedule, which is:

  • Every Thursday 6:00pm to 7:00pm
  • First Thursday of the month 10:45am to 11:45am
  • First Monday of the month 6:00pm to 7:00pm

Five-Week Self-Paced Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation

This self-paced course consists of the recordings and handouts from Gil Fronsdal’s five week (some older ones are six-week) Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation course. Each time Gil Fronsdal teaches the five or six-week course, it is recorded and made available on Audiodharma.org. In addition to the recordings, transcripts are available for one particular six-week course here. The weekly handouts from the course are also available here.


One-Day Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation

A few times a year we offer an all-day introduction to mindfulness meditation on a Saturday. The day-long retreat format allows for a number of meditation sessions in a single day which provides an opportunity to learn how to apply the instructions and to build momentum and continuity in mindfulness. For those who have attended the 5-week introductory course, the daylong is a great way to review the instructions and experience the benefits of a full day of practicing them. Please see the calendar for dates.


Four-Week Beginner’s Practice Group

For beginners who have taken an introductory mindfulness meditation class and would like to take the next step in building and supporting their practice. This is a 4-week series on developing mindfulness practice with a 20-minute meditation, review of basic instruction and introduction to further teachings that support mindfulness practice. Often, the Beginners Practice Group is offered following the 5-Week Introduction to Mindfulness Course to give beginning students additional support for their burgeoning meditation practice. Please see the calendar for dates. No pre-registration necessary.


Five-Week Web-based Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation with Personal Mentoring Support Option

Next course dates:  TBD  Sign up here to be notified of next course.

This is an opportunity to take the mostly self-guided video Intro course above spread out over five weeks with five weekly personal mentoring support meetings using Zoom, Skype, phone or email with experienced meditators.   There is additional email teachings and written material.   Application is required for mentoring, simple registration to audit the course without mentoring.