Change Your Mind Day

In 1993 Tricycle created Change Your Mind Day, an afternoon of free meditation instruction, as a way of introducing the general public to Buddhist thought and practice. Tricycle decided to hold the teachings out of doors, as in the time of the Buddha, in the hopes of welcoming people who otherwise might shy away from the formality of a zendo or gompa. We booked a hill in Central Park and put up fliers around town.

A few hundred people showed up for the first Change Your Mind Day, a pleasant mix of newcomers and seasoned practitioners. Seven Buddhist teachers from different lineages gave instruction. Allen Ginsberg and Philip Glass performed "Do the Meditation Rock."  Maggie Newman got the crowd up on their feet to do twenty minutes of tai-ch'i. And a lone shakuhachi -- a Japanese flute -- ended the day as the sun began to set behind the trees.

Change Your Mind Day has since grown into a worldwide event and will now be held annually on the first Saturday in June. In response to growing interest, Tricycle began providing international access to this event in 2007 by hosting a virtual Change Your Mind Day. We now provide audio and video files of guided dharma talks on our website, thus making a growing library of dharma resources available to anyone with a computer.

In addition, the Tricycle website serves as the host site for Change Your Mind Days around the world. Some of these gatherings are large, and attract thousands of people, while others consist of a handful of people who sit together and read guided meditations from various Buddhist traditions. But whether attended by many or few, the event is always powerful, connecting thousands of silent sitters around the globe.

Please follow the links below to read more about Change Your Mind Day events in communities across the U.S., or to reach Tricycle staff who can help you establish a Change Your Mind Day event in your community.