The Real Work
A Weekly Sit For Working Stiffs
Tuesdays at 1PM, starting May 12th
Shantideva Center, 432 6th Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn
💛 Dana basis — give what you can, including nothing
Greeting, Friend!
We spend a lot of our lives in a state of buzzy distraction—raising kids, working jobs, pouring over to-do lists.
The Real Work is your weekly invitation to try something else: to stop, sit down, and pay attention to what's actually happening — in the mind, in your body, and within the world around you.
No experience necessary. No particular belief system required. Just show up. Kindness and curiosity are always welcome here.
What We Do
We meet once a week at the Shantideva Center in Park Slope for an hour of meditation and open conversation. We sit in silence, observing our own minds, and then talk about whatever came up. The format is simple:
A few minutes to arrive and settle
Brief meditation instruction for beginners, and for those with established practices
25 minutes of silent meditation
Open discussion — what came up, what's alive, what matters
The teaching is rooted in Vipassana, or insight meditation. This Buddhist tradition that emphasizes the importance of “seeing things as they are” through our direct experience of meditation, unmediated by belief, doctrine, or someone else’s interpretation.
Who This Is For
This group is for anyone who has ever felt the gap between the life they're living and the one they mean to live.
The Buddha once said that wise friendship — showing up with sincerity, practicing in community, asking hard questions in good company — wasn't just half the path. It was the entirety of it. This is the community I hope we can build together.
You don't need to be a meditator. You don't need to believe anything in particular. You just need to be curious about what's actually happening — in your mind, your work, your relationships — and willing to sit still long enough to look.
About Your Host
As a lay Buddhist practitioner, entrepreneur, and business advisor, I conceived The Real Work out of my desire to understand what the practice of Right Livelihood — one of eight steps comprising the Buddhist path — looks like “in real life.” How do we practice with businesses to run, teacher conferences to schedule, aging parents to worry over?
Come, join us. Sit down and look for yourself.
Sincerely,
Neil Carlson