Starting a meditation circle

[Jrdyn]

I've been led to a place where I am being asked to be the teacher. I know the time is right and that from my students I will learn volumes of both my path and theirs.
I have a few dear friends who wish to learn and practice meditation in a safe and judgement free place. These beautiful friends have been looking to me for guidance lately. It is fascinating for me as I generally practice solitary. I have been blessed with several great teachers over the years and am hoping to do justice to their wonderful teachings as this torch is being passed.
I am excited to begin this chapter of my path. I would love to hear any experiences that you may have had in this area or any suggestions as I go forward. Fun anecdotes and fair warnings are also greatly appreciated.
Thank you and blessings,
Jrdyn

[green aventurine]

Hi Jrdyn. I have never taught meditation myself (although I enjoy doing it solo and find it useful), so I don't really have any fun anecdotes or fair warnings but I wish you well with your teaching and your circle. Sounds good to me :)

[Astara Seague]

In my classes I dont really call it teaching..its more like guiding

I just taught relaxation and breathing techniques and practiced with them, we also worked on our visualization skills

meditation is kind of a solitary type thing everyones experiance is different, but it is great to have a group together, are you going to try to focus on one thing all at once?

I think it will be a great experiance for you and them of course:thumbsup:

[Astara Seague]

the only thing that I found difficult was realizing not everyone was able to focus on the same things in some of my guided meditations
and some could not even handle the deeper ones,

its important to tell your group that if they cant do it or feel frightened or need to stop that it is ok, just to remain silent and allow the others to finish
I had one outburst and it ruined everyone elses experiance

oh and its also ok if beginners fall asleep at first:uhhuhuh:..many do

[Jrdyn]

Thank you for the kind words and support.
I think to begin it will be a small group - likely 4 of us.
I know I will have to begin at the beginning with breathing and relaxation. I hope to guide them on some visualization exercises.

I am currently trying to remember the guided meditations I was taught as a child - they were gentle and fairly easy. I am pretty sure that I was given a notebook containing some of these when my childhood teacher moved away. There was one about chasing a butterfly that I always loved. I hope that will be a joyful way to start our group.