Buffalo Firefly · Richmond & Zoom · Meditation Series

Foundations of Meditation

w/Solay

Four weeks, starting with the breath. No experience needed, and you leave with a practice you can keep doing at home.

$120 ($30/class)

Already have a steady practice? Get on the list for a more advanced class →

Upcoming series

Tuesdays · Oct 13–Nov 3 · 6:30pm 4 weeks

Reserve Join on Zoom →

$120

What to expect

A lot of people come to Buffalo Firefly for the soundbath first, because sitting in silence can be hard. If you have tried meditation and find it challenging to do in silence, start here.

This class is also good for people who have learned the foundations of meditation in the past and want to practice more or brush up on their skills.

Four weeks, no experience needed. Each week builds on the one before, and it starts with the breath.

Topics for each week:

Week 1 · The Breath
Where to put your attention, and what to do when it wanders. Finding an anchor that works for you.

Week 2 · The Body
Body scan and posture. Getting out of your head and back into your body.

Week 3 · Emotions
What to do when something big comes up while you are sitting.

Week 4 · Thoughts and Loving Kindness
Working with a busy mind, and sending kindness to yourself and to other people.

Your mind will wander. That isn’t a failure, it’s the exercise. You notice, you come back, and you keep doing that.

You’ll also learn skills that you can take into your daily life. You don’t have to be sitting on a cushion to take advantage of what you’ll learn in this series.

Good to know

No experience needed. Nothing to prepare.

In person: everything you need is provided (mats to sit on).

Held in person at our Richmond studio and on Zoom. In-person space is limited.

About Solay

Solay Howell is a certified mindfulness meditation teacher and shamanic practitioner. Her teaching blends esoteric mysticism with trauma-informed mindfulness, offering a gentle, insightful approach to awareness and healing. She is a graduate of Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield’s Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program (2021) and has taught mindfulness in The Healing Trauma Program, a nine-month training for nervous system regulation. She also produces courses and live events for renowned spiritual teachers including Eckhart Tolle, Tara Brach, Jack Kornfield, and Caroline Myss.

The training behind her teaching

Solay is a graduate of the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program (MMTCP), the same program our founder Mary-Lynne completed. MMTCP is a two-year teacher training led by Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield, two of the teachers who first brought mindfulness practice to the West. It’s certified by the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, which studies the science of well-being, and it has trained about 8,000 teachers in 70 countries. The second year is spent teaching real classes with monthly mentoring, so graduates have already taught before they’re certified.

The practices themselves. Breath, body scan, mindful movement, open awareness, and meditations that build kindness toward yourself and other people.

Practice for real life. Using mindfulness with stress, physical pain, difficult emotions and trauma, grounded in Western psychology and current research.

Teaching with care. Guiding meditation in a trauma-sensitive way, answering questions well, and teaching people from every background with respect.

You don’t need to know any of this to sit in the class. It’s here so you know who’s guiding you.

Explore more: All soundbaths & classes →