Winter High School Meditation Series

The Winter High School Meditation Series is a six-week online meditation class for teens, offered through Spirit Rock Meditation Center of Woodacre, California. Taught live on Zoom by Anthony "T" Maes and Sara Oakes, SEP, it introduces mindfulness and Insight Meditation to high schoolers who want to learn how to meditate, relax deeply, and spend time with other people their age. No prior experience is needed.

What to Expect

The series meets for six Sundays, 4:30 to 6:00pm Pacific Time, with the same class time each week. There is one week off in the middle for Valentine's Day, so the sessions run across seven weeks on the calendar.

Each class combines meditation instruction with movement, community-building games, and council, a practice of witnessing the group's collective wisdom. The themes build from week to week. The early sessions focus on grounding, an introduction to meditation and mindfulness, and getting to know the group. The middle sessions turn to attention and awareness, working with the mind, cultivating compassion and wisdom, and speaking truth. Later classes take up healthy use of electronics and digital wellness, bringing practice into daily life, and finish with group reflection and a closing circle.

The aim is simple: to reconnect with yourself and find more ease, wisdom, and compassion, in a room (a virtual one) of peers rather than adults.

About Anthony "T" Maes

Anthony "T" Maes has practiced Buddhist meditation since 2003, including long retreats and time practicing in a forest monastery in Thailand. He teaches at East Bay Meditation Center, Inward Bound Mindfulness Education, IMS, Freedom-Together, and Dharma Homies, where he leads Mindfulness Teacher Training programs, Mindful Movement, and teen meditation retreats.

About Sara Oakes, SEP

Sara Oakes began vipassanā practice in 2004 and started teaching in 2012, focusing on teens and young adults. She graduated from both the Dedicated Practitioner Program and the Community Dharma Leader training at Spirit Rock, and also teaches at East Bay Meditation Center and Inward Bound Mindfulness Education. She is a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and works with Craniosacral therapy.

Before You Go

All high schoolers are welcome. Fourteen-year-olds can try the high school session, and if it does not feel like the right fit, they can tell the teacher at the end of the first class and will be helped to transfer to the Middle School session.

Class size is limited to 25 students. Attendance at no fewer than four sessions is required, and the second session must be one of them. Sessions are not recorded, so participation is live. Video participation is expected, as it supports the shared "practice container," with exceptions for technical or health reasons.

Registration stays open until shortly before the second class, and a waiting list is created if the series fills early. Pricing is on a sliding scale, with higher tiers supporting the teachers, Spirit Rock, and fellow practitioners who need to pay less, as well as scholarship rates for BIPOC and Mudita/Karuna participants. Refunds are not offered, though cancelling before the program begins can result in an open credit or a donation to Spirit Rock.

The series is offered in English and Spanish.