Two Rivers has launched!
I am delighted to introduce you to our new website and our new identity as Two Rivers Insight Meditation Community of Winnipeg.
But first a little background is in order.
If you have been following developments in our community, you may be aware that the sitting group that has been gathering on Wednesday nights at St. Peter’s Anglican Church since 2013 as a branch of the Winnipeg Insight Meditation Group was recently re-established as an independent entity. This development evolved naturally over time as the two groups within Winnipeg Insight developed different leadership styles. While I functioned as the chair of Winnipeg Insight, in practice the two sitting groups operated independently of each other.
My nomination and enrolment in the Community Dharma Leader (CDL) program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California led to the decision to focus my efforts on the community that I was most involved with — the Wednesday group at St. Peter’s. Thus the Wednesday group is now called Two Rivers and is a CDL-led community. Winnipeg Insight will continue to operate as a peer-led group facilitated by Kurt Schwarz. They will carry on with their Sunday morning sessions at Yoga North in Wolseley.
I believe this change will potentially benefit both communities, as each group is now free to grow and move forward in their own way. And most likely those who attend both groups now will continue to do so.
It is important, though, to acknowledge that this change has shaken things up. It brings us up close to the dharma teaching of impermanence — not always a comfortable experience. It is worth remembering that we’ve experienced discomfort before. In fact there have been several shakeups within our community over the years.
My own involvement began in 1995, when Keith Millan was the leader and I was just starting to learn vipassana meditation. Between then and now we’ve been in seven different locations around the city. And several people important to the group have come and gone. We were always loosely organized, volunteer-run, and we eventually became peer-led. Attendance fluctuated. At one point so few were attending that I was certain the group would dissolve.
But then, around 2012, a period of renewal began, led by Marc Forest, who had recently moved back home from Regina, where there is a strong and longstanding Insight community. Marc initiated many developments, including a new website, improved communication, regular retreats, a steering committee (now disbanded), and a second location established at St. Peter’s in 2013 that allowed us to offer sittings on Wednesday nights. Attendance at both sites improved significantly. Marc has since embarked on new challenges but the community continues to benefit from the foundations he put down.
At both locations, the Insight community relies heavily on the dedication of many people who freely offer their time and effort to sustain the sangha. At Two Rivers, we are especially indebted to Jillian Preston-Gren, who has devoted herself to keeping track of some of the moving parts — like finance, site management, and leadership of some meditation sessions. And there are many others who arrive early to set up and take down the meditation hall, assist with retreats, and offer other forms of help when necessary. Most recently, Tim MacKay stepped up to co-facilitate our newest initiative, the Ecodharma Group.
In addition, I feel the community will gain from my new involvement with Spirit Rock’s Community Dharma Leader program. The two-year program is training about a hundred dharma leaders from the U.S.A., Canada, and abroad. My first on-site training in November 2019 with this wonderfully diverse cohort and our talented and wise team of teachers was an incredibly rich experience.
It’s important to mention that my participation in the CDL program is happening thanks to Sharda Rogell, who nominated me. Sharda is a senior Insight teacher based in California and my beloved mentor. I first met Sharda in 1997 when she was leading a retreat in Saskatchewan for the Regina Insight Meditation Community, where she is the guiding teacher. Deeply touched by the wisdom of Sharda’s teachings, I returned year after year to sit her retreats. A few years ago I asked her to guide me in my sangha leadership. This mentoring relationship has proved invaluable and I believe Sharda’s influence has strengthened our community.
Two Rivers does not exist in isolation. It is part of an evolving world-wide network of sanghas, an Insight community that is growing in number and in diversity. We are happy to be part of a movement that has the potential to generate wisdom and compassion individually and collectively.
As Spirit Rock founder Jack Kornfield has said: “The Buddha’s teachings of compassion and wisdom are empowering; they encourage us to act. Do not doubt that your good actions will bear fruit, and that change for the better can be born from your life.”
—Nelle Oosterom