About
Wake Up Toronto
contact: message us on Facebook!
weekly practice details: see Home page
We practice in the Plum Village tradition of Engaged Buddhism, founded by scholar, peace activist, Nobel Peace Prize nominee and Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. Collectively, we are interested in exploring how mindfulness can be applied to our daily lives. We approach mindfulness practice from the perspective of open exploration that is inclusive and fun, with the aim to develop personal wellbeing and a more compassionate and healthy society.
Our weekly practice sessions are open to beginners and long-term mindfulness practitioners alike!
Wake Up Toronto was formed in 2012 and has been holding regular mindfulness sessions since. Read more about our history here.
Wake Up International
Wake Up is a world-wide network (there are sanghas all over the place!) of young people practicing the art of living mindfully. We share an aspiration to live in an awakened way, taking a 21st Century version of the 5 Mindfulness Trainings as our path and guide.
The Wake Up network has grown out of Plum Village meditation centre in southwest France, under the guidance of Venerable Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. Plum Village has been offering retreats to young people for over two decades, and the Wake Up movement was formally launched in the summer of 2008.
Young monks, nuns, and young lay people of many different nationalities help co-ordinate groups and events from Plum Village practice centres all over the world - Deer Park Monastery in California; Blue Cliff Monastery in New York; Magnolia Grove Monastery in Mississippi; Healing Spring Monastery and La Maison de L'Inspir' near Paris, France; the European Institute for Applied Buddhism in Germany; Thai Plum Village in Thailand; Stream Entering Monastery near Melbourne, Australia; Mountain Spring Monastery near Sydney, Australia; and the Asian Institute of Applied Buddhism in Hong Kong.
We are of all nationalities and of all faiths - or none. We don't 'believe' blindly in the Buddha's teachings on mindfulness; we each experience the teachings for ourselves. When we practice mindful walking, breathing, smiling, sitting, eating, talking, listening and hanging-out together, we experience happiness and peace - a kind of oasis of relief from the busyness of life. We have a chance to live more deeply, happily, and meaningfully. There is joy, relief and healing.
Mindfulness Practice Communities (including all ages groups) in the Toronto Area
Wake Up Toronto is affiliated with True Peace Toronto, a mindfulness practice community in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh. Please visit their website for more information on general (all ages) weekly meditation sessions, retreats, and other events.
Additional mindfulness practice communities in the Toronto area in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh:
Mindfulness Practice Community of Toronto
Bodhi Sangha Toronto