Big Heart City Meditation SF

11/21/2025

Nothing focuses the heart like remembering we won’t be here forever.

Every year, a group of us commits to spending twelve months exploring what it means to die — and what it means to truly live while we still can.

It’s honest work. Courageous work. And we don’t have to do it alone. Every time I guide this, I’m reminded that death isn’t the opposite of life — it’s what makes life so precious.

It’s been such an honor to walk this path with so many of y’all.

If you’ve been part of our Year to Live course, I’d love if you’d share a few words from your own experience in the comments. What you say might be exactly what someone else needs to hear to take that next step.

And,if you feel inspired to help me spread the word, please share, like, or pass it on to someone who might need it.

With a deep low bow,
Vinny

To learn more details and register, visit https://bit.ly/AYeartoLive2026

11/19/2025

You’re invited for a day of practice with Vinny Ferraro & Big Heart City

Why We Practice & How to Remember When We Forget

Saturday, November 29
10am - 4pm Pacific
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We forget. We remember. We forget again. Practice is how we return, with kindness, with humor, and with heart. This daylong is an invitation to come home, to reconnect, and to rediscover what drew us to practice in the first place.

Through meditation, reflection, and conversation, we’ll explore what it means to wake up in the middle of our beautifully imperfect lives — the forgetting, the returning, and the grace that runs through it all.

Whether you’re new to mindfulness or have practiced long enough to know you still forget, this day is for you. If you’ve lost touch with your practice or with yourself, come join us — for the whole day if you can, or for whatever part you’re able. What matters is showing up. No perfect people needed, just the one who knows we can always begin again.

And through it all, remember this: no matter how much suffering tries to convince us otherwise, we don’t have to do it alone. Whatever you’re holding, let’s hold it together.

$40 Registration fee + dana to Vinny

If the registration fee is prohibitive for you, email info@bigheartcity.org and we will get you registered.

Register at bigheartcity.org/daylong-retreat

Online daylong retreat with VINNY FERRAROWhy We Practice and How to Remember When We ForgetSaturday, November 29, 202510am-4pm Pacific on Zoom Register Here We forget. We remember. We forget again. Practice is how we return, with kindness, with humor, and with heart.This daylong is an invitation to....

11/19/2025

Norman Fischer leads the group this week with a talk titled, “Flowers, Dhammapada Chapter 4.”

Join Us Friday, November 21• 7:30pm Pacific

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87574951803

Meeting ID: 875 7495 1803

Norman Fischer is a poet and Zen Buddhist priest. His recent poetry titles include Selected Poems 1980-2013, Through a Window, and Nature. His latest Buddhist titles are The World Could be Otherwise: Imagination and the Bodhisattva Path; and When You Greet Me I Bow: Notes and Reflections from a Life in Zen. His translation of the Hebrew psalms, Opening to You, is widely read in both Jewish and Christian circles. The University of Alabama Press Poetics Series brought out his Experience: Essays on Thinking, Writing, Language, and Religion in 2016. He lives in Muir Beach California with his wife Kathie, who is also a Zen priest. For more information see www.everydayzen.org, and www.normanfischer.org.

11/13/2025

Vinny Ferraro leads the group this week!

We hope you can join us!
Friday, November 14
7:30pm Pacific

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87205569906

Meeting ID: 872 0556 9906

11/06/2025

Vinny Ferraro leads the group this week!

Join Us Friday, November 7
7:30pm - 9:00pm Pacific

St. Gregory of Nyssa
500 De Haro Street at Mariposa
Potrero Hill, San Francisco

Not in San Francisco? Tune into the live stream on our YouTube channel

Find more details at bigheartcity.org/schedule

10/29/2025

Andrew Brindle Perry leads the group this week with a talk titled “Sitting with What Can’t Be Healed.”

Join Us Friday, October 31
7:30pm Pacific

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83291767972

Meeting ID: 832 9176 7972

Andrew Brindle Perry has been practicing Vipassana meditation since 2012. He’s a teacher, mentor, Buddhist-informed counselor, and coach. His teachings on Buddhist-informed recovery from addiction and programs for ethical masculinity have been heard in treatment centers, hospitals, and jails all across the United States, as well as in Ireland, England, and Germany. He believes in the transformative power of the undefended heart, and that anyone can learn to give and receive love responsibly.

He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with his wife Rachel, their daughters Charlotte (20) and Esther (9), and his mother-in-law, Debbie.

10/22/2025

Vinny Ferraro leads the group this week!

Join Us Friday, October 24
7:30pm Pacific

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81247948459

Meeting ID: 812 4794 8459

10/16/2025

Vinny Ferraro leads the group this week!

Join Us Friday, October 24 • 7:30pm Pacific
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81247948459

Meeting ID: 812 4794 8459

10/15/2025

Vinny Ferraro leads the group this week!

Join Us Friday, October 17
7:30pm Pacific

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85456619985

Meeting ID: 854 5661 9985

10/13/2025

You are warmly invited to Healing Future Generations: A Fundraiser for Mind Body Awareness with Vinny Ferraro & Oscar Medina

Saturday, November 8
6:00pm - 8:30pm Pacific
(in-person & livestream)

On Saturday, November 8, join us in San Francisco and online to support the Mind Body Awareness Project (MBA). For more than two decades, MBA has brought mindfulness and healing to young people, educators, and incarcerated populations across California, reaching thousands each year with practical tools to navigate trauma, build resilience, and lead with compassion.

Hosted by Vinny Ferraro — Dharma teacher, guiding presence at Big Heart City in San Francisco, and author of MBA’s mindfulness curriculum for incarcerated youth.

This evening will bring together educators, funders, organizers, and voices from the frontlines to grow the next chapter of MBA’s work: sustaining healing-centered mindfulness programs in schools, prisons, and communities across California.

Purchase tickets or Make a Donation here:

givebutter.com/healingfuturegenerations

10/08/2025

Joe Clements leads the group this week with a talk titled “You Are Doing Better Than You Think.”

Join Us Friday, October 10
7:30pm Pacific 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83464549612

Meeting ID: 834 6454 9612

Joe Clements is a mindfulness meditation teacher, musician, and community facilitator based in Santa Cruz, CA. His approach blends secular mindfulness with influences from Buddhist traditions, focusing on creating spaces that feel accessible, down-to-earth, and real. Joe has been practicing for over 14 years and offers meditation groups, workshops, and retreats that center emotional resilience, self-awareness, and community support. He’s known for his humble, relatable style and his ability to make meditation feel like something you can actually do in the messy, everyday moments of life. To learn more, visit josephclements.com.

10/07/2025

🍂 Join us on this yearlong journey to discover what death has to teach us about life and vice versa.

Inspired by Stephen Levine’s book, A Year to Live, this online training course is an exploration of forgiveness, gratitude, and letting go. The Buddha encouraged us to reflect on death not out of fear, but as a way to awaken to the fleeting beauty of our lives. By embracing this practice, we come to appreciate the fragility and impermanence of our existence.

Learn more & register: http://go.spiritrock.org/3Vp0YIj