Mindfulness Meditation and Book Talk

For centuries Himalayan practitioners have used meditation to quiet the mind, open the heart, calm the nervous system, and increase focus. Mindfulness meditation offers a refuge from the world and an opportunity to engage more consciously.

Whether you’re a beginner, a dabbler, or a skilled meditator seeking the company of others, join expert teachers in a 45-minute weekly in-person program. Each session is inspired by a different work of art from the Rubin Museum’s collection. Designed to fit into your lunch break, the program includes an opening talk and a 20-minute sitting session. After the meditation, today’s teacher Kaira Jewel Lingo will speak about her new book, Healing Our Way Home: Black Buddhist Teachings on Ancestors, Joy, and Liberation, co-authored by Dr. Marisela Gomez and Valerie Brown. The talk will be followed by a Q&A and book signing.

The theme for this month is Balance. Chairs are provided.

About the Book

“This powerful trinity of Black authors invites us into the living room of their hearts, affirming who we are with earthy straight talk, textured diversity, and wise tenderness.”—Ruth King

Healing Our Way Home follows three Black female friends, all teachers in the Plum Village tradition founded by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, in an intimate reflection, touching on the pain and beauty of their families of origin, relationships and loneliness, intimacy and sexuality, politics, popular culture, race, self-care, and healing. No subject is out of bounds in this free-flowing, wide-ranging offering of mindful wisdom to nourish our sense of belonging and connection with ancestors.

The book provides real talk on living joyfully and coming home to ourselves—with reflective self-care practices to help us on our interconnected journeys of liberation.

About the Teacher

Kaira Jewel Lingo is a dharma teacher with a lifelong interest in spirituality and social justice. Her work continues the Engaged Buddhist movement developed by Thich Nhat Hanh, and she draws inspiration from her parents lives of service and her dad’s work with Martin Luther King, Jr. After living as an ordained nun for 15 years in Thich Nhat Hanh’s monastic community, Kaira Jewel now teaches internationally in the Zen lineage and the Vipassana tradition, as well as in secular mindfulness, at the intersection of racial, climate, and social justice with a focus on activists, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, artists, educators, families, and youth. Based in New York, she offers spiritual mentoring to groups and is the author of We Were Made for These Times: Ten Lessons in Moving through Change, Loss and Disruption and co-author of Healing Our Way Home: Black Buddhist Teachings on Ancestors, Joy, and Liberation from Parallax Press. Her teachings and writings can be found at www.kairajewel.com.

This program is presented in partnership with Sharon Salzberg and teachers from the New York Insight Meditation Center, the Interdependence Project, and Parabola Magazine and supported by the Frederick P. Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism.