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
Most of us spend our lives moving fast, thinking hard, and striving for more.
The Real Work is a weekly invitation to try something else: to stop, sit down, and pay attention to what's actually happening — in your mind, your body, and in 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. TLDR: We sit in silence, each of us observing our own minds, and then we talk about whatever came up. The format is simple:
A few minutes to arrive and settle
Brief meditation instruction – i.e., how does this meditation thing work?
25 minutes of silent meditation
Open discussion — what came up, what's alive, what matters
The teaching is rooted in Vipassana, or insight meditation, a Buddhist tradition that emphasizes the importance of “seeing things as they are” through our direct experience of meditation–rather than 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 life they mean to live.
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.
The Buddha once said that wise friendship — showing up honestly, practicing together, asking hard questions in good company — wasn't half the path. It was the entirety of it. That's what we're building here.
About Your Host
As a lay Buddhist practitioner, entrepreneur, and business advisor, The Real Work was born 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, children to raise, and bills to pay?
Come, join us. Sit down and look for yourself.
Sincerely,
Neil Carlson