Google+ hangouts are easy to use as free online zendos uniting as many as ten locations. This makes shared meditative practice available to people who cannot go to a regular meditation hall. It's also a way of integrating regular practice support into a work schedule. Below is a picture of an online meditation session showing two people sitting at one location with a third at another.
This meditation hall is open to all people willing to sit quietly and with respect for others. We sit in silence with our microphones muted throughout. If you would like to join us:
- Sign up for Google+ (it's easy -- over 100 million people have already figured out how to do it! Google it to learn how). You will be prompted to install the necessary "video chat plugin" when you first try to use the video hangout feature. This one-time installation proceeds easily and automatically.
- Email us at if you'd like to give it a try.
- No regular commitment is necessary. You can show up as much or as little as you like, at any time during the period, and for as long or short a time as suits you. We are happy to see and to sit with you whenever you can appear!
- If you can't figure out how to do any of this and you really want to undertake this practice email us and we'll see what might help.
- There is no need to rely on us: Start your own online zendos. Please! : ) There is value in sitting regularly with the same people, and in sitting with them bodily from time to time as well. That said, globe-spanning dogma-free silent zendos are fun, helpful to many, and perhaps even of some global value.
The online meditation hall also works with a tablet or smart phone connected via WiFi or 3G. In a very informal test fifty minutes of sitting used about 150 Mb of data. This makes sitting in natural areas possible to those who can afford the cellular connection rates (or who have extra minutes to burn).
People sensitive to screen glare report that it can help to block out some of the screen with cloth or paper.
Here's what the online meditation hall looks like: