Some of the events and gatherings that the Mindfulness Center offers include:
Daily sittings
Weekly Days of Mindfulness
Mindful Living Weekends
Seasonal festivals
Meditation retreats
Wake up retreats
Family and Parenting programs
Climate and social change workshops
Most programs are offered in the summer months. With the warmer season comes easier care and accommodations. MorningSun offers programs that individuals stay overnight camping at, and many consist of hiking, swimming, and connecting to nature.
Every Sunday MorningSun offers a Day of Mindfulness. This event consists of sitting meditation, a guided discussion, walking meditation, and vegetarian potluck meal. This is open to anyone, and is a vital part of the programs offered. MorningSun is developing “the campus of the Mindfulness Center” where year-round programs will be available to those who wish to attend.
These programs form bonds within the community MorningSun is surrounded by. With these in place, it becomes easier to integrate and have a long term relationship. When thinking about what will make an intentional community successful, this is a vital aspect. The values that MorningSun believe in may not be the norm for the majority of people, but many people can get behind the ideas and benefit from its practices.
Reece showed in his book Utopia Drive: A Road Trip Through America’s Most Radical Idea how the community Oneida employed individuals outside of their community. The perfectionists at Oneida could then use their time to attend to other matters while simultaneously helping to develop the economy outside of their community. This same outside community would also have benefited from the New House Traps and silverware produced by the perfectionists. The perfectionists, who had a sexual norms far different than any other group of the time period, had very few complaints from the outside community until the downfall of the community.
MorningSun is a community of educators. By offering these programs, people can learn new methods and ways to deal with the stresses of life. Any one is invited to participate in their events so long as they are respectful of the values and beliefs of the community. Similarly to the perfectionists, MorningSun has a relationship with the community they are in. While different in their approach, this relationship is important in maintaining an intentional community.
Citation:
Reece, Erik. Utopia Drive: a Road Trip through America’s Most Radical Idea. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017.
“Resident Community.” MorningSun, morningsuncommunity.org/residential-community/.