Common Street Spiritual Center

Natick Open Studios
2024-10-19 11:00 - 17:00, 2024-10-20 11:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Sanctuary at Common Street Spiritual Center, 13 Common Street, Natick, MA, 01760, United States
We’re proud to be hosting some of Natick’s finest artists on Saturday and Sunday in our sanctuary, from 11am-5pm. Please swing through and take the whole tour around town as well. We are so excited to celebrate all the amazing artists and their work!!

Bollywood Dance Workout
2024-10-19 11:45 - 12:45, 2024-10-26 11:45 - 12:45, 2024-11-02 11:45 - 12:45, 2024-11-09 11:45 - 12:45, 2024-11-16 11:45 - 12:45, 2024-11-23 13:15 - 14:15, 2024-11-30 13:15 - 14:15 | Fellowship Hall @ Common Street, 13 Common Street, Natick, MA, 01760, United States
Whoever said no pain no gain, obviously has never worked out to Bollywood music. Join me for BollyX – Bollywood Dance Workout. Let’s dance and workout together to remain healthy, physically and mentally while having lots of fun!
Get ready to groove to the beats of the vibrant Bollywood tunes while burning 400 – 800 calories. No prior dance experience is required; I will guide you through the steps, show modifications and ensure a fun-filled session. So, grab your friends or make new friends at the class, put on your dancing shoes, and get ready to unleash your inner Bollywood star!
Register here: https://www.bollywoodstepbystep.com/booking-calendar/in-person-in-natick-center-1?referral=service_list_widget

Call of Love Yoga
2024-10-20 08:30 - 21:30, 2024-11-03 08:30 - 21:30, 2024-11-10 08:30 - 21:30, 2024-11-17 08:30 - 21:30, 2024-12-01 08:30 - 21:30 | Sanctuary at Common Street Spiritual Center, 13 Common Street, Natick, MA, 01760, United States
Call of Love
Channeled song and messages from the Divine
Experience channeled sources of Love into song while you relax at the end of a gentle yoga class. Your practice will include guided breathing, chair or mat asana, restorative poses and meditation. Coming home to the oneness in our hearts, we can cultivate a sense of unity that brings us together into wholeness, solace, peace and hope
8:30-9:30, Sundays mornings (except for the last Sunday of the month)
Common Street Spiritual Center Sanctuary
Donations welcome
Cash or Venmo: @Judith-Thapa
Judy O’Leary Thapa is a channel, energy healer, yoga teacher and yoga therapist. She has certifications in Sivananda yoga, Prenatal yoga, Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy (Pryt.com) and with the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT.org). Judy has over twenty years of experience teaching students of all ages.
You can follow Judy on FB at Varunayoga

Open Circle Gathering
2024-10-20 10:30 - 12:00, 2024-10-27 10:30 - 12:00, 2024-11-03 10:30 - 12:00, 2024-11-10 10:30 - 12:00, 2024-11-17 10:30 - 12:00, 2024-11-24 10:30 - 12:00 | MA
The Open Circle is a weekly gathering of like-minded spiritual seekers who show up to connect authentically, share our truths, and be held in the space of a growth-oriented and loving community.

In the Open Circle, everyone has a chance to contribute as we move around the circle. You’re welcome to bring poems, songs, prayers, and insights to share.

Free and open to the public–yes, you can simply show up!

If you’re new to Open Circle, you’re welcome to register here so you can be in the loop for future gatherings: https://forms.gle/Aa18ZuGfyy4Nv3gq7\n
The Spiritual Center community is holding space for change in the lives of our members and in our world.
*we embrace diverse forms of spiritual practice and artistic expression
*we cultivate a hopeful societal vision built on principles of compassion and justice
*we support the growth of a consciousness of interconnection across human differences and between people and the whole web of life around us
*we build authentic community based on principles like love, respect, kindness, and collaboration

If this resonates, please join us! You’re welcome to become a member simply by filling out the form on this page: www.commonstreet.org/membership

Heart Mandala on Gaza
2024-10-21 20:30 - 22:30 | Sanctuary at Common Street Spiritual Center, 13 Common Street, Natick, MA, 01760, United States
When twelve hundred Israelis have been killed by Hamas, over eight thousand injured, and over two-hundred taken hostage; when over forty-two thousand Palestinians in Gaza have been killed, and over ninety-eight thousand injured; when hundreds of thousands of Gazans are starving and living amidst rubble, in tent cities without sanitation, in terror, despair and hopelessness; when Israelis are also living in constant fear of attack; when over sixteen thousand Gazan children have been killed; when many credible experts and humanitarians believe that the threshold of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza has been met*: there are no sides.

Our community members do not all agree about whether the Israeli government’s military campaign against Gaza constitutes a genocide, but we are all horrified by the suffering of the Palestinian people. We have also been mourning the victims of the heinous October 7th attack and are concerned about the safety and well-being of Israeli citizens who are caught in the crossfire of this conflict.

There are no sides in a crisis like this. This gathering is not about who is to blame, or which side is better or worse, it is about paying attention to the suffering that is taking place, truly feeling the horror of it. This spiritual practice is about finding our sense of purpose and agency to stop this downward spiral of hatred and violence and to move instead towards a loving, just, and peaceful solution, one that allows both Palestinians and Israelis to live in peace and safety, with equality and justice.

Why would we at the Spiritual Center community be concerned about events happening seemingly so far away from us? Because injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Because our own government, the United States, is the primary funder and supplier of the weapons being used to kill Gazans. The U.S. military-industrial complex is profiting immensely off of this war and others. U.S. militarism in general is a highly relevant moral problem in our national politics: we have a right and duty to raise our voices in protest when the precious resources that our nation gathers via taxation are being spent primarily on wars that destroy life rather than on programs like education and healthcare that uplift and support human flourishing.

As an essential part of the civil discourse and moral evolution of this nation, religious and spiritual communities have always risen up to call for justice in the face of injustice, to call for peace in the face of war, to call for equality in the face of racism, sexism, and poverty, and in general to call for humanization in the face of dehumanization.

*****

On Oct 21st, we will gather as one human family, as equals, without distinctions, to experience and hold our truths together. We welcome all perspectives, all expressions, all the love and truth and feeling we can muster to meet this moment together in unity and integrity.

Following the spiral process of the Work That Reconnects, we will ground in gratitude, honor our pain for the world, see with fresh eyes, and go forth with purpose.
In the Heart Mandala, the central ritual of the evening, all are welcome to share their fear, their anger, their sadness, their emptiness, and whatever other feelings want to be expressed. Without cross talk or criticism, we will witness each other in a sacred circle of trust, confidentiality, and love.

The process will be facilitated by Rev. Dr. Ian Mevorach, director of Common Street Spiritual Center.

This sacred gathering is offered free and is open to the public. All are welcome, without distinction.

You are welcome to bring candles, flowers, incense or other sacred objects to place on the altar table at the beginning of the process.

*****

*According to the March 2024 report of Francesca Albanese, the United Nation’s Special Rapporteur for human rights in the Palestinian territories, “[T]here are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating Israel’s commission of genocide is met.”

In specific, the Special Rapporteur identifies three genocidal crimes against Palestinians, which together meet the threshold of genocide: (A) “Killing members of the group,” (B) “Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group,” and (C) “Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.”

To read the full report, please use this link: https://commonstreet.org/…/2024/10/a-hrc-55-73-auv.pdf

**The University Network for Human Rights has also determined that a genocide is taking place in Gaza and published a report to this effect on May 15, 2024: “In partnership with students and experts at Boston University, Cornell, University of Pretoria, and Yale, the University Network published Genocide in Gaza: Analysis of International Law and its Application to Israel’s Military Actions since October 7, 2023. The report is the most thorough legal analysis to date of the “crime of crimes” expressed in the 1948 Genocide Convention and the related international jurisprudence, as applied to the facts on the ground in Gaza since October 7. It concludes that Israel’s actions meet the legal threshold of genocide, producing legal obligations for Israel and the international community to end the slaughter.”

***There are many within the Common Street Spiritual Center (CSSC) community and the wider Natick-Metrowest community who do not agree that genocidal acts are taking place in Gaza, or who believe that the language of “genocide” in the context of this political discourse is at least at times being used in antisemitic ways. We are aware that there has been discomfort about this event in particular, and its framing in the original event description; we have received and reviewed considerable feedback from our neighbors about this, and so we have amended the description to be more inclusive and sensitive to their concerns. Our community stands against antisemitism, Islamophobia, and racism of any kind. Also, we love, respect, and accept people of various views and warmly welcome people of all perspectives, including various political orientations and religious backgrounds, to participate in this particular event and in general to be a part of the life of our community. CSSC is an inclusive, love-centered community.

Annual Diwali Celebration
2024-10-27 10:30 - 12:00 | Common Street Spiritual Center, 13 Common Street, Natick, 01760, United States
Diwali is a celebration of light overcoming darkness and good triumphing over evil.
During this gathering, members of the local Indian community will share traditional songs, prayers, and art, and invite us all to reflect together on the meaning of Diwali.
The Spiritual Center thanks Swati Dave for her leadership in organizing this special celebration.

Groove Lab - Dancing Through the Chaos
2024-10-27 19:00 - 20:30 | Common Street Spiritual Center, 13 Common Street, Natick, 01760, United States
These times call for dance. Dancing through the chaos.
There has been a call in our community to come together and dance. This is for us, all together, to create what we want. To gather in community as we envision.
Send in your song requests to add to our playlist. Plus we will have some live drumming too! Kat will share just a few prompts to help us all to drop in and dance it out. And before we leave, there will be time to rest–on the ground if you’d like–while gentle percussion sounds fill the air. Maybe, just maybe, you will feel this all land in your body like a nourishment.
Only together can we create the kind of gatherings that bring strength, healing and connection to our communities. Let’s do this!
Register through Maggie at learn2relax@yahoo.com or Kat at kathleensuwalski@gmail.com so that we know you are attending and know how many people to expect (or so that we can let you know if anything changes).
Investment: $25 if pre-registered and $35 at the door. If cost is prohibitive, please reach out.
Bring your friends, neighbors and family too. Spread the word!

HEART JOURNEY
2024-11-03 18:00 - 23:30 | Common Street Spiritual Center, 13 Common Street, Natick, 01760, United States
PROFOUND GUIDED TRANSFORMATIONAL EXPERIENCE
FAMILIES WELCOME
Ancestral and Generational Meditation through the Beauty of Surrender
Cacao Accompanying this Heart Opening Soul Journey with Sound Healing, Sacred Dance, Medicinal Live Music and Energy Renewal
Moving through this transformational experience in profound love and gratitude while embracing all aspects of our human existence as well as integrating them as holy and celebrating the Divine Will in all of it.
SPECIAL DAY OF THE DEAD PRAYER

Lessons Across Faith: Exploring our neighbors' traditions
2024-11-04 18:00 - 19:30, 2024-11-11 18:00 - 19:30, 2024-11-18 18:00 - 19:30 | MA
Join us in reading through a collection of stories and sharing our own stories encountering persons of other faiths. All are invited to join this conversation, whether you belong to a religious group or are atheist or agnostic. The book is available through Amazon or through your local library : “My Neighbor’s Faith : stories of interreligious encounter, growth, and transformation.”
3 sessions – Monday nights 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM on Zoom. Nov. 4, 11, & 18
**the 4th session in person Sunday Nov. 24** at 4:00 PM – 6 PM
at the Center for Interfaith Collaboration, 130 Newton St., Weston, MA 02493. Refreshments & meet the editor(s).
Co-facilitators: Deborah Mitchell (Christian), and Fran Pollitt (Baha’i Faith)
RSVP if you are interested!
Deborah: deborahmitchell25@gmail.com, 617-894-8771
Fran: francespollitt@gmail.com, 207-252-9647
ZOOM INFO:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82922561903?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 829 2256 1903
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Acoustic Reggae Workshop & Ital Food Potluck
2024-11-15 19:00 - 22:00 | Fellowship Hall @ Common Street, 13 Common Street, Natick, MA, 01760, United States
Learn the history of Reggae music and how to play it. Bring instruments to play and plant-based food to share.

The Book of Bob
2024-11-21 19:00 - 21:30 | Sanctuary at Common Street Spiritual Center, 13 Common Street, Natick, MA, 01760, United States
Let’s get together and feel alright, in this experience of the love, wisdom, and power of Bob Marley’s story.
Alex DeGroot and friends will create a vibe of celebration, learning, and spiritual seeking through music, history, truth-telling, open sharing, dance, and many other ways of connecting with the Book of Bob, the revelations that he brought for humanity through his music.
Everyone is welcome, of all backgrounds, lifestyles, beliefs, and even music tastes. The event is free and open to the public.

Rock Off Main
2024-11-23 19:00 - 22:00 | Common Street Spiritual Center, 13 Common Street, Natick, 01760, United States
Rock Off Main is an all ages rock show featuring bands from local high schools. Hear the best from musicians from Wellesley High School Band, The Natick School of Rock House Band and the Joe B Band from Milford High School along with the music of solo performer Jameson Smith. Great night for teens to support their peers and rock out to some great music. The show is supervised by adults. All Ages welcome.
