What is Meditation?

Through meditation, we discover who we are other than our thoughts: calmness, profound peace and infinite joy.  By centering the attention on the breath, we learn to quiet our restless minds and experience the stillness of our true nature.  With regular practice, we become grounded in this state of awareness and remain calm and peaceful throughout the tumult and crisis of modern life.  Having accessed inner peace we bring forth a healing of the physical body from within.                         

During meditation, the body enters a deeper state of relaxation than during sleep.  This is evidenced by profound reductions in oxygen consumption, metabolism, heart rate, and blood pressure.

The Benefits of Meditation

  • Increased focus and concentration

  • Improved self esteem, sense of belonging and community

  • Reduced feelings of isolation and loneliness

  • Enhanced decision making ability and efficiency 

  • Strengthened immune system and physical body

  • Diminished anxiety and normalized blood pressure

  • Deepened and improved sleep

  • Boosted creativity

Meditation Classes at Woodbury Meditation & Yoga Center

Location: House3 Sunday Summer Intensive beginning July 4 20219:30am-12:30pmAdditional 2 Sundays to be scheduled at participants convenience in July and August.$145People who have taken it in the past may join in and repeat any or all of the series with our compliments


Foundations of Meditation

Janaki Pierson, the Director of WMYC, offers Foundations of Meditation, designed specifically to help participants establish themselves in a regular, daily practice of meditation for maximum benefit.   This course involves training in the theory and practice of correct meditation. 

Topics include benefits of meditation, application to stress management, posture, the relationship between breath and mind, the power of mantra, the evolution of consciousness, Kundalini Shakti, and the mind and attention.  Janaki has been teaching meditation for over 40 years here, throughout Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and New England.

Graduates of our Foundations of Meditation Class may retake the class at ANY TIME for FREE.

Location: Hall Next evening meetingTuesday, July 21, 6:30-9:30pm $35/$25 each when received 3 days in advance

Saturday, 2:00 to 5:00 pm,
November 1, 8, 15 in the Hall.

$165/ $155 if received by 10/27

“Experiences from a Larchmont resident who has been meditating with Janaki for about two years. 

”My mind used to be a very crowded place. Silence meant I wasn’t talking, not that I wasn’t thinking. And while I didn’t see myself as self-centered, it was difficult not to gauge life based on how something impacted me or made me feel. That was before meditation. It was the me of two years ago.

After two years of regular meditation practice, I feel a stillness, a calm that was not noticeable before, so I perceived it as non-existant. Now, thoughts tend to pass right by me instead of getting stuck in the crevices of my mind. It has brought peace to challenging relationships and has given me a broader perspective on just about everything. 

Learning to meditate wasn’t a natural process. I often thought perhaps I’d never be able to find the quiet as others had. For a long time, meditation seemed to be about attempting to silence my internal dialogue. 

Then single, almost fleeting moments of quiet came — perhaps one or two per meditation session. Gradually my mind learned to let go and linger in the nothingness. In this nothingness is a calm that flows into every area of my life. It lessens the impact of daily stresses, dampens irritations, and generally puts distance between me and whatever is happening. 

Meditation has allowed me to be able to view situations without emotion, which is only possible when it’s no longer about you. I am so happy for the peace and tranquility meditation has brought to my life and in turn to those around me.””