Common Ground Meditation Center

Common Ground Meditation Center Common Ground is a community meditation center dedicated to the practice of mindfulness. All our programs are offered freely in the spirit of generosity.
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Mindfulness meditation is the practice of waking up to the present moment and learning to be open and at ease with the unfolding conditions of life. With practice, mindfulness reveals deep wisdom, compassion and intimacy with all things. Common Ground is an independent center founded on the teachings of the Buddha. This center follows in the spirit of the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in Barre,

Massachusetts and Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Northern California and is part of the greater Insight Meditation or Vipassana community in the West. We welcome skillful means from all Buddhist traditions as well as other spiritual traditions dedicated to wisdom and compassion. Visit our website to learn more about supporting the center and our teachers: http://commongroundmeditation.org/about/supporting-the-center/

Intro Workshop this Saturday + Fall Programs!  -
08/28/2024

Intro Workshop this Saturday + Fall Programs! -

Dear Common Ground Friends, The whole point of cultivating a stable, continuous mindful presence is to deeply discern both the cause for stress and the cause for the release of stress. As this understanding deepens, the mind becomes more and more resolute in setting in motion the causes for release....

Registration Open for Fall Programs + Seeking Cooks for Labor Day Retreat! -
08/15/2024

Registration Open for Fall Programs + Seeking Cooks for Labor Day Retreat! -

Dear Common Ground Friends, People are sometimes confused by the emphasis placed on retreat practice in our Insight Meditation community. Our gut tells us that running from the messiness of our lives can not be a lasting answer to our problems. And of course, many of us have duties and responsibilit...

Registration Open for Fall Residential Retreats! -
08/07/2024

Registration Open for Fall Residential Retreats! -

Common Ground's Labor Day 2018 Residential Retreat registration is now open.

Upcoming: Buddhist Studies, Masculinity Convo, Work Practice Period!
06/25/2024

Upcoming: Buddhist Studies, Masculinity Convo, Work Practice Period!

Kamala Masters on Saturday, plus Volunteer Day! -
06/12/2024

Kamala Masters on Saturday, plus Volunteer Day! -

Dear Friends, Already in the first week of June we've had more rain here in central Minnesota that is typically forecasted for the entire month, and my new garden is thriving. I am reminded of my own capacity to attend to what is blossoming in the heartmind, and be less entwined with something that....

Half-Day Retreat on Saturday, Spring Volunteer Day Next Saturday! -
06/06/2024

Half-Day Retreat on Saturday, Spring Volunteer Day Next Saturday! -

Dear Friends, Although we may not have fully realized the unshakeable release of the heart that the Buddha’s teachings point to, we can become more skillful at abandoning what regularly obstructs the experience of freedom. The Buddha points to conceit as one of the most subtle and tenacious fixati...

Daylong Retreat with Mark Saturday + Practice Intensive Begins June 3! -
05/30/2024

Daylong Retreat with Mark Saturday + Practice Intensive Begins June 3! -

Dear Friends, The Buddha came to understand the conditional nature of all things–this is the essential law of our lives. Seeing this clearly uproots the tendency to grasp and struggle with experience. Both wisdom and ignorance arise due to causes and conditions. In a conventional sense, it is impo...

BIPOC Daylong this Saturday, Daylong with Mark Next Saturday! -
05/16/2024

BIPOC Daylong this Saturday, Daylong with Mark Next Saturday! -

Dear Common Ground Friends, The Buddha taught a basic lawfulness that we can count on and base our practice on. The supporting conditions for the arising of present-moment awareness is a non-remorse that arises when we value non-harming & living ethically. The supporting conditions for the arising o...

Guest Teacher nakawe cuebas This Weekend! -
05/09/2024

Guest Teacher nakawe cuebas This Weekend! -

Dear Common Ground Friends, This time of global complexity has exposed once again how limited our ideas of safety and security can be. It can break the heart to feel into this both individually and collectively and yet bring us closer to the truth of how it actually is. Once again, I am so grateful....

Guest Teacher nakawe cuebas Next Weekend! -
05/02/2024

Guest Teacher nakawe cuebas Next Weekend! -

Dear Common Ground Friends, Is it possible for us to be fully engaged in our ordinary world of routines, responsibilities, and relationships and at the same time be free from attachment and identification? This seems like an impossible task. The practice taught by the Buddha is to develop a continui...

We are excited for Tuere Sala's visit in July! She'll be leading a BIPOC retreat at our retreat center as well as a publ...
04/17/2024

We are excited for Tuere Sala's visit in July! She'll be leading a BIPOC retreat at our retreat center as well as a public talk and daylong retreat at our city center. Especially for the residential retreat, we hope to get the word out so that as many people can attend her retreat as possible. Feel free to spread the word!

Details:

Residential Retreat is July 7-12 at our retreat center in Prairie Farm, WI (about 75 min from Mpls).

Public talk and daylong will be Friday evening, July 12 and Sat. July 13, respectively (at our city center).

Let us know if you have any questions about her visit!

More info and registration at https://commongroundmeditation.org/retreats-at-cgrc/

Registration Open for Spring/Summer Residential Retreats! -
04/09/2024

Registration Open for Spring/Summer Residential Retreats! -

Common Ground's Labor Day 2018 Residential Retreat registration is now open.

BIPOC Daylong on Saturday + New Community Groups! -
03/28/2024

BIPOC Daylong on Saturday + New Community Groups! -

Dear Common Ground Friends, It has been a beautiful sunny day here in the twin cities. Even with chilly temperatures, the sun is strong and melting evidence of the winter storm earlier this week. One thing I noticed about the winter storm was that it was alive with generosity...the generosity of n...

Daylong Retreat with Shelly on Saturday, Daylong BIPOC Retreat with Stacy McClendon next Saturday! -
03/21/2024

Daylong Retreat with Shelly on Saturday, Daylong BIPOC Retreat with Stacy McClendon next Saturday! -

Dear Common Ground Friends, I find it useful to define spiritual ignorance or delusion as the tendency to think that I already know. When I think that I already know, my heart no longer opens and receives the moment in a clear and fresh way. Instead, it goes about protecting my view of things. Our p...

Buddhist Studies Starts Monday + Upcoming Retreat Opportunities! -
03/14/2024

Buddhist Studies Starts Monday + Upcoming Retreat Opportunities! -

Dear Common Ground Friends, One of the beautiful things about faith as a functional force in our lives as spiritual beings is that it moves us ever closer to what matters most. Faith leads us to a wise participation with life, learning to nurture what aligns with our deepest values and both wisely ...

Lovingkindness Friday, Half-Day Retreat Saturday, Next Intro Class Begins Tuesday! -
03/01/2024

Lovingkindness Friday, Half-Day Retreat Saturday, Next Intro Class Begins Tuesday! -

Greetings Friends, If you have ever been on a retreat of any length, you know this particular form can be a powerful way of deepening intimacy with the way it is. What if we expanded the definition of retreat to include every moment of sincerity or wholeheartedness? Perhaps our whole lives become ...

Daylong Retreat this Saturday, Guest Teacher Chas DiCapua on Feb 25th! -
02/09/2024

Daylong Retreat this Saturday, Guest Teacher Chas DiCapua on Feb 25th! -

Greetings Friends, With all of the insistent demands on our time, it is easy for the to do list to get the best of us. We create a reality out of our thoughts, what we should do, what we haven't done, what we need to do and so on. We can be grateful for those moments in which we can feel the inten...

Registration Open for Residential Intro Retreat with Stacy McClendon & Gail Iverson! -
02/01/2024

Registration Open for Residential Intro Retreat with Stacy McClendon & Gail Iverson! -

Common Ground's Labor Day 2018 Residential Retreat registration is now open.

Daylong Retreat with Shelly Graf this Saturday! -
01/25/2024

Daylong Retreat with Shelly Graf this Saturday! -

Greetings Friends, The Buddha taught us to train our minds to relate to subjective experience in a naturalistic way by skillfully uprooting habits of self-centeredness. We are taught that these practices are the catalyst for awakening–greater freedom, wisdom, and compassion in our lives. It may so...

BIPOC Retreat with Stacy McClendon & Jen Racho Tomorrow! -
01/19/2024

BIPOC Retreat with Stacy McClendon & Jen Racho Tomorrow! -

Greetings Common Ground! I’m back, if I ever left. I confess to having read close to every one of these weekly emails even while I was no longer working in the office. What can I say, Dharma administration is close to my heart. It’s good to be back; in some ways it feels like I never left, and i...

Monday Evening Online: Community Dharma Evening with Mark Nunberg & Shelly Graf! -
01/12/2024

Monday Evening Online: Community Dharma Evening with Mark Nunberg & Shelly Graf! -

We are entangled humans, living in our entangled world, desiring some relief from what often appears to us to be too much. Being human isn't easy for any of us. And, even when conditions are pleasant, deep down our heart knows those conditions are subject to change. As the Buddha was asked a long ti...

Registration Open for President's Day Retreat with Shelly Graf and Gabe Keller Flores! -
01/09/2024

Registration Open for President's Day Retreat with Shelly Graf and Gabe Keller Flores! -

Common Ground's Labor Day 2018 Residential Retreat registration is now open.

Lovingkindness Meditation Tonight, Half-Day Retreat Tomorrow! -
01/05/2024

Lovingkindness Meditation Tonight, Half-Day Retreat Tomorrow! -

On behalf of Co-Guiding Teacher Shelly Graf and myself, Common Ground paid staff, the Board of Directors, and all our leadership we want to offer our good wishes for the deepest healing and awakening for 2024 – in all directions, no one left out! It may seem radical or even inappropriate to ask ou...

New Year's Celebration and Potluck! -
12/31/2023

New Year's Celebration and Potluck! -

I have finally been released from my long hospital stay and am back at home with my beloved partner Wynn, and immediately joined Common Ground’s 31st Annual Year End Retreat! Shelly Graf and Wynn Fricke are teaching the retreat, and I am helping a bit around the edges. Depending on our duties and ...

Address

2700 E 26th Street
Minneapolis, MN
55406

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What is Mindfulness Meditation?

Mindfulness is the practice of opening to and understanding the moment just as it is, whether we are practicing sitting meditation, cooking dinner, or advocating for justice. To begin we make the necessary effort to calm the mind and heart. Without this first step, our intention to be present is often overwhelmed by the mind’s habits to struggle with conditions. Instead of struggling, we practice trusting the mind’s capacity to be relaxed, clear, intimate, and willing to feel how it is in the moment. This simple, clear knowing is at the heart of mindfulness practice.

Mindfulness is all about cultivating a continuous present-moment awareness. We train in persistence: a willingness to begin over and over again. This training is overseen by the wise and kind heart that appreciates how difficult it is to remain present. Still, no matter how difficult it appears to be, our practice is to gently and persistently return to the simple truth “This is being known.” Awareness is already available and knowing; the practice is to simply and clearly recognize “This is being known.” Many people develop whole-body awareness, a direct, non-conceptual knowing of sensation, as a means for developing momentum in their practice. Daily sitting practice and an effort to be present throughout the day are causes for greater joy, tranquility, and insight. This capacity to be present is our wise friend, protector, and guide – this is how we live with greater wisdom, compassion, and ease. Common Ground is an independent center founded on the teachings of the Buddha. This center follows in the spirit of the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in Barre, Massachusetts and Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Northern California and is part of the greater Insight Meditation or Vipassana community in the West. We welcome skillful means from all Buddhist traditions as well as other spiritual traditions dedicated to wisdom and compassion. All our programs are offered freely in the spirit of generosity. Visit our website to learn more about supporting the center and our teachers: http://commongroundmeditation.org/about/supporting-the-center/