About

Welcome to Touching the Earth Mindfulness Ontario!
  • Are you a regulated mental health or health care professional who provides counselling or psychotherapy?  
  • Are you looking to begin or deepen your meditation practice? 
  • Are you interested in joining like-minded professionals in a compassionate self-care community of practice?  

  • You are not alone. Join us and learn more about what Touching the Earth Mindfulness Ontario (TtEMO) is all about.

    Welcome, Touching the Earth Mindfulness Ontario is a non-profit organization, established in 2022. We are a group of regulated health professionals who have come together to meditate, grow and support each other in our practice. We meditate, journal and reflect on our meditation experience while supporting each other through creating a supportive space for growth, learning and transformation.

    We know that the work we do requires a continuous giving of ourselves to others. For this reason it is crucial to have a space to replenish ourselves and engage in meaningful self-care. 

    What makes our practice different at TtEMO?

    At Touching the Earth Mindfulness Ontario, we invite people to sit with whatever emerges in meditation. Our practice emphasizes integrating compassion into mindfulness as an integral part of cultivating a genuine relationship with ourselves and each other. Like any form of mindfulness, we value settling into and coming alive to the body and feelings, but this approach embraces a greater range of experiences and processes in meditation. We reflect on our embodied felt-sense of the present moment in ways that can lead to deep transformation. While we value how mindfulness enables practitioners to let go of difficult thoughts and feelings, we also provide coaching and support on how to respond to emotions and thoughts that are difficult to let go of.  Rooted in emotion focused mindfulness, this practice can lead to real, empowering changes and more happiness in life. It is a self-guided exploration of our inner experiences, witnessed and held by fellow community members.

    What should you expect if you join us?

    Monthly Community of Practice Meetings:

    We meet monthly in our community of practice. We meditate for 35 minutes in silence and then journal for 10 minutes to reflect on what came up. Then, in small groups of 3, you will have an opportunity to share your meditation experience, exploring what is coming up. All aspects of our practice are self-guided and you only have to share what you feel comfortable sharing. The other members in the group hold space by actively listening with compassion and empathy. We then reconvene with the larger group to share what the process was like and what we are carrying forward into our life.

    During the meditation, journaling and sharing, you are invited to process the material in whatever way makes sense to you, including exploring parts of yourself that may hold old wounds, as well as protective parts that have developed over time. You may choose to reflect on body sensations, thoughts or feelings that arise. You may find yourself opening into deep states of calm and wellbeing. You are welcome to practice in a way that is familiar to you and are invited to explore the more experientially open Touching the Earth approach into your meditation. 

    Full Day Workshops:

    Throughout the year we offer two full-day workshops to help deepen this practice. 

    Summer Retreat:

    Once a year we hold a 4-day silent meditation retreat outside of Toronto. This is open to members, at cost, for those who wish to participate.

    Interested in knowing more about TtEMO? 

    Complete the “contact us” form on this website and we will be happy to give you more information about introductory workshops, our practice and our community. If, after completing the introductory workshop, you’d like to join us, become a member!

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Mission

Touching the Earth Mindfulness Ontario fosters the cultivation of emotion-focused mindfulness through communities of practice in which members meditate, journal, share and explore meditation experience, and reflect on what they are learning together. We are oriented towards the perspectives and values of Emotion-Focused Mindfulness Therapy, adapted for peers practicing mindfulness in community rather than as psychotherapy. We value our secular dharma roots, and the richness and diversity of our global philosophical and spiritual heritages. We seek to develop and share mindfulness training and practice programs to help psychotherapists, counsellors, other health professionals, and the general public develop caring, accountable, egalitarian communities for supporting one another in cultivating healing, growth, and navigating life in deeply valued, fulfilling ways.

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