In-person Drop-in Classes with Mira TessmanFourth Wednesday Evening of the Month
7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
Aug. 28 – Phillip Wednesday
Sept. 25- Tawanna Wednesday
Oct. 23- Phillip Wednesday
Nov. 26- Mira Tuesday (holiday schedule)
Dec. 18-Mira Wednesday (holiday schedule)
Mindful Meditation is the art and science of an ancient practice for living with the challenges of these modern times. Each month, we will explore a mindfulness topic and practice skills that support awareness and acceptance of life’s unfolding moments and that offer insights and wisdom to guide our engagement, decisions, and actions. Are you ready to embark on a transformative journey to inner peace and mindfulness? Look no further than our upcoming meditation class for the month of August, where we are thrilled to introduce two exciting new guest teachers – Phillip McKnight and Tawanna Kaneshort.
Phillip McKnight, MA
Certified Mindfulness Meditation Teacher
Accredited by the International Mindfulness Teacher’s Association
Phillip McKnight is a certified mindfulness meditation teacher through the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program. He blends his love of the natural world and his MA in instructional systems design to help those he works with develop a practice that fits their life and deepens their connection to the natural world.
“I had the opportunity to travel to Thailand after college and first encountered someone meditating. They invited me to try it out with them and I felt it was beneficial for me in that I felt better and clearer after doing it. I wanted to find more of that clarity so I continued practicing, until I came to the realization that it was so important to me that I wanted to share it with others. What we teach, we must learn so I am Grateful to be in a space of sharing and learning this medicinal art form of mindfulness meditation.”
“I find that being in nature makes present moment mindfulness easier and being mindful makes deeply connecting with nature easier and studies are beginning to show this. A personal experience for me is daily connection with my garden where I start by connecting with my senses to take in the garden, then sit and practice mindfulness.”
“I most frequently hear people say that they want to clear their mind and this can’t be done. To me this practice is about understanding the mind and that it’s job is to constantly create thoughts. Thus this practice is about befriending the mind. Watching it do it’s thing, thanking it, and not taking the thoughts personally, as they come in and as they float away.”
Tawanna Kaneshort, RYT
Tawanna Kane, RYT is a MBSR instructor, motivated by the heart and inspired by the healing power of community. Tawanna seeks to help individuals and communities, identify and cultivate their internal support systems and resilience.
Tawanna has created stress reduction and mindfulness curricula for public school systems, hospitals, research studies, juvenile halls, level III schools and other general adult populations throughout the US. Her passion is conceptualizing and implementing mindfulness interventions with underserved and marginalized communities and then tracking the results.
“I really think that in many ways mindfulness is a grassroots movements. The more communities can have access to these practices, the more we can do to have personal transformation and societal transformation. Mindfulness can be catalyst for transformation and change in schools, in communities, in life.”
With over 15 years of experience teaching mindfulness and yoga, she has served as director of The Lineage Project, The Joy Wellness Center at Shepherd’s Clinic, the first integrative medical center for the economically disadvantaged and underinsured. and in clinical trials at Johns Hopkins Medical Institution, Wayne State University and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She has facilitated MBSR groups in several successful clinical trials for both adolescents and adults. These studies document MBSR/ Mindfulness as being helpful for reduced anxiety, violence reduction and overall well-being. (Please contact Tawanna for published results of these studies.) Her work is synthesized in The Inner Resources Project, a community-based organization, dedicated to the exploration of mindfulness-based practices in communities and in life.
Tawanna’s work has been featured in American Legacy Woman, Ascent Magazine, Mindful Magazine and in several films, including The Fire of Yoga and the documentary, Yoga Comes to Brooklyn.
Tawanna can be reached at bemindful@earthlink.net.
“If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
African Proverb
The Eightfold Path of the Buddha’s teachings offer us skills that can guide us towards greater equanimity. As we practice and become more skillful at taming our thoughts and recognizing our patterns of thinking, noticing the stirrings of emotions and body sensations, we are better able to pause habitual reactivity and make more mindful choices about how to respond effectively with greater understanding and compassion.
While a daily mindfulness meditation practice helps us cultivate more skillful means of quieting the mind and body, practicing in community as a sangha helps us to strengthen developing skills and apply them meaningfully in our daily lives and relationships with others.
Free parking lot on the east side of Yellowwood Ave. and free street parking. Follow signs to the “Community Hall” on the ground level off of the parking lot.
Restrooms are located on the first floor hallway. Leave shoes outside of the Meditation Hall entrance. Back jacks, chairs, and small bolsters are available. Or if you prefer, bring your own meditation cushion. Masks are optional and suggested at times when Covid infections are on the rise. If you have cold or flu symptoms, please stay home and take care of yourself.
Please share this good news with others who may be interested.
No charge
Suggested Donation $10-15
Community Hall at Ruscombe Mansion Community Health Center
Get more info and register here: