Dear Friends,

Thank you for being a part of our sangha this year. Because of the generosity of our community, we have been able to offer scholarships for our retreat, provide the technology to keep our sanghas online, keep our studio space doors from shutting, and spread the word about all the events and sangha topics throughout the year with our community - through email, social media, and on our website. 

2021 OHMC highlights

❤️ OHMC Annual Retreat.

In April, we had a wonderful annual online retreat held by Valerie Brown and including 120 practitioners. This was Valerie’s third year supporting us in a healing mindfulness practice.


❤️ Engaged Practice in May Program.

In May, we had our second annual Solidarity Month, a powerful community effort where we raised $4000 for Nueva Vida, an organization that supports Latinas dealing with cancer.


❤️ The first OHMC workshop.

In the summer, we launched our first 3-session Summer Deepening Practice series, led by Annie and Camille. We read and discussed Buddhist teachings in order to generate more understanding, acceptance and love in our lives. We had 44 people registered for this event and we hope to offer another session in 2022.

❤️ Guest facilitators.

Throughout the year, we hosted several guest facilitators for Monday night sangha: In June, we hosted two former Plum Village monastics: Barbara Newell and Melina Bondy. In July, our dear friend Mitchell Ratner from the Still Water Mindfulness community joined us, and Joe Reilly shared his music and mindfulness practice at our sangha. In November, Mitchell returned to our sangha with Roshi Joan Halifax and Valerie Brown, who offered a ceremony of prayer and healing energy for Annie and our community and beyond.

❤️ Engaged Practice in October.

In October we felt it was important to officially highlight and clarify our commitment to engaged practice as part of our overall mission, which we added to our about page. In the same month, we offered a ceremony to support Community Family Life Services, which supports incarcerated women and their families.

❤️ Celebrated Kaira Jewel's new book.

In December, Kaira Jewel Lingo published a new book, We Were Made for These Times: Ten Lessons on Moving Through Change, Loss, and Disruption, and we co-hosted a book talk with her with Still Water Mindfulness Practice Center and the Washington Mindfulness Community.

❤️ OHMC 2021 by the numbers 

2038 email subscribers

508 followers on Facebook

608 followers on Instagram

52 mindfulness topics written by our Monday night meditation facilitators (published so even those who can’t attend sangha in person can make the readings a part of their practice)

Our annual program costs are approximately $14,000, which covers our technology, communications, retreat costs, guest speaker fees, and other sangha-related expenses.

We need your support to continue running our sangha and help us to find new ways to support our community, reach new practitioners, and create actionable opportunities to support the larger world. We can only do this with your continued support. 

Please consider a tax-deductible end-of-year donation to OHMC of any amount. Thank you again for your generosity.

Wishing you calm and ease as we head into the new year. 

In mindfulness,

The Opening Heart Mindfulness Community