Red Lotus Meditation Sangha

02/14/2026

Greetings Dear Sangha!

We are delighted to share our next event together. Meditation, Tea and Book Exchange with special guest Bailey Acupuncture and Wellness. Save the date! Sunday March 22nd 7p at BUC.

Please join us for a special evening together. Where we will meditate, exchange books that can inspire, educate and create curiosity on our path. Special guest Dr. Jamie Bailey will offer ear acupuncture- a great way to encourage and promote relaxation and overall wellness. Also a raffle for a new RLMS T shirt hoodie!

01/10/2026

Dear Fellow Board Members, Dear Sangha,

As we come to the close of the year, I want to pause and reflect with gratitude on the care, steadiness, and shared intention that have guided our sangha and our board. Serving alongside each of you has been a joy, a responsibility and a practice—one that has asked for discernment, patience, and trust in the unfolding of our collective work.

This year brought meaningful growth as well as important challenges. Through it all, our sangha remained rooted in its core mission and purpose: supporting the development of wisdom and compassion through teaching insight meditation. Offering a refuge for practice, inquiry, and connection. Whether through our meditation teachings, retreats, or the quiet understanding and curious inquiry at our weekly gatherings. We have continued to support individuals in cultivating awareness, compassion, and presence—both on and off the cushion.

Some 2025 highlights:

• Prison skills program at Cook County Jail

• Day long meditation retreat "Bringing your true self to the world."

• Sunday Evening Meditation continues with steadfast participation.

• Welcomed returning board member, Alice Keene

• Nature walk and Meditation

• Guest teacher highlights with Eric Lindo

• Introduction to Mindfulness with new session, "meet the nervous system"

• Day long meditation retreat, "No mud...No Lotus"

I also want to acknowledge the community members whose generosity, including time and spirit makes this organization possible. It is because of you we continue to flourish and create deeply nourishing connections.

As we look ahead, I feel encouraged by the depth of our collective intention/mission and by the resilience of this community. I continue to be inspired by this creative and supportive team. May we meet the coming year with curiosity, humility, and the same spirit of collaboration that has carried us this far.

Thank you for your service, your presence, and your willingness to engage in this work with both heart and clarity. It is an honor to serve alongside you.

With gratitude and respect,

Eric Pudil
Board Director
Red Lotus Meditation Sangha

11/21/2025

Enjoy this wonderful read this winter.

It's November now. The days are getting shorter, the cold is creeping in, and everyone's bracing for winter like it's something to survive rather than something to learn from. But here's what makes this the perfect time to read Katherine May's New York Times bestseller: winter isn't just a season on the calendar. It's a metaphor for the times in our lives when everything falls apart at once and we're just trying to make it until spring.

I read this during the worst winter of my life. Not the weather—though it was cold—but the kind of winter May writes about. The kind where your body quits on you, your job feels meaningless, you can't sleep but can't stay awake. I was functioning but barely, and everyone kept saying "stay positive!" like toxic optimism could cure what was actually happening to me.

Then someone handed me this book and said, "Stop trying to fix yourself. Just read this." And May—writing from her own season of falling apart—said the thing I desperately needed to hear: what she calls wintering is "the active acceptance of sadness." Not fighting it. Not white-knuckling through it. Just letting yourself be in the dark for a while because that's what winter is for. Whether you're entering the literal cold months or your own personal season of struggle, this book will meet you exactly where you are.

Here's what broke me open: May writes about trees losing their leaves and how we call that beautiful. About bears hibernating and how we call that natural. But when I needed to go dormant, to rest, to retreat into the dark for a while? I called it failure. I called it weakness. I called it something that needed urgent fixing.

May said no. What if your fallow season isn't a failure? What if winter is just doing what winter does—stripping everything down so something new can grow?

I kept waiting for her to tell me how to get better faster. She didn't. Instead she talked about the relief of stopping. About how our culture endlessly cheerleads us into positivity while erasing the dirty underside of real life. About how rest isn't laziness—it's the thing that keeps us alive. About how sometimes you have to let yourself be cold, be sad, be dormant, because that's the only honest response to certain seasons.

She didn't promise I'd come out transformed. She just promised winter would end. That spring always comes. That this darkness, like all darkness, is temporary even when it feels permanent. And somehow that was more comforting than any promise of transformation could ever be.

And if you're in your own winter right now—whether it's the literal cold settling in this November or the metaphorical darkness of life unraveling—read this. May won't fix you. She'll just sit with you in the dark and remind you that winter is a season, not a life sentence. That rest isn't weakness. That sometimes you have to fall completely apart before you can come back together as someone new.
Read it slowly. Let it sink in. Stop apologizing for needing to hibernate.

BOOK: https://amzn.to/49XOf7R

You can find and listen to the audiobook narration using the link above.

11/15/2025

Learning to be a better surfer!

11/09/2025

A bit gloomy outside, but a wonderful day to deepen our meditation practice and help the lotus bloom through the mud. Thanks for all that attended. We look forward to seeing you again.

06/09/2025

Very educational dharma talk this week with author Jule Nelson. Thanks to all that attended.

05/31/2025

Beautiful morning for a Nature Walk & Meditation.

05/27/2025

https://mygivingcircle.org/red-lotus-meditation-sangha

This grant round we are giving $18,500 to the Top #10 USA Charities. Vote and support the Charities you love today and help them share in grants on 1 Jul 2025 12:00AM.

04/25/2025

Please join us for a morning together in nature.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1331835920089/preview/

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1331835920089/preview/?fbclid=IwY2xjawKThBtleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETE4cEhxdE1TSjV6RHNIQnAyAR5eJcve00ONbu0EKgbrjz6uY14lZrGCtPe3qPYnA8T_6pC9gdXqo0Sp4rWXoA_aem_eOVhsbWPPQ1e6ucfgswxew