Jonathan Prescott (dark hair) and Michael Melancon (light hair), beginning a personal retreat on Guemes Island, Washington, often think as one.
Photos by: Anacortes Mindfulness Community, Michael Melancon, Jonathan Prescott , Two Palms Up Sangha

My friend Michael Melancon and I didn’t intend to start a Sangha; Michael lives in Palm Springs and I live on a tiny island north of Seattle.

We two friends had been meditating together for years. But when nine months ago we invited others to join our daily online practice as a response to COVID-19, we were surprised that our Zoom channel quickly became home to 60 meditators.

The Morning Light Sangha flourishes due to Zoom.

Also we were surprised to realize an unanticipated boon from the COVID-19 era: it makes daily Sangha practice far more attainable than was possible when people had to travel to a shared location.  

Last March’s social distancing restrictions upended the local Sanghas we lead:  Michael’s Two Palms Up Sangha in Palm Springs and my Anacortes Mindfulness Community and Island Sangha on Guemes Island. Like Sanghas all over the world, our communities shifted to online gatherings and we don’t imagine that will change for some time. But because Michael and I had already embraced years of physically distant practice, we wondered if we could use our experience to help others.

We met in the 1990s as members of Seattle’s Mindfulness Community of Puget Sound, and on the path to ordination became deep spiritual friends. In 2005 I moved to the San Juan Islands and Michael to Palm Springs, but we maintained our friendship with frequent phone calls, FaceTime sessions, and private retreats.

The Sangha of Two Palms Up Zendo of Palm Springs, now sit only via Zoom.

Because Michael and I had been meditating together online early in the day, when it came time to name our new group we dubbed it Morning Light Sangha. Perhaps 1,300 miles separated us, but with Zoom technology this no longer mattered.

Our growing Morning Light Sangha now gathers six days a week at 6:30 am Pacific. (Saturday is a lazy day!) We begin with informal sitting meditation and welcome people to silently join in as they log in.

At 7 a.m. we share practice guidance followed by more sitting. Then during the last few minutes we encourage Sangha members to check in and get to know each other, either all together or in small groups. This connecting has been particularly rewarding, because many members from across the United States and Canada have never physically met. Intimate discussion becomes the glue that holds us together.

Prescott and Melancon concluding a personal retreat on Guemes Island.

We always end by dedicating the merit of our practice and sharing our good fortune. This is particularly important to Michael and me because we recognize how fortunate we are for our 25-year spiritual friendship. Supporting an online Sangha is one way we hope to repay that abundance.

We’re learning that while Sanghas typically form around shared location and practice traditions, “local” takes on new meaning in the COVID-19 era. Just as we’ve come to see that “families of choice” can augment genetic families, online “Sanghas of choice” can supplement local Sanghas, particularly for those living outside populated areas.

Michael and I learned that leaving Seattle didn’t mean that we had to leave each other, just as participating in online Sanghas doesn’t mean that people need to leave their local Sanghas. Our roots can grow deep both locally and online.

The Anacortes Mindfulness Community celebrating a pre-covid Five Mindfulness Trainings transmission ceremony.

Many of us are finding that daily online Sangha support deepens our practice. This is a marked improvement over the pre-COVID-19 model, which provided weekly Sangha gatherings and periodic retreats, but left us to do daily meditation alone.

Now that our morning sits are also done in community we find ourselves transformed, as though lay and monastic practices have intertwined. We are in the world, yet deeply supported by a daily practice community. We see more clearly that we are not separate selves: We wake up together or not at all.

Looking forward, we don’t want to let go of this deepening when the pandemic resolves. We’re creating a blog and social media tools to sustain us. We’re learning how to offer online retreats that refresh us, without exhausting us with too much screen time. We’re wondering how to connect across distance, and how to offer care to people we hardly ever see.

Two Palms Up Sangha meditating in Palm Springs, before the pandemic.

We don’t have many answers yet. But based on my longtime, long-distance spiritual friendship with Michael, I trust that there is a way.