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Welcome to Reed College meditation

“Reed College meditation” probably suggests more than it should. There are many meditation opportunities on campus (see listings of PE classes if you are curious). This webpage provides information about a weekly, lunchtime silent meditation session that began operating in 2012 and has been available to all-comers.

The basic features of our sessions are that they are:

  1. silent
  2. not affiliated with any religious group or particular style of meditation (we provide a silent space; you use that silence as you think best)
  3. offered during the noon lunch hour with an “official” silent period from 12:10-12:40 pm
  4. open to everyone in the campus community (staff, faculty, students), and to all campus visitors, and to online participants. No prior experience with silent meditation is necessary.
  5. available on a “drop in” basis, meaning that you can choose when to arrive and when to leave. You don’t need to contact us in advance – just come through the door and sit down!

The overarching idea is to make it as convenient as possible for you to fit a little meditation into your weekly schedule.

If all this sounds very simple and flexible, that’s because it is meant to be so. We offer a time and a place on campus (and online) for you to pause, tune in, and refresh.

Come join us.

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New Location for Fall Break, October 22

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As things currently stand, we will be meeting in a different location this coming week (Wednesday, October 22). Instead of Eliot Chapel, we will meet one floor above in Classroom 414. (FYI for campus visitors: floors in Eliot are numbered a bit oddly: the basement is floor #1, the ground floor where you enter is floor #2, and the Chapel is on floor #3).

Room 414 is located at the opposite end of the building from the Chapel, that is, Room 414 is next to the Vollum Traffic Circle. The 2 easiest ways to reach 414 are:

  • Use the ground-floor elevator. When you enter Eliot from the Traffic Circle side, pass through 2 sets of double doors and the elevator will be on your right. Just tap “4” when you get inside the elevator (and tap “2” to return to the ground floor when meditation is over).
  • Climb two floors using the stairs. The stairs will be on your right after you enter the first set of double doors.

After you reach the 4th floor (elevator or stairs), immediately turn LEFT and walk to the end of the short crooked hallway. Room 414 will be on the your RIGHT.

The photos below show the door to Room 414 as it appears from the hallway, and the inside of Room 414 as it appears when you enter the room. The chairs are all set up to face a shared classroom table. This makes sense for teaching classes, but maybe not for meditation. If you feel more comfortable turning your chair around so that you face a wall, feel free to do so. If you prefer, you can also sit in front of the window. I will be sitting at the table with my laptop computer so that I can enable ZOOM visitors to join us in the usual way.

Monday, 10/20 update. I have confirmed all of the above with College staff. We will be holding meditation this week in Eliot Classroom 414, and Eliot Hall will be open to the public during working hours (includes our lunch hour session). Again, if you’re new to campus, I encourage you to use the entrance next to the Traffic Circle. Next week’s (10/29) session will be back in the Chapel.

Photos: Classroom 414 Door (top), Inside of classroom 414 (bottom, note window shades are lowered in this photo)

Reed Labyrinth Walk Returns: April 2025

The Reed Labyrinth Walk has returned to the front lawn for the days surrounding Earth Day. You’ll find Labyrinth near the flagpole on the Front Lawn (the lawn between Eliot Hall and Woodstock). There are several yard signs directing your attention to the Labyrinth. My favorite sign so far (I haven’t seen them all) is the one that describes the Labyrinth as the world’s “first search engine”.

Is there a certain way to walk the Labyrinth? I can’t tell you. Perhaps I’m searching. Or, perhaps I’m just “being”. Can I be both? However I approach it, I simply love having the opportunity to slowly wind my way back and forth, to turn around each curve, seemingly going nowhere, and yet simultaneously going everywhere. A voyage of discovery.

Many thanks to Gary Granger for initiating this annual tradition and keeping it alive.

As if we needed one, here’s another reason to explore our beautiful campus!

Weekly Meditation Continues Through April

Some of you are on our meditation mailing list. Some of you may have seen campus flyers corrected a thick Sharpie pen. And some of you may have visited this web page last week and wondered how it was possible that we had a meditation session last Wednesday, April 2.

Whatever path brought you here, rest assured, there has been a schedule change. The January-March in-person + Zoom online meditation series has been extended through all of the Wednesdays in April: 2, 9, 16, 23, 30. After that we will take an extended break from our weekly meetings, perhaps resuming them next Fall or Winter?

A final thought. Our signs say, “Reed meditation”, but please don’t let the word “meditation” be a barrier to showing up. You are welcome to sit quietly in the Chapel for any reason, even just to pause from the rush and tumble of your College life. Drop in whenever you want during our scheduled session (12:10-12:40). Take your seat whenever you have a chance. Get up and leave whenever you feel it is time to go. You be the guide to your life.

In my case, I come to the Chapel to just sit. You can find “just sit” as in instruction in a lot of Zen books, but I don’t know if I’m following Zen instructions or not. All I know is that I don’t bring any special expectations or goals to my sitting. Even if I try to set up an intention, such as “try to feel my breath”, my experience always follows its own road, sometimes aligning with the intention, sometimes doing its own thing. Which is fine. I’m not sitting in order to get anywhere or accomplish anything. I’m just trying to make a little space in my day during which I might open myself to the world around me without always being in the world I think up.

If you have a chance, join me.

Weekly Meditation Returns January-March ’25

The last 6 months of 2024 were a very busy time for me. Many family events and trips between Portland and the Oregon coast. As we enter Winter 2025, I am expecting a lull in “events and trips”, and I have arranged for a resumption of weekly meditation sessions in the Chapel* and online via zoom. Our sessions will be held on Wednesdays, and run from January 8 to March 26.

If you are a member of the Reed community, or just a visitor to the Reed campus, who is looking for some peace and quiet this winter, please show up at Reed’s Eliot Chapel or connect online anytime between 12:00 and 12:40.

For more details about our schedule and practice, please visit Our Practice and/or Our Schedule. If you can’t attend a Wednesday session, check out our Resources and Sit Now pages for helpful support in establishing a meditation practice.

* Although I don’t have any conflicting events/travel plans on my calendar at this time, things can always change. I attempt to post last-minute changes here, but I often find it more convenient to rely on email. Here’s how you can join our mailing list.

Greater Good Science Center Resources

Today I received a copy of the “Student Life Scoop” email that Dr. K sends out periodically (for those who don’t know, “Dr. K” is Karnell McConnell-Black, EdD, Reed College Vice President for Student Life). In the section of the email devoted to “Keys to Well-Being”, Dr. K gives a shout-out to the many useful resources available online from the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley.

I’ll quote from Dr. K’s email to give you a quick taste of what you can access from that website:

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Labyrinth – A Walking Path for 2024

Gary Granger will be restoring the labyrinth to the Great Lawn on Thursday, April 18. The winding path will stay in place at least 10 days, making it available for all of Earth Day, April 22, and Renn Fayre weekend, April 26-28.

If you are unfamiliar with the Reed labyrinth, check out this announcement from 2023.

For those who are unfamiliar with labyrinths, they offer a quick introduction to the key features of walking meditation: walking slowly (otherwise you’ll get lost), paying attention (otherwise you’ll get lost for sure), and practicing letting go of distractions and notions (the labyrinth ends where it begins – there is no “destination” – when your goals arise, notice them, and let them go).

Please try it out!

Thank you, Gary <3

The Reed Labyrinth Reappears for Reunion Week

Six weeks ago a walking labyrinth magically appeared in time for Earth Week and Renn Fayre on the South Lawn. Scores of Reedies – students, staff, faculty, and campus guests – intrigued by the labyrinth’s curious shape, braved the cold and wet to slowly saunter back and forth through the labyrinth’s twists and turns. For me, it was an exercise in personal exploration, not unlike walking meditation, an opening to whatever might appear. And it also became the beginning of a wonderful, ongoing conversation with the driving energy behind the Reed labyrinth, Gary Granger. Although I had worked alongside Gary for many years, I had not realized that Gary wore two hats at Reed: Director of Community Safety and the teacher of Mindful Walking at Reed (available to students as a physical education class).

Recently, Gary, the Keeper of the Reed Labyrinth, informed me that the labyrinth will be reappearing this week in time for the Reed Reunion. Here are some useful details:

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Walking Your Inner Talk

Show someone 5 photos of people in different situations and ask them, “Which of these people is meditating?” and they will invariably choose the person seated in a lotus position with eyes closed. This image of “meditation = seated lotus” is etched into our cultural consciousness, not to mention the Buddha sculptures you see in Portland yards. So what I am about to say may come as quite a shock. You can meditate in any position that supports your intention for your meditation.

Suppose your intention is to practice mindful awareness. In that case, any position that allows you to pay attention to whatever is taking place in this moment is acceptable. Lotus? Good. Sit in a chair? Also good. Lie on the grass or stand in line at the airport terminal? Both good. You can even practice mindful awareness of body sensations, of thoughts (the ‘inner talk’ in the title), of emotions and feelings, and more, while walking.

I am calling attention to walking because Reed College now has a special place on the front lawn to practice mindful awareness while walking. It is a labyrinth. A colored design that has been added to the Front Lawn between the flag pole and the central door of Eliot Hall. There are plenty of lawn signs calling attention to it so you can’t miss it. The labyrinth opened yesterday (4/19) at noon, and, with the plausible cooperation of the weather and the geese, it will remain in place until Sunday, 4/30 (note: this date is part of Renn Fayre and the campus will be closed to visitors that final weekend in April).

You can learn more about the Reed Labyrinth here. And, if the idea of walking meditation interests you, check out one of my previous posts on this topic (see below).

Full disclosure: You don’t need to do walking meditation while walking the labyrinth. Likewise, you don’t need a labyrinth to do walking meditation. But, as I discovered yesterday, they go together very nicely. So try one or the other, or even both!

Well newsletter recommends mindfulness podcasts

Subscribe to the New York Times and you can sign up to have newsletters on various topics delivered to your email inbox. One of the newsletters that I follow is the Well newsletter which delivers tips on health and wellness. The March 9 newsletter is no exception. It contains links to a wide range of articles, e.g., keeping bacteria out of breast pumps, whether cannabis can be used as a sleep aid, and new trends in male grandparenting. But what makes it relevant for this blog is the list of 12 recommended podcasts dealing with health and wellness issues. Two, in particular, focus on meditation, mindfulness practices, and their application in everyday life. The newsletter provides brief descriptions of the broadcasts and recommends two ‘get-acquainted’ episodes for podcast listeners. Here are capsule summaries of these podcasts:

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