Become a Member

Becoming a member of the Shambhala Meditation Centre is a statement about your personal inspiration, curiosity, and commitment to the path of awakening. It means participating in a community of practitioners who aspire to relate to each other with honesty, warmth, and openness. We inspire one another to deepen our practice of mindfulness, awareness, and compassion. We also provide each other an opportunity to practise compassion and patience.

We invite anyone interested in our Shambhala Centre to consider becoming a member. Becoming a member of our Centre simultaneously brings membership in the global Shambhala community. We are committed to cultivating mindfulness, awareness and compassion―personally and in society.

If you wish to become a member, please click here or e-mail [email protected] and our Membership Coordinator will contact you.

Membership is a way to express appreciation for what Shambhala provides and help make it available to others. This involves three areas of engagement and support:

    • Practising meditation: Making a connection to mindfulness-awareness meditation or related contemplative practice and integrating this practice into daily life is considered the best way for members to support Shambhala and benefit the world and ourselves.
    • Volunteering: All of the work of our Centre and much of the work of the Shambhala global community is done by volunteers. Giving our time and talents to the work of the community is a vital form of support and viewed as part of members’ practice.
    • Providing financial support: We all contribute monthly donations to pay our basic operating expenses. Financial giving as part of our practice of working with dana or transcendental generosity as well, proportional to our income and situatoin. All member donations are tax-deductible. Our typical contributions are a monthly donation equal to about 0.1% of annual income, for example:

$100K a year = $75-100+/month, (or the same as a medium daily latté)
$75K a year = $50-75/month (a small cappuccino a day)
$50K a year= $25-50/month (a coffee a day)
$25K or less = $10-25/month (a coffee or two a week).

We welcome contributions of any amount that your circumstances permit. We thank you for your generosity.

Why does membership matter?

Although membership is not required to participate in much of what the Centre has to offer, without our community’s financial and volunteer support, we would not be able to offer all the wonderful programs, practice sessions, and events that we do. It is because of our members that the profound tradition of meditation is able to survive and flourish. Payment of membership dues is the financial backbone of our Shambhala Centre.

What are the benefits of membership?

Connection with our community by becoming a member helps support your practice and strengthen your understanding of Shambhala Buddhism in many ways. Benefits of membership include:

  • Ongoing meditation instruction with a personal meditation instructor
  • Invitations to special community events, programs, and classes
  • Membership pin
  • Automatic membership in Shambhala’s worldwide network
  • Access to member resources at www.shambhala.org
  • A sense of community: members are committed to the health and wellbeing of the Ottawa Shambhala community and, through this commitment, feel they are an integral part of the community

Feeling inspired? Click here to fill out our membership form! Or, e-mail [email protected] to get in touch with our Membership Coordinator.