About our meditation classes
In our fast-paced modern lives, meditation is now recognized as a powerful life skill, bringing a renewed sense of clarity, purpose, simplicity and calm. Meditation reconnects us with our inner strength, unburdens the mind, and takes us to an inner space of stillness. More on the benefits of meditation »
Our class givers have spent many years studying meditation under the guidance of Sri Chinmoy (pictured), and are very happy to answer any questions you might have about meditation.
View our class schedule » Meet our class givers »
What does a typical course involve?
- Two guided meditations per session.
- Breathing and concentration techniques to still the mind.
- Covering the ABC’s of home practice.
- Creative visualisations, mantras, and the four pillars of yoga.
- Music and meditation.
Current Class Schedules
Welcome to our 2019/2020 ‘Learn Meditation’ free course options. Our current series of free meditation programs run throughout the year in our CBD venues and in multiple surburban locations around Auckland. Look through the upcoming introductory courses below and choose a suitable time to attend. To register, simply leave your details on our contact page, or text your name, course option and numbers attending to our contact phone: 022 1887432.
We look forward very much to meeting you and sharing our love of meditation with you!
To learn more about the 10 Compelling Reasons to meditate…<click here>.
Meditation: An Overview
Down through the ages, the wisdom-teachings of the great Masters have reminded us of our fundamentally spiritual nature, the nobility and beauty of the soul, the paths and practices that help us to find happiness. Like a map of a journey that we have now embarked upon, their insights and teachings help us to navigate our own way to enlightenment, freedom, Self-discovery. Beyond mind and mindfulness, beyond thought and thinking, what self-discoveries await us?
These meditation courses invite you on a journey, cover a wide canvas of meditation practices; the main branches and paths of yoga; a look at reincarnation; the finding of a spiritual path; how to bring the benefits of meditation into daily life; and a look at the wisdom-teachings of several Masters.
The four sessions of each course form a structured program and you’re encouraged to attend each of the four evenings – admission is free, but registration is required to accommodate numbers attending. Course instructors are from the Sri Chinmoy Centre, with decades of teaching experience and a genuine love of sharing their own insights with others. The w/shops are informal, informative and helpful and a lot of material and exercises are drawn from the teachings of the late spiritual master Sri Chinmoy.
Free admission, but due to limited seating please register by using our contact page, or text to 0221887432. You can also phone this number for further course inquiries.
CBD Meditation Programs
Music as Meditation
Exploring music as a gateway to peace and stillness….
Meditation can be many things and covers a wide canvas of paths and practices – among these, music is one of the simplest and most effective ways of stilling the busy mind and connecting with the peaceful space of the spiritual heart.
Our upcoming music-meditation free evening offers a different, inspirational approach to meditation using mantras, simple songs and sacred chants, and bringing together easy melodies, harmonium and voice.
Meditate, sing, explore something new in your understanding of how to quieten the mind and connect with your heart and soul.
We’ll introduce five song chants, composed in English or Bengali, each of them embodying a spiritual truth, insight or image to meditate upon. These are drawn from the vast musical legacy of the late meditation master Sri Chinmoy, whose mantric compositions are reviving the ancient practice of kirtan, the to-and-fro response of performer and audience. You can participate in the learning and singing of each mantra, or simply enjoy these song-chants while meditating.
When: Friday evening, February 21st, 7:00pm
Where: The Sri Chinmoy Centre, 93 Dominion Rd, Mt Eden
(City end of Dominion Rd – adjacent to the large Target Furniture building)
Admission is free, however please register on our contact page as space is limited, or text to: 027 200 0604. We’ll also provide some vege food/drinks afterwards.
Meditation Workshop – Three Kings
Tuesday 4 Feb 7.30 – 9.00pm
Venue: Fickling Convention Centre, 546 Mount Albert Road, Three Kings
Admission is free, however please pre-register using our contact page or texting your registration/further inquiries to Daniel 021 831 382.
Highbury
Highbury Community House, 110 Hinemoa St Birkenhead
Beginners series every Thursday for 3 weeks starting from Feb 27; 6.00 – 7.30 pm
Highland Park
Highland Park Community House, 47 Aviemore Dr.
Weekend Workshop Saturday March 28; 2.00pm – 5.00pm
Classes in other locations:
• Birkenhead • Green Bay • Highbury • Highland Park • Mt Albert • Unitec
Weekend Meditation Retreats
• Sat May 16- Sun May 17; Aio Wira Retreat Centre in the Waitakere Ranges, Auckland
• Sat Jun 20 – Sun Jun 21; Tauhara Centre, Acacia Bay, Taupo.
• Sat Jul 11- Sun Jul 12; Aio Wira Retreat Centre in the Waitakere Ranges, Auckland
3100: RUN AND BECOME
Inspirational Sports & Meditation Movie
Can running lead to enlightenment and spiritual insight?
Here’s something different!
Don’t miss one of the most inspirational sports movies of recent times, the newly released and first Auckland screening of Indian director Sanjay Rawal’s ‘3100: Run and Become’ movie.
Screening at Auckland’s Rialto theatre on February 11th, the movie examines a wide canvas of endurance running, from the Kalahari tribesmen and Navajo Indians to the Buddhist monks in the mountains near Kyoto, then considers the longest contemporary footrace in the world, the New York based 3100 mile annual epic.
The movie is inspirational because it’s theme message is all about humanity’s infinite potential, and that the only limitations we have are those we have imposed upon ourselves.
Film director Sanjay will personally attend this inaugural screening and be there for a Q&A session after the screening, along with Harita Davies, the only Kiwi woman to ever attempt and finish the grueling 3,100 mile ultra. (Watch NZ ultra runner Harita Davies finishing her first 3100 in 2017 here.)
See the flier for ticketing details and seating – this is a must-see movie for anyone interested in sports, meditation and self-discovery and the spiritual dimensions of running. Watch the 3100: RUN AND BECOME Trailer here.
Book tickets at: 3100.eventbrite.co.nz or phone organizer Daniel on 021831382
Meditation Resources
The latest news and updates
Latest videos
Meet the class givers
Our class instructors have all learnt the art of meditation personally from Sri Chinmoy.
Interview with Ursula Maag
Ursula talked about meditation and daily life.
Jogyata Dallas
Jogyata has taught meditation for over 30 years and is the author of several books about the subject and his encounters and experiences with Sri Chinmoy. He lives in Auckland but teaches in many other countries. His workshops combine humor, personal anecdotes and guided meditations and reflect his sincere love of his subject.
- Experiences of Meditation by Jogyata
- Jogyata’s online Meditation Course at the Sri Chinmoy Centre
- NZ Herald article on Jogyata Dallas: Twelve Questions
Preetidutta Thorpe
Preetidutta works in the vegetarian café The Blue Bird in Auckland’s Mt Eden and was once an Olympic level contender in yachting. She visited New York on many occasions to study meditation with Sri Chinmoy.
Muslim Badami
Muslim has been a member of the Sri Chinmoy Centre since 2003. A keen marathoner and occasional actor he lives and works in Auckland after moving here from India. He teaches evening workshops in introductory meditation throughout the year.
Hridayinee Williams
Hridayinee has been practicing meditation in the Sri Chinmoy Centre for 20 years and teaching Beginner Meditation Classes for 15 years in Australia and New Zealand. She is a qualified children’s educator and loves working with children which helps keep her in the heart and happy.
On Meditation
It’s easy to become a little overwhelmed by the amount of information about meditation and this short section is to simply focus on some of the techniques for meditation and the practical use of meditation for a fulfilling life.
Meditation and Kina
How meditation is liken to kino …
read more
A Walking Meditation
April 13, 2019 – today in New York several hundred people from 40 countries have gathered at a beautifully decorated outdoors meditation space to commemorate and remember spiritual master Sri Chinmoy’s arrival in the West. That historic arrival day was in the long-ago...
read more
Ten compelling reasons why YOU should LEARN MEDITATION
10 compelling reasons why you should meditate … (1) Because you are greater than you know. (2) Because you can be happier than you are today…
read moreMusic and Meditation
Explore how meditation can be used to elevates our consciousness.
Distant Travels
Fourteen members of a music group, Oneness-Dream, have just concluded a seven-day tour around parts of England, visiting and performing in some of the great cathedrals and other fabled and sacred places …
read more
Invitation to An Evening of Peace
The following article by Jogyata Dallas is reprinted with the kind permission of the IndiaNZ Outlook newspaper. For those with an interest in peaceful music and meditation, an upcoming free event in Three Kings will soon offer a very special opportunity. Auckland’s...
read more
The Unifying Power of Music
Recently I have been listening to the Indian singer Kaushiki Chakrabarty performing her beautiful and haunting devotional bhajans while accompanied by tabla, sarangi, harmonium and sarod. The songs were a recording from a live concert in the Netherlands, but across...
read moreSport and Meditation
Meditation can enhance our physical performance, but also makes our satisfaction from sport deep and lasting. Explore the inner aspect of sport —a dimension that everyone can add to his or her current physical and mental training.
The Inner Runner
What is the connection between running and spirituality?
read moreInto Great Distance
Last week some 45 runners from all walks of life and fitness level participated in the annual Sri Chinmoy 12 and 24-Hour Races in a attempt to learn more about themselves, tackling hitherto unexplored distances …
read more
Adventure & Meditation
Meditation isn’t only about sitting down and quietening the mind in your favorite home-haven, incense burning, some peaceful music, a reprieve from the endless distractions of the world. It can also be high up on a mountain, cradled by the high blue sky, by silence...
read moreLife experience and insight
Profound insights as well as inspiring and amusing life-stories.
Tribute to Snatak
Late August, 2019 has been tinged with sadness at the news of the passing of a wonderful friend and meditation teacher, Snatak Mathiasson, a longtime colleague who has struggled with the rare affliction ALS for many years. In some mysterious way we are connected to...
read more
A Nature Lovers Forest Retreat
Over the last weekend of June we had a great meditation retreat weekend at the Aio Wira Retreat Centre in the Waitakeres. 16 people came for an overnight stay which included yoga and meditation, several hikes along the Te Henga coastal trail at Bethells Beach, ocean...
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A Perspective on Ageing
How to remain youthful, happy and positive despite the advancing of age …
read moreDiet
Body and mind are interconnected. Proper diet maintain the body-temple in mint health and enable deeper and subtler meditation experience.
Favorite Haunts
We all have our favorite haunts to meet friends or dine out - mine are scattered about in numerous places, magnets that draw me back time and again. My current number one is The Hungry Elephant vegan/vegetarian cafe in Matakana, a leisurely one hour’s drive up north...
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Food for Thought
IndiaNZ Outlook contributing writer Jogyata Dallas interviews Auckland nurse and vegan Cheryll Martin about vegan principles and the growing global interest in animal rights/ethical living.
read more
Benefits of a vegetarian diet
Read how a vegan or vegetarian diet develop a deepening understanding of our oneness with all living things and the impact of our diet in the refinement of our consciousness …
read moreCommunity Services
As well as meditation, our members run several enterprises that bring the principles of meditation into daily life, and are continually organising projects to serve the public, and to help each human being find the best within themselves.
Peace Run and the Christchurch tragedy
The saying ‘Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness’ has a poignant relevance to our country after the shadows cast by the Christchurch tragedy. The sense of national grief at the misfortunes of our fellow countrymen, the wonderful outpourings of support,...
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Karma Yoga: Service to Humanity
Humanity's great teachers, the spiritual masters, sages and yogis that have been with us over the long centuries, tell us how remarkable and splendid the human soul is, its capacity for love and compassion, the hope it carries for a brighter future and a peaceful...
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A Karma Yoga Exercise
Rather than the path of seclusion, karma yoga sees in the everyday challenges of life countless opportunities to learn, deepen and multiply our many good qualities.
read moreViewpoints
Spiritual viewpoints to ponder upon life, the world and the Universe.
New Year Reflections
Each new year comes and stands in front of us to remind us of that very fact: that there is no end to our progress…
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New Year Comments: Conversations with Sri Chinmoy
Sri Chinmoy: From the spiritual point of view, the new year has a specific significance. On the eve of the new year, a new consciousness dawns on earth. God once again inspires each human being with new hope, new light, new peace and new bliss. Each new year is like a...
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A Spotlight on Peace
A new statues in Taupo encouraging reminding us to look towards a better world and provides inspiration about our individual role in fostering this.a brighter future for humanity …
read moreVideo Features
Members of the Sri Chinmoy Centre share their perspective on meditation in daily life plus selected interviews with Sri Chinmoy on various aspects of meditation and spirituality.
