Mindfulness Mentor Sharon Shelton on the Power of Community
This week, we have an inspiring podcast conversation with Sharon Shelton about the benefits of learning meditation in community, through mindfulness mentor groups. Sharon is a mindfulness and dharma teacher and certified life coach, and one of the founding teachers at Cloud Sangha (now called Banyan).
You can listen using the player below, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on YouTube!
Episode Details:
You’ll be energized by Sharon Shelton’s passion, as she describes the power of mindful connection. She explains how exploring mindfulness in community can strengthen your individual meditation practice, and that it can also be part of a larger movement of transforming the isolation, division, and distress that’s so apparent in our society.
We talk about her work with Cloud Sangha (now called Banyan), an online meditation practice community founded by Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield, and how she’s been surprised by the level of authentic community forming in this virtual space. Sharon also describes what a mindfulness mentor group is, and how it supports a depth of practice through continuity and accountability.
What you’ll learn about Mindfulness Mentor Groups:
• the differences between mentoring and coaching
• why mindfulness mentoring is distinct from group therapy
• how mentor groups represent a less hierarchical model for learning mindfulness
• the richness of bringing together practitioners from different backgrounds, all over the world
• the importance of skilled space-holding and facilitation to create safety and open-ness within a practice group
Sharon gives several examples of how practicing in community can help us find more skillful ways of being with the challenges of our times – rather than defaulting to anxiety, apathy, or self-righteousness.
Listen in, and perhaps find hope in this bold vision for a more mindful, compassionate world!
Guest Bio:
Sharon Shelton is a Certified Mindfulness Teacher and Life Coach, and is a Founding Advisor and Mentor at Cloud Sangha/Banyan. She discovered meditation and mindfulness when in early recovery from alcoholism in 1997 and has been studying and practicing ever since. Sharon offers dharma talks at the Triangle Insight Meditation Community in Durham, NC and guides weekly meditations for her 3800+ member Listen to Your Life (L2YL) Meetup group.
Since 2007, Sharon has been credentialed as a Certified Professional Coach (CPC) by the International Coach Federation, working with women in midlife to strengthen intention, alignment and mindfulness. She also teaches in SCORE’s Business Plan & Entrepreneurial Support Program, a multi-week program designed to support and mentor BiPOC business owners in collaboration with Shaw University.
Sharon loves writing, and her work has been featured in Spirituality & Health and Thích Nhất Hạnh’s Mindfulness Bell magazine.
Resources & Links from this episode:
- Check out this blog post from Cloud Sangha, “Community: The Missing Piece in Your Transformation and Awakening”
- Connect with Sharon’s popular Listen to Your Life Meetup Group
- Visit her website to learn more about Sharon Shelton’s mindfulness mentor and life coaching work
- And follow her on Instagram at @loveactivist
If you enjoyed this episode, you might also like Episode 47 – Learning to Meditate: Apps and Beyond, where I talk about the benefits and limitations of tech-based meditation tools, or Episode 53 – Tips for Mindfulness in Challenging Times, where I offer some lessons learned from practicing through the changes and transitions of the last year.