Satsang Roundup

Although meditation is clearly a major part of the spiritual practice founded by Eknath Easwaran, there are a total of eight points. Each of these points helps us to carry the benefits of our meditation throughout the day, and also helps us to prepare for our meditation the next morning. For many people, the seventh point, Spiritual Fellowship (satsang), can be tricky, but worth the effort!

This week we want to share with you ideas – some conventional, some not – for how you could find satsang. We’d especially like to hear from you on this. In the comments below, share your strategies for finding, creating, and maintaining satsang!

YA eSatsang

The YAeSatsang is a closed email fellowship group comprised of YAs from around the world who are committed to a regular meditation practice. You’ll hear from meditators of all backgrounds sharing a story, asking for help with a particular point, or offering tips. It’s surprising how much you get to know all the other participants, even without ever meeting in person. You can read more about the YAeSatsang and how to sign up here.

Retreats

If you’re craving in-person satsang with fellow YAs, you can’t go wrong with a YA retreat at the BMCM headquarters in Tomales, CA. There’s a YA retreat coming up on November 7–9, 2014, and if you can’t make it to a specific YA retreat, you’ll also find great satsang at other types of BMCM retreats. You can read here about Isaac’s reasons for attending YA retreats, and read here about Gary’s impressions attending his first weeklong retreat with different ages. 

A sliding fee scale and scholarships are available, so don’t hesitate to get in touch to help you figure out how to attend. You can find a full list of BMCM retreats here.

DIY: Book Club, Email Group, Phone Calls

Sometimes geography can make it difficult to have in-person satsang with other passage meditators in your life. In this case, a little creativity might be just the answer – and it might be a great opportunity to take advantage of technology! Some YA friends have regular phone/online video chats where they read an excerpt of an Easwaran book and provide support for their practice. You can read here about an example of a book club where participants live far apart from each other but chat via phone every couple weeks to discuss a chapter of an Easwaran book. Be creative! Figure out what would be most helpful and find a friend who’d like to participate!

Local Satsangs 

There are BMCM satsang groups that meet regularly around the world. Though there aren’t many YA-specific satsangs, our BMCM satsangs are full of enthusiastic meditators of all ages who are eager to connect with anyone else embracing this practice. 

Webinar

We know it’s only virtual, but somehow even that virtual connection can provide a boost! Last week the BMCM held its second webinar with over 300 people from 12 countries. If you missed it, you won’t have to wait that long, we’ll be holding another webinar on January 24, 2015!