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Monday 7pm - 8:15pm Tuesday 7pm - 8pm Sunday 6pm - 7pm

Southsea Sangha

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Southsea Sangha

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Southsea Sangha is an open access, peer led Buddhist meditation group. We are committed to creating a truly inclusive Sangha.

Southsea Sangha is an open access, peer led Buddhist meditation group, who aspire to always nurture community and connection, striving to be a community which reflects the rich diversity of the island city in which we live. WHO WE ARE:
Southsea Sangha was founded in May 2014 by Community Dharma Leader, Daniel Sutton-Johanson and is now supported and run by a handful of volunteers. We welcome people from all social identities, including all ethnicities, classes, sexual orientations, gender identities, ages, abilities and cultures. WHAT DO WE DO: Dharma talks and meditation instructions are shared every week, and held within an open and relaxed setting which supports gentle inquiry and development of meditation and personal practice. For info on our weekly groups, please visit
www.southseasangha.com

OUR MISSION:

We wish to create and sustain communities of healthy, accountable, wise and compassionate people from every walk of life. We believe that the path of awakening and benefits from meditation should be available to all and we strive to create a safe environment for all who come to practice or are simply curious. We aim to support those wishing to explore this radical meditative discipline of compassion, wisdom, kindness, generosity and humility. Southsea Sangha is run entirely on Dana. WHAT IS DANA: Dana, translated from Pali points towards the act of giving or simply generosity, and is a cornerstone teaching within the Buddhist tradition and a practice in of itself. In the act of giving we develop our ability to let go of our craving or clinging tendencies, cultivate a spirit of caring and the quality of open handedness, helping us to acknowledge the inter-connectedness that we all share. HOW MUCH ARE CLASSES: There is no correct sum to give and no one is ever turned away from classes due to lack of funds. Offering of Dana is an opportunity for practice: what you give is a personal decision. Donations make an invaluable contribution to the running of the group and towards the purchase of shared resources such as cushions & Zafus etc. The generosity of our Sangha (community) in supporting the center and those who visit, allows us to make meditation teachings, freely available to all those who are interested while regularly supporting local homeless and r**e crisis charities with our surplus funds. ALL ARE WELCOME:
We welcome people from all social identities, including all ethnicities, classes, sexual orientations, gender identities, ages, abilities and cultures. You don't need to be a Buddhist to meditate or just to come hang with us at Sangha :)

26/10/2026

••FREE DAYLONG MEDITATION RETREAT••
LAST FEW SPACES AVAILABLE
Saturday 7th November
10-4pm
•
LINK IN BIO ____BOOKING ESSENTIAL
•
What’s Love Got to do With It? - A daylong retreat exploring The Brahmavihāras w/ Liz Cooke & Rosie Holmes
Coastguard Studio Southsea.

•

This being human can be challenging.
We are living in uncertain times.

In many cases, our hearts, minds and bodies are deeply tired, sometimes swinging between fear, overwhelm and numbness. ‘Love’, can sometimes start to feel like an abstract concept.

This day of practice will offer our hearts a chance to rest, be refreshed, and be listened to.

We will come together, in-person and in community, to reconnect with our senses and incline our hearts towards their four natural qualities of kindness, compassion, joy and steadiness.

Through guided meditation practices, poetry, discussion, and quiet time to just be with ourselves, we will explore ways to support and nourish the tired heart.

These practices can also reconnect us to a ‘Love’ that is less abstract and more active, playful, and able to respond to life with care and wisdom.

All practices and instructions will be suitable for all levels of experience.

12/10/2026

SUNDAY 22nd NOV
6pm-8pm

LINK IN OUR BIO - A free community screening: The People’s Emergency Briefing at The Coastguard Studio, hosted by Southsea Sangha

W/ Special Guest Joseph Mishan

Spaces Limited. Booking essential

What’s happening with climate and nature, and what does it mean for everyday life in the UK?

How can dharma practice support us through this crisis?

Join us for a screening of the People’s Emergency Briefing - an eye-opening 50-minute film bringing together nine leading UK scientists and experts with the latest evidence and why it matters for things like:

🌧️ Extreme weather
🍞 Food security
🏥 Health
💷 Cost of living

The film is based on the National Emergency Briefing in Westminster (featured by ITV, Channel 4 and The Times) with appearances from Chris Packham, Deborah Meaden, and a range of voices from across the UK.

After the film there will be facilitated small group discussions about the impact of the film on ourselves, what it means for our community and what we can do locally.

This event is being hosted by Southsea Sangha and facilitated by contemplative educator Rosie Holmes and Ecotherapist Emily Chiswell.

We are delighted to also have a special guest, Joseph Mishan, joining us from Bristol to help facilitate: Joseph is a psychotherapist and meditator of over 20 years in the insight tradition.

He is a founding member of an engaged Buddhist organisation which is active on the issues of climate and the wider poly-crisis. He is a trained facilitator of climate cafes and an active member of the Climate Psychology Alliance.

Seats are free but limited so please book in advance.

If after booking you are unable to attend, we’d be very grateful if you could let us know so that we can re-allocate your ticket to someone else.

Bring a friend, neighbour or family member: everyone is welcome.

Doors open from 5.45pm, screening starts at 6pm prompt.

The Coastguard Studio is at 91 Clarendon Rd, Southsea, Portsmouth. There is no carpark - you may find parking on the roads nearby but the nearest car park is the Seafront canoe lake car park, 11 minutes walk away.

03/10/2026

Beginner's Mind

Sunday 4th October

6pm - 7pm, with Rosie
@ The Coastguard Studio, Southsea

Beginners Mind is a weekly meditation group, freely offered to all those interested in beginning or sustaining their meditation practice, with the support of a community of meditators.

The Evening...

The Flow?
The evening will usually consist of brief welcome and the invitation of a guided meditation practice and a chance to meet those in your community with some light refreshments.

Where?
@ Coastgaurd studio

What to bring?
Mats, cushions and chairs are provided and we have some blankets. Please feel free to bring anything that makes you comfortable, cosy socks are good!

Cost?
Free, all offered on Dana (see below)
No one is turned away for a lack of funds.

25/09/2026

Bookings Open! - link in our bio
SUNDAY 11th OCTOBER
6-8pm
Coastguard Studio

Grounded in the Dharma: An Evening of Meditation & Teachings
w/ Singhashri

We are thrilled to welcome back Singhashri to Southsea for our 2nd event of this Stillness in the City Series thanks to Portsmouth City Council

The Buddha taught that life inevitably includes suffering — AND that liberation from suffering is possible. With so much suffering in our world, how do we meet ourselves and one another with curiosity, courage, and a deep commitment to awakening for the benefit of all beings?

How do we learn to expand our capacity to stay present to even the most challenging experiences so that we can move through them together, without causing more suffering?

We will explore what supports a felt sense of safety, dignity, and belonging in the body and the critical role joy plays in our collective liberation.

Every registration to this event will bring us closer to achieving our mission.

Together, we can create a brighter, more compassionate world for all.

Thank you for supporting our mission, your support is invaluable.

Link in bio!

12/09/2026

This Sunday. 6-8pm w/ Daniel Sutton-Johanson & Sally

In response to the recent happenings in Portsmouth, we will be exploring heartbreak, grief, anger and the essential role love plays and has, in response to the hostilities and false yang reactivity seen in Portsmouth recently.

Spiritual Practice is not an invitation to ‘rise above’ or transcend what is happening, soften its reality, or use spiritual practice to avoid discomfort or conflict.

Grief and anger belong here.
They tell us that something matters, and that our lives are bound up with the lives of others.

Solidarity does not mean trying to make our suffering or struggles the same but instead means being prepared to bare them with you.

And that includes practicing how to bare that which Is within us too

Instead of bypassing the truth, lets hold space for it

Love asks us to tell the truth of what’s really happening.

Without love,
struggle becomes aggression.

without love,
being in service becomes burnout and resentment

And without Love,
Spirit becomes an abstraction, just a concept.
Not the experience it is.

So Love becomes the ground that makes struggle bearable and service sustainable.
It binds and also liberates.

With love, learning about ourselves becomes a site of healing, acceptance and empowerment.

Over time, love becomes less about preference
and more about presence — a commitment to stay open

This tending is not retreat from action.
It helps us organise, resist and respond from greater clarity, courage and care.

In moments shaped by fear, dehumanisation and confusion, love, when fully understood and practiced with, is a radical response.

Not love as niceness, compliance or silence, but love as a disciplined refusal to abandon anyone’s humanity—including our own.

A love capable of saying no, protecting where possible those being targeted, interrupting harm and sustaining collective action.

Together, we will practise making room for what hurts while asking: how might a well-tended heart help us act more wisely, effectively and courageously together in this fierce moment?

Come join Daniel and Sally and others....
We look forward to seeing you

04/09/2026

THIS SUNDAY!
Practice in person with Sally at Coastguard Studio!

Our freely offered, in person meditation groups return after a summer break, making this an ideal opportunity to explore or reconnect with your practice.
Freely offered, 6pm @ Coastguard Studio.
Sept 6th.
We’d love to see you there.

04/09/2026

Practice in person with Daniel and Sally at Coastguard Studio!
Our freely offered, in person meditation groups return after a summer break, making this an ideal opportunity to explore or reconnect with your practice.
Freely offered, 6pm @ Coastguard Studio.
Sept 6th.
We'd love to see you there.

03/09/2026

WE ARE BACK!

September Community Practice Schedule…

___IN PERSON___

Sept 6th - Beginners Mind w/Sally
Sept 13th - Community Dharma w/Daniel
Sept 20th - pause
Sept 27th - Daylong Retreat w/
@ Portsmouth High School

___ONLINE___

The Dharma of NOW
Wednesdays
6.30pm-7.30pm UK • 1.30pm EST • 10.30am PST

2nd - Daniel
9th - Daniel
16th - Liz
23rd - Kareem
30th - Noah

Earthworm Sangha
Monday 28th
7pm -8.15pm UK • 2pm EST • 11am PST

23/08/2026

DAYLONG MEDITATION RETREAT - link in bio -
w/ Lama Rod Owens

Sunday - September 27th
10am - 4pm
Southsea

Freely Offered.Spaces Limited. Booking ESSENTIAL

_____

It is our absolute pleasure to welcome back Lama Rod to Southsea, for this special special retreat which is FREE to book! Thx to our friends and their support from Portsmouth 100 & Portsmouth City Council .

As part of the Portsmouth 100 celebrations , we are hosting “Stillness in the City”, a series of 3 events in September, October & November, for 100 people interested in community meditation and mindfulness with 4 fabulous teachers.

We start in September with Lama Rod Owens!

Spaces are limited.
An attendance fee of £5 is charged at booking and refunded on attendance.

Below is a small summery of the retreat.

To reserve your spot, link in our bio…
& here —> https://tinyurl.com/s7mnpej8

*Embracing Tara as the World Struggles for Liberation*

It seems as if we are living through a polycrisis, struggling to learn lessons through economic instability, political unrest, climate change, and various forms of systematic violence.

However, this moment is also inviting us back to an authentic indigeneity.

We are being asked to remember how to be in relationship to the land, to our brokenheartedness, and in gentle healing relationships with others. In the face of so much change we may find it difficult to maintain our physical and emotional balance.

In this retreat we will practicing meeting this moment through the profound practice of Tara as we deepen our compassion, love, trust, and fierceness through meditation, movement, chanting, and discussion.

Suitable for all levels of experience!

27/07/2026

Dear Sangha,

Whether you are basking in the sun or staying sheltered and cool, we hope you are as well in yourself as you may be. Perhaps you would like to join us at Earthworm Sangha online next Monday 27th July? We'll be practicing silent meditation together (with options for guidance) and having a short community discussion. We're currently meeting every other month, on the last Monday of the month at 7-8.15pm UK time.

This is the final session for our 2025-2026 season, and after a pause we'll be returning in the autumn. If you're interested in supporting with organising the sangha, let us know by sending us an email, we would love to talk to you about it!

See some of you next Monday and sending warm wormy wishes to all who are reading this.

Love,
Rabi and the Earthworm Committee

🪱🪱🪱🪱🪱🪱🪱🪱🪱🪱🪱🪱

🙏 We practice silent meditation followed by a short group discussion.
🥱 Silent participation is welcome - there is no expectation to speak or be on camera.
🛌 We encourage you to join from wherever is most accessible - be that your meditation cushion, sofa or sick bed.
📆 Registration is free, online and drop in - come along whenever suits you.
🕰 If you're joining from another part of the world you can use time converter to check your time zone

🪱🪱🪱🪱🪱🪱🪱🪱🪱🪱🪱🪱

If you sign up to earthwork via Zoom, we will send you reminders 1 week before and 1 hour before each session. Sign up through our Bio Linktree.

If you've registered for Earthworm Sangha recently, you don't need to reregister. You'll receive a reminder email with instructions for joining shortly before the sangha starts.

Address

Coastguard Studio, 89 Clarendon Road
Portsmouth
PO40SA

Opening Hours

Monday	7pm - 8:15pm
Tuesday	7pm - 8pm
Sunday	6pm - 7pm

Telephone

+447760492099

Website

https://southseasangha.com/

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