Washington Mindfulness Community Announces Hybrid Evening Meditation and Park Walk

Homebound practitioners had a Zoom option, while newcomers and people who prefer outdoor practice had a Saturday walk in Dumbarton Oaks Park before the Washington Mindfulness Community’s hybrid evening sit brought everyone back together on Sunday.

The community’s May 3 practice night was built for access from the start. People could join online at 6:30 p.m. or gather in person at the Washington Buddhist Vihara, 5017 16th St NW in Washington, DC, with a note asking anyone able to arrive 20 minutes early to help set up. The evening followed a familiar sangha rhythm: 25 minutes of sitting, a walking meditation, another 25-minute sit, another walking meditation, greeting and transition, recitation or reading, a Dharma talk and Dharma sharing. The program was scheduled to end formally at 8:30 p.m., with optional social time downstairs until 9 p.m.

For online participants, the May 3 gathering included sitting meditation, the monthly recitation of the Five Mindfulness Trainings, a portion of the video Dharma talk Our Actions are our True Legacy by Sister True Dedication and time for dharma sharing. Those without Zoom login information were told to email wmcsangha@gmail.com for the details, a small but practical step that kept the hybrid format open to people who might otherwise have been shut out.

The weekend began outdoors. Washington Mindfulness Community scheduled a mindful walk for 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 2, in Dumbarton Oaks Park, with parking listed in front of the Italian Embassy on Whitehaven Street NW and the trail entrance at the corner of Whitehaven Street and Massachusetts Avenue NW. WMC describes walking meditation as something that can be practiced alone or with others, in nature or in the city, and the park setting matched that plainspoken flexibility.

The Washington Buddhist Vihara, which hosted the in-person portion, said it was founded in 1965 and incorporated in 1966. WMC describes itself as the DC area’s oldest mindfulness and meditation group in the tradition of Buddhist Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, and the pair of events showed how that lineage still gets translated into very workable formats: a park path, a neighborhood vihara and a Zoom room.

The community also tied the events to dana, or donations given from the heart. WMC said contributions supported the Vihara, its own expenses, the library and the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation, and that part of its tax-deductible donations helped subsidize retreats for members who needed financial help. In a practice world where access often depends on money, that detail was as important as the schedule.