Mindful Families of Durham

In early 2010, several families with young children residing in Durham, North Carolina began meeting on Sunday mornings in each other’s living rooms for meditation and learning in the Buddhist meditative tradition.

Parents taught classes for the children of these families on a rotating basis. Later that year, the community decided to hire two teachers and develop curriculum that instructs children in mindfulness practices and ethics, while parents attend the adult program. 

Over time, the community grew, and in late 2011 formed a volunteer board of directors drawn from the parent members, with Sumi Loundon Kim serving as the volunteer minister and executive director until May of 2018. The group is currently led by a distinguished rotating teaching council.

MFD has continued to change and adapt. Originally called "Buddhist Families of Durham," the community has two primary goals: 

• to support parents and their children in the practice of mindfulness meditation and the understanding of Buddhist teachings within the vipassana (insight) lineage;

• to create an ongoing, diverse community in which families develop a spiritual path in the meditative tradition, integrate these principles into daily life at home, and apply such development toward the benefit and peace of the larger communities in which we live.