Newark Center for Meditative Culture

Our online programs have become popular with our community — in 2020 out of necessity — but as well because of people’s busy lifestyles, they find it easier and more comfortable to stay home and virtually attend sessions with NCMC. In 2020 we produced over 30 online sessions most of which were recorded and reside on our YouTube channel to view for free.

Also developed was our first four-part course on mind, brain, the nervous system and meditation and is a fee-based on-demand series that will be re-released bi-yearly.

These yearly meditation retreats are specifically for those people from communities of color who are immigrant Americans or reside in America and who consider themselves as indigenous, enslaved, colonized, disenfranchised, and/or marginalized. People of Color retreats are especially intended to provide an affinity group for individuals who daily confront the effects of racism. The retreats are designed for all to feel comfortable, comprehend, and hold interest — whether the participant is a beginner, experienced, or committed meditator of any discipline.

As so many start their exploration into sitting meditation after having learned some form of moving meditation, we offer courses and workshops in three ancient modalities: Qigong, Yoga, and Tai-Chi. These practices allow students to refamiliarize and harmonize their breath with their movement to maintain wellness, boost their immune system, and to develop tranquility, inner calm meditation as they learn.

We hold retreat days approximately four times a year. They include Mindfulness Meditation, Insight, Ancestral Healing, and Meditation Medicine retreats and also affinity group retreats such as for BIPOC and Women. We follow a cyclical meditation pattern so that there is much more activity than just sitting meditation. The retreats include moving meditation such as walking, qigong, yoga, and tai-chi. Discussions and creative sessions are often incorporated as well. Most of our retreat days are family friendly and youths often attend with their guardians.

These quarterly interviews with guest presenters, experts or quite knowledgeable in their fields, are hosted by Ib’nallah S. Kazi and accessed online and on-demand. This is a continuing program based on our Deep Ecology lecture series in 2017.

In these come-as-you-can classes students learn and practice both meditation and mindfulness along with mindful movement and how to integrate these practices into their daily life to bring less stress and more love and peace into it. They are often given mindfulness ‘homework’ to practice at home. The class generally meets in-person, but in 2020 it became virtual. There are breaks approximately every 10 weeks. The ongoing sessions have become a way to form a sense of belonging, a comfortable familiarity, and inspirations for each other. Adults are welcome to bring youths who can sit quietly.