When I moved to the Northern Beaches of Sydney a little over a year ago, I stumbled across an organisation called Making Meditation Mainstream – founded by Jason Partington in response to escalating suicide rates and mental health challenges experienced in our communities. Having always been a big ambassador for mental health - I felt really drawn to their purpose and was really looking for a way to connect with my new community but also have more purpose in my own life.
Making Meditation Mainstream (MMM) is trying to do just what it says. Make it mainstream, make it available to everyone and make it the norm. It’s a growing, global movement offering free meditations on beaches and in parks at the same time – every Saturday at 6.30am (now online daily – more on that later).
It was a cold winter morning when I dragged myself out of bed and made my way down to Manly Beach in the dark for my first session. I could hear Ziggy Alberts playing from his Bluetooth speaker and spotted Jason who wrapped me into a great big hug and swiftly introduced me around to everyone. We went over the road for coffee afterwards as a group and shared our stories of how we’d come to be there.
Each week I turned up, sat in meditation at sunrise and drank coffee with this community of people and I quickly realised that we are all just seeking one thing - connection. Many are looking to re-connect with self and others just wanting to connect with like-minded people, to feel heard and understood and to feel supported and feel a sense of belonging. This is an innate quality that we have as humans – we are hardwired for connection. If you read Johann Hari’s book “Lost Connections” his research shows that disconnection is the leading cause of depression and anxiety. Disconnection from nature, from others, from meaningful work and values to name a few. MMM believes that meditation is a deeply supportive practice that can nurture a person’s connection to self, to mother nature and to each other.
Fast forward from that July morning last year, I now volunteer with MMM – we call ourselves beach crew leaders. I’ve helped grow our movement from 4 to now 15 beach locations across NSW, QLD and SA and supported our move to the online world since COVID-19 swept in. When outdoor gatherings stopped, we knew we needed to make the shift online to be able to continue to support our community and maintain that connection during what’s been a really challenging time. We’ve been livestreaming our breath-centred meditations daily at 6.30am and 8pm AEST for 72 days now and I love how each of our 50 volunteers bring such something unique to each practice.
Just last Sunday we hosted a 24 hour online event called The Breathing Room with the aim to raise awareness and support for Lifeline Australia who are doing such incredibly important work supporting people experiencing a mental health crisis. Since COVID, Lifeline has had a 25% increase in calls and we wanted to do something to support them. Over the 24 hours we had over 7000 people join the Breathing Room and we’re excited to meet with Lifeline later this week to confirm how our fundraising efforts went.
MMM is for everyone, we welcome families with children, teens, men and women of all ages and backgrounds, first timers, seasoned meditators, locals and visitors - we welcome you to join us and share in the beauty of connection and community. You can join us for our live stream meditations at 6.30am and 8pm AEST via our Facebook page or we hope to see you soon on a beach near you.
We are always looking for more volunteers to keep this movement growing, you don’t necessarily need to be a meditation teacher. If you are passionate and have a keen interest – reach out to us for more information hi@makingmeditationmainstream.com.au
Katie Stoliker - Beach Crew Leader for Making Meditation Mainstream