Mindful in Beijing: Getting to Know the Community of ComeUnity

Mindfulness is defined in the Merriam Webster dictionary as “the practice of maintaining a nonjudgmental state of heightened or complete awareness of one’s thoughts, emotions, or experiences on a moment-to-moment basis”.

A difficult but rewarding practice, mindfulness is often done in the form of seated meditation, or even by exercises like yoga. But here in Beijing, there’s a group that’s aiming to add more means of learning mindfulness. This group is called ComeUnity.

Completely volunteer and donation based, and combining the words “come” and “unity” as a play on community, the group is making it easier for folks in Beijing to use their body and mind to achieve inner peace, one activity at a time.

I spoke with founder Juan Carlos Duran, a Colombian expat and Beijing resident, to find out more about the organization, it’s mission, and their upcoming initiatives.

How long have you been living and working in China? What was your original purpose for coming here?
Beijing has been my home for the past 14 years. I came to study Chinese for just one year, but after six months I decided to stay a bit longer to pursue a bachelor’s degree, then moved on to a master’s program, and then I decided to open a consulting company. Before I knew it, 14 years had flown by in a city that I love surrounded by wonderful people.

How did you first get interested in meditation and mindfulness, and why are these practices important for you?
For many years, I had problems with alcohol. Drinking became a way for me to escape my reality and numb my emotions. It was my go to cure for emotional pain. It worked for a while, until it stopped working. When I decided to try living sober, I was overwhelmed by the big change. It was especially overwhelming to be able to feel again. I had to face things like hopelessness and sadness with a sober mind, and it became unbearable.

It was around this time that mindfulness entered my life. Mindfulness practice allowed me to observe reality without judging it and without judging myself. It allowed me to accept and embrace each moment. It became a source of clarity, stability and peace. The practice led me to reflect on fundamental questions about life. Questions such as: who am I? What is really important for me? What do I want to do in the short time I’ll be alive?

Experiencing how helping others gave meaning to my life, I was always asking myself: How can I help people in a bigger scale? Life provided the answer.

Experiencing this and learning to help others answer these questions brought meaning to my life. I eventually found myself asking: How can I help people on a larger scale? Life provided the answer in the form of ComeUnity.

Tell us a little more about ComeUnity, how did it come to be?
ComeUnity came alive as a tribute to those who literally saved my life, without expecting anything from me in return. As I mentioned, I had a drinking problem, but my friends supported me in my darkest times; they gave me hope when I was completely lost and hopeless.

Their unconditional love cultivated a sense of duty to give back and help others to improve their lives.

Having experienced the benefits of mindfulness in my own life, I invited some friends to a weekly sitting at my home. We’d meditate and then have a simple meal together, all while discussing anything and everything about life. After a month or two we started to gather in the park to do some yoga. It was just few of us, but friends started to invite friends, and then those friends invited more people.

It has been very touching for me to see members curious to learn more about how to improve their wellbeing in their lives. It has been also beautiful to see members connecting at a deeper level, but without any doubt the most wonderful gift is seeing the willingness of everyone to support each other and support the kids we help.

From its inception, how many events did ComeUnity have? How has this evolved?
We have done approximately 200 sessions and ten special events in cooperation with other communities and businesses.

We started with weekly meditation sittings followed by a simple dinner. At the beginning we were using guided meditations on different apps. I felt a bit scared to lead the practices, but after couple of months I took the plunge and began leading, trusting my gut and letting go of the insecurities I had about myself.

Then we added a weekly yoga practice and mindful hikes every month.
Following the nature of allowing everyone to practice mindfulness differently, for the first six months, ComeUnity sessions were completely free. But we eventually decided to take an extra step to increase our impact, therefore, in December of 2020 we started to organize special events to raise money for kids in need, and all the weekly sessions became donation based. 100 percent of this money goes directly to local foundations.

Now we have more variety of experiences, workshops, painting, cooking classes, workouts, seminars etc.

I’m very grateful with everyone that has supported ComeUnity in any way; without each one of you, this wouldn't be possible.  

Judging by the events that go beyond meditation, it seems mindfulness is much more than just sitting in one spot focusing on one’s breath. What other ways are there to practice mindfulness in daily life?
Besides the formal practice of sitting they are many ways to practice mindfulness:

-Mindful Eating

-Mindful Walking

-Mindful showering

-Wishing people to be well and happy etc.

When practicing mindful eating, sometimes I find myself eating very fast, just to save time or because I’m very hungry. When I realize this, I try to stop.

I take one or two conscious breaths, I start to observe the colors of the food, I chew slower, I reflect about all the events and people that were involved in order to have this meal in front of me. This simple practice, provides a sense of inter connection with everything and everyone.

In this simple way I can connect to the moment, and be grateful because it's a very gentle reminder that I’m supported by thousands of elements and people.

We understand you recently started another initiative called Younity. What is this and how does it tie in with ComeUnity?
Younity is my personal brand. I provide services such as life coaching, mindfulness workshops and retreats to individuals and businesses. Younity is the financial backbone of ComeUnity.

What organizations does ComeUnity work with for charity?
We support Our Little House Project, which is part of the Children’s Hope Foundation. This project provides housing and covers medical costs to children suffering from cancer.

We also support Our Learning House, which provides education to orphans and kids with special needs. Since December 2020, with help from members, partners and businesses we have raised more than RMB 300,000 to support them.

One upcoming charity event you’re hosting is Sweat for a Life. Who does it benefit and when will it take place?
This initiative is a collaborative effort between ComeUnity and ActivTogether. We aim to cultivate the importance of giving back by supporting children with terminal illness.

Every three months we gather with the collective intention of helping one or two children in need. We breathe to connect to the moment and with others, we flow, we sweat and we have a lot of fun together.

I always am amazed to see people’s generosity. More and more people are joining our events, and sometimes some of the participants find even more ways to help the kids. Last week a couple of friends decided to ask their friends to donate money for the children we are supporting instead of gifts. Other times, members of our community organize auctions to raise more money.
 
For our next edition we are supporting two little kids:

* Xiao Chengxi, a 10 year old, boy who suffers from a malignant tumor. We will cover his 4th round of Chemotherapy.

* Yushan, a 5 year old girl, who needs support with her chemotherapy and therapy for a cerebral infarction caused by the treatment.

Due to the current Covid situation we have postponed our event, we have no doubt we will do it very soon.  

How can people get involved with ComeUnity?
We have an official WeChat account and a WeChat group. You can follow the account or reach out to me (WeChat ID: JuanCarlosDuran) and I can connect you into the group chat. Also, in two weeks, you’ll be able to make use of our new WeChat mini-program. Along with the group, we also have an official Instagram account you can follow as well.

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Images courtesy of ComeUnity