Evolving Ground
My community Evolving Ground is dedicated to practicing and exploring Vajrayana, a life-affirming Buddhist path. Vajrayana is a path of passionate involvement with the world. Its methods include silent meditation, dance, ritual, emotional responsiveness, visualization, song, movement, energetic practices, and creativity.
Vajrayana has some accurate and complimentary ways of understanding how things work that we don’t find in other of our inherited worldviews. We’re finding ways to translate and apply those practices so that they are accessible and can help solve deeply rooted personal and relational tensions.
This page describes what the community is like, its origins, its unique meta-systematic approach to practice, and what to expect if you get involved.
A community of practice
A community of practice is a place where people support each other to apply shared methods to their life experience and circumstances. In Evolving Ground we support community members to develop personal autonomy and choose what feels right for themselves. The community is a sandbox for exploration and collaboration.
We pay attention to healthy relationships. For us that means skillful disagreement, expressing doubt, and curious skepticism. We like lively and rigorous, kind and conversational group dynamics. We discourage people-pleasing, moral righteousness, and vacuous spiritual blather.
Many of the community gatherings, online and in person, are free—including life-affirming meditation groups, Vajrayana practice sessions, and Q&As. There are several different paid membership roles to suit increased involvement and a core community of two founders (me and Jared Janes) with apprentices.
Join the community for:
Support to set up and maintain your personal, life-affirming meditation practice.
Real time meetups and forum threads on unclogging stuck energy and creating the world that you want to live in.
Regular group conversations exploring Vajrayana: what it is, and how it can make a difference for you.
Cohort-based courses in emotional responsiveness, better relationships, and leading a powerful life.
In person events and retreats introducing our transformative practices.
How it started
After 25 years of practice and Buddhist ordination, I stepped away from a traditional setting. Jared Janes ran into my writing while searching for a spiritual path that didn’t feel like it was in conflict with being a husband, creative, and entrepreneur.
The two of us began talking regularly and became great friends. We share a passion for making Vajrayana available to people who want to make a practical difference in the world. We noticed that our relationship mirrors the informality of village Vajrayana during its first spread in Tibet: wandering yogis in natural circumstances, integrating their path with their lives and friends.
This sparked a question… “Who also wants contemporary Vajrayana?”
To test the waters, we hosted an online meetup, and after a large turnout, we started Evolving Ground.
Meta-Systematic View
I’m inspired by yogic lineages that appreciated engineering, individual personalities, and were, frankly, quite weird. There are many hundreds of methods, multiple paths and lineages, even within the Vajrayana strand of Buddhism. My community doesn’t recommend one system or follow one path. We’re more interested in how methods are supposed to function and whether they fit with our circumstances.
The community’s purpose is pragmatic. We want to feel, relate, and behave in better ways and to help others do that too. We find meaning and enjoyment in real life projects, not from universal, metaphysical goals.
If this description speaks to you, fill out the form below to get access and have a look around. A short series of automated emails will help you get your bearings.