About Us
Who We Are and What We Do
Mindfulness Plus is a not-for-profit, non-religious, spiritual practice and volunteer community supporting Boston’s South Shore. Mindfulness Plus offers practice groups, volunteer opportunities, educational workshops & retreats, and social events in support of our South Shore neighbors.
We believe that mindfulness practices open us to new and creative ways to be of support to each other, and that spiritual practice and community service go hand-in-hand. As a non-religious spiritual community, we do not proselytize or seek growth for growth’s sake. We do not make any religious or creedal claims beyond affirming the benefit of mindfulness practice and its value to individual and communal well-being.
Our core practice draws from Buddhist Insight Meditation, Ignatian spirituality, Quaker Silence, 12-Step meetings, and many other traditions. We engage our practice using approachable language, and we believe that mindfulness practice can be helpful to anyone and everyone. Our practice invites us to bring generous, openhearted attention to whatever is going on in our own lives, in our community, and in the world at large. We believe candid and respectful conversation is the best way to investigate our questions and experiences. We are committed to fostering safe and welcoming spaces to pay attention to ambivalence, confusion, dissonance, and resistance - whatever blocks the path to open hearted curiosity.
Why We Do It
As our community grows, we see how mindfulness practice speaks with timely relevance to social and cultural realities.
An increasing number of people are disconnected from traditional religious communities. Our core practice provides opportunities to explore the wisdom of diverse traditions without having to believe or formally belong. We welcome participants to bring whatever we already believe, including our commitments to faith traditions or to no religious faith at all. We each bring the experiences that make us who we are, and all that we bring is welcome.
Within our polarized political climate and self-insulating social media, it is difficult to connect with others across our differences. Our core practice – with no cross talk, dis/agreement, or fixing – creates safe spaces to speak honestly about our lives. There’s no formula for how or what we share. People might talk about their personal thoughts and feelings, their social lives in relation to family and community, or what we’re experiencing in the world at large. We extend to each other respectful kindness and empathetic presence. Our practice teaches us how to listen without judgment.
In a world of limited communal support, we share with each other what we’ve found to be helpful and true. Our core practice invites us to share our experiences and insights. We might suggest to others resources we’ve found helpful: books, podcasts, self-care, therapeutic, and educational opportunities. We might celebrate and share art, music, film, or ideas we’ve enjoyed exploring. We might invite others to participate in activities connected to our own personal or professional interests, including M+’s growing number of programs and services.
Commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion
Mindfulness Plus affirms that all people are worthy and deserving of dignity, and we welcome people of all backgrounds. M+ does not tolerate discrimination or “othering” behavior based on race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, or disability, and we are especially mindful of groups and people that have been historically underrepresented or discriminated against.
How M+ Got Started
Jonathan’s Background
I’ve spent time with many different spiritual communities since moving beyond the conservative Christian church in which I grew up. Yet no single community has ever felt big enough. I’m a member of the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center, and I’m nourished by my own meditation practice. I worship at what Czech writer Milan Kundera called “the church of the novel,” finding in fiction things that can’t be said any other way. As Walt Whitman gleefully put it, “I contain multitudes,” and “if I contradict myself, then, very well, I contradict myself!”
After graduating from Harvard Divinity School, I worked for 15 years as a hospice chaplain and volunteer coordinator. I chose hospice because I wasn’t afraid of this thing that seemed to frighten others, and so I imagined I might be helpful. Hospice work took me into the diverse neighborhoods of inner-city Boston. The work taught me to listen and share across all manner of racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and religious differences. I learned how to account for myself and others in intersectional terms: all of us share space and resources, and “the world” makes infinite and divergent claims made upon us, individually and collectively. It takes intentional effort, humility, and risk to live well (and die well) together.
I am also the bridge minister at Second Congregational Church in Cohasset, and with my brother (Pierce Brothers) provide funeral, memorial, and wedding ceremony support to people not connected with religious/faith community. I am married to Doreen and step-dad to two teenage boys.
Our core practice invites us to engage each other with lovingkindness and respect. We are committed to exploring and investigating what we don’t understand about ourselves, giving special care and attention to whatever might block openhearted curiosity. We believe that mindfulness practice can be helpful to anyone and everyone, and we welcome all who join in our services and programs.
From Jonathan Pierce, M+ Lead Organizer
In 2022, when I was working in Norwell as a hospice volunteer coordinator and chaplain, a small group of volunteers joined me in a mindfulness practice group. I thought such a group would be a helpful way of supporting one other while we supported patients and families in need. The group grew over a few months and, when I left hospice in May 2023, everyone said they wanted to keep the group going. We found meeting space at Second Congregational Church in Cohasset, and continued to meet weekly on Friday mornings. Our circle continued to expand as others joined us by word of mouth.
In coordinating a large volunteer program, I realized that people on the South Shore have tremendous energy to give of themselves – their time, skill, and curiosity – to others. I also realized that many of these people – religiously “none” or “non-practicing” – are open and eager for meaningful, intersectional spiritual community. After we started meeting in Cohasset, a few group members joined me in asking what such a community might look like. How might mindfulness practices, facilitated in approachable and non-religious terms, hold together a diverse and engaged community of practitioners? How might such practices shape and nurture support and kindness we extend to others, via community service and volunteer opportunities?
Mindfulness Plus invites all who want to ask and explore these questions to join in and explore for themselves.
