About the Meditation Circle

WELCOME. The Meditation Circle is a meditation group in the Buddhist tradition, practicing vipassana or insight meditation. We have a weekly meeting from 6 to 7 p.m. on Thursdays in Charleston, W.Va., starting April 14, 2022 at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 520 Kanawha Boulevard W., in Charleston WV. The weekly Thursday sittings are a change from our pre-pandemic schedule of Tuesday gatherings.

THE FORMAT: There will be one round of silent meditation, lasting approximately 25 minutes, followed by a short period of walking meditation. The remainder of the hour will be spent in group discussion, questions, conversation, and a sharing of experiences related to the practice.

DIRECTIONS: Click here for directions to the UU building, about five minutes from downtown Charleston, W.Va., right across from the Kanawha River.

THE MEDITATION CIRCLE is a lay support group for people interested in meditation or who wish to deepen their practice through the support of a meditation sangha. Our members come from a wide variety of spiritual traditions and backgrounds. You do not need to be Buddhist to enjoy the benefits of a meditation practice. The circle’s facilitators are not teachers and we encourage people to seek out seasoned teachers to further their practice. Cushions, meditation benches and chairs are available or you are welcome to bring your own cushion.

NEW TO MEDITATION? Visit our Resource page for more information about the type of meditation we practice at the Meditation Circle.

COST & DONATIONS: There is no cost to join the circle. We do accept donations in a box titled ‘Dana’ (a Pali word that denotes generosity) that are offered to the Unitarians for their kind use of the space and also to help defray the costs of occasionally bringing Buddhist monks to town.

JOIN THE CIRCLE: We should note, that sometimes it resembles an oblong or parallelogram, but the Meditation Parallelogram didn’t have quite the right sound.