On facilitation, letting go, and sitting together
When I started a meditation group at my workplace in 2019, I suggested to my two colleagues that it be “peer-led.” What I meant at the time was that I did not especially know much about guiding meditations, and their quick embrace of the idea suggested they did not either.
It turns out it is not hard to guide a meditation. Sit, relax, breathe, meditate in silence for a while, thanks for coming. Of course, there are many kinds of meditation. As our meditation group caught on, hundreds of people have attended, many of whom shared their own meditation knowledge, from music and visualization to yoga nidra and vipassana. I believe it was the peer-led quality of our organization that made so many people feel welcome, not only to join us but to share what they knew.
Meditation has not always been associated with this kind of peer-led or decentralized organizational structure. For much of its history, it has been transmitted through formal lineages, hierarchical institutions, and clearly defined teacher–student relationships. Authority was conferred by training, ordination, or proximity to a tradition, and the role of the teacher was to preserve and pass on a specific form with fidelity. Access to meditation often depended on geography, culture, language, and permission. In that context, meditation was not something one casually offered to others, but something one received carefully from someone authorized to give it.
In the meditation community in which I participated at work for the past seven years, and continue to participate, being peer-led was always treated as an essential quality. I understand now that this was not incidental. It may, in fact, have been the defining quality of the community itself.
That quality expressed itself in many ways. While a small number of people led most meditations, myself included, this is true of most volunteer organizations, and for familiar reasons. Still, there was always room for movement, and movement did happen. At different times, I and other active leaders were away from work for various reasons, and others stepped in, changing how things ran, along with the style and tone of the group.
Being peer-led also meant that sometimes nothing happened at all. No one signed up to guide a meditation. People showed up and improvised, or simply drifted away. At times it seemed as though everyone had lost interest and the group might fold. More often, it turned out to be just ebb and flow. With the turn of a season, the group would surge back into life again.
I intend this peer-led quality to guide more explicitly the design of this public meditation community, something like the prime directive of Star Trek. While there is a program design, I invite anyone who is interested to guide a meditation. Whether it fits a designated topic or not, we will make it work. Future phases of the program will offer opportunities for participants to join design sessions, as we explore research and artistic applications of meditation. Finally, while this community operates on my digital platform, I think of it as an open-source model, available to be branched should someone wish to start their own meditation community. I would assist and support this.
One last thing. I mentioned in the last sitting that, despite my best efforts, there may be an occasion when my power is out, my phone is down, and I cannot join a scheduled meditation. In that case, I invite anyone who is able to take the lead and guide a meditation. Perhaps only to say: sit, relax, breathe, meditate in silence for a while, thanks for coming. Such is the way of a peer-led meditation group.
Last Updated on January 13, 2026 | Published: January 13, 2026