JOIN US for in person sangha
MONDAY October 6, 7:00pm - 8:30pm EDT
Annie will facilitate
Meditation schedule
Upcoming events
We’d love to hear from you.
Have a suggestion, question, or reflection to share with the sangha? Use the form below to let us know.
All submissions are anonymous unless you choose to include your name.
Love is the Strongest Force
We’re honored to share that Dharma Teacher Annie Mahon’s article, Love is the Strongest Force, has been published on the Plum Village website.
Written at the start of the current administration, the piece explores how fierce compassion—rooted in mindfulness, community, and the Four Noble Truths—can help us respond to injustice and suffering without turning away from love. Annie reflects on how practicing boundless care allows us to transform both personal and collective pain, and to build sustainable communities that truly care for all.
OHMC Annual Book & Back-to-School Drive
OHMC invites you to participate once again in the Book & Back-To-School Drive to benefit the children served by Washington DC’s Community Family Life Services (CFLS). This is the fourth year that OHMC is participating in this project, serving approximately 25 children annually.
This year’s drive—taking place between June 22 and July 28—will help prepare students for the upcoming 2025–2026 school year starting in September.
Whether you donate a gently used book, purchase from the school supply registry, or send a gift card, your offering helps kids begin the school year with the tools they need.
We are all one
We recognize the struggles of immigrants because many, though not all, of us have experienced immigration, arriving in this country ourselves or our ancestors arriving before us. We also stand in solidarity with members of the LGBTQ+ community who experience discrimination and hardship.
To offer support, we warmly invite you to review the information and links we provided.
Organizations we support
Support VOLAR (Village of Love and Resistance)
VOLAR’s mission is to co-create a cooperative community in East Baltimore owned by Black and Brown people … built through the reclamation of land, healing, reconnecting and building a base of community power.
Learn how VOLAR has evolved and where it is going — and how you can be a part of this incredible initiative.
LEARN MORE
Engaged Buddhism / Deep Listening to our Differences
by Annie Mahon
In this article we explore the transformative art of deep listening while door knocking in the lead up to the US election from Annie Mahon, an engaged practitioner and Dharma teacher in The Plum Village Tradition.
New book release from friend of our sangha, Magda Cabrero:
WALKING ON EARTH WITH THICH NHAT HANH: My Experiences with Silence & The Sanctuaries & Kindred Spirits I Found in Many Places
by Dr. Magda De La Paz Cabrero
First Mindfulness Bell article in Spanish:
Inhabiting Interbeing / Habitando el Interser
We're so excited The Mindfulness Bell has published their first article in Spanish!
All are invited to join our community
Mindfulness is being here now, with kindness and open hearted curiosity.
The Opening Heart Mindfulness Community is open to everyone and meets to practice sitting and walking meditation and discuss mindfulness-related topics every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at Circle Yoga. We practice together in the tradition of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh.
No previous mindfulness or meditation experience necessary.
No registration is required, and there is no fee to attend. Donations are joyfully accepted to support this and other similar programs Sitting meditation can be done on the floor or in a chair.
In consideration of those who have chemical sensitivities, we ask that you do not wear any fragrances (including essential oils) while attending Opening Heart meditation events.
Making-Visible
The Opening Heart Mindfulness Community created this special sangha to build awareness on the issues of social injustice facing our country and the world today.
Dear friends,
This week, we will meet Monday evening, October 6, from 7-8:30PM ET in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW); Wednesday morning, October 8, from 7-8AM ET online; and Friday, October 10, from 12-1PM ET in person/online (hybrid).
On Monday, our evening meditation will be facilitated by Annie. Annie shares:
Many of us may have listened to, or heard about, the Plum Village podcast, The Way Out Is In. The title comes from the practice of going inside ourselves in order to find the “way out” of our suffering. We all experience suffering in our lives, and knowing how to transform our suffering is one of the foundational practices of the Buddha and Thich Nhat Hanh (Thầy).
The Buddhist sutras describe this practice in several places, most clearly in the Sutra on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness. Here, the Buddha shows us that freedom comes not from running away but from turning inward — looking deeply into our bodies, our feelings, our minds, and the objects of mind (everything we sense, including the teachings). This is what Thầy means by “the way out is in.” Similarly, the Heart Sutra describes the path to nirvana as looking inside to see how everything that we think is permanent is really impermanent.