What We Do

We hold space, nurture community, and offer teachings and practices around compassion and freedom.

Our Mission

Based on the teachings of the Buddha and other wisdom traditions, our mission is to nurture, support, and share liberation. We do this by creating a safe space for meeting our own minds, building a practice of coming home to the present moment, cultivating compassion for ourselves and others, and finding joy through liberation from suffering. We offer guided meditations, dharma talks, facilitated discussions, retreats and other types of community gatherings.

This is an intentional environment for people of color to share in a space free from the adaptations of mind, speech and action that often arise in spaces occupied by the dominant culture. Our intention is to support safety for both the POC in attendance and white-bodied people we ask to abstain from attending. Read more about our origin story and thoughts behind why this type of POC affinity group is important.

A little history: We started out at the end of 2019 as a collaboration between One Dharma Nashville and Wild Heart Meditation Center, two meditation centers in Nashville, TN based on the insight tradition of Buddhism. During the pandemic, while meeting and growing the sangha 100% on zoom, we decided to spin out from those two organizations into our own POC-centered organization. We are grateful for the support we have received from those two sanghas and often hold in-person gatherings for the Nashville POC Sangha at Wild Heart’s space in East Nashville.

“Inner happiness is the recognition of the natural state of being, the natural state of mind.”

— Lama Rod Owens

Our Current Offerings

  • Monthly online (Zoom) gathering on the first Thursday of the month. Typical sessions include group check-ins, guided meditation and mindful dialogue. No meditation experience needed and no need to be in Nashville! Free and donation-based.

  • Quarterly in-person retreats in Nashville. See Calendar for currently planned retreats and sign up for our newsletter to hear of new ones in the works.

  • Customized offerings for non-profits and other organizations seeking guidance or practice in mindfulness, compassion and self-care. Can be POC-only or mixed groups. Contact us if you or your organization are interested.

Multicultural Agreements

For all gatherings, we invite folks to practice with and participate in these multicultural agreements developed by East Bay Meditation Center to create as safe as possible of a space for us to be together in community, with our similarities and differences and social locations. These are great for any intentional meeting or gathering! Click here to read them.