Meditation Classes in Golders Green
Monday Evening Meditation Class
Mondays, 7.30–8.45pm
At Heruka KMC, Golders Green
With Kadam John McBretney, Resident Teacher
Also available live-streamed on Zoom for members: see memberships
Current series
How to Keep Your Heart Open, Even When People Hurt You
This weekly class looks at what happens when someone hurts us, or a difficult year slowly closes our heart. Each session gives you practical methods for working with anger and resentment, and for keeping some warmth towards people who make it hard. An open heart turns out to be a kind of strength, and it can be trained
About the classes
Suitable for complete beginners and experienced meditators, everybody welcome.
While each class stands alone, taken together they also offer a bridge into a deeper journey. They explore how freedom from stress can be the first step on a path to lasting happiness and inner transformation, known in the Buddhist tradition as the path to enlightenment.
Each class includes guided meditations, a talk, and time for questions. No previous experience is needed.
The Teacher
With over 30 years of experience, Kadam John is a joyful and inspiring teacher. Known for his practical advice and compassionate clarity, he makes profound teachings accessible and relevant to modern London life.
Relax in a Peaceful Setting
Meditate comfortably in our tranquil space, with chairs and cushions provided. No special clothing or experience is needed – just come as you are.
Be Part of a Welcoming Community
After the second meditation there are a few minutes to talk, including questions and answers until 9pm. Then we move next door to the Peace Café for tea, coffee, pizza and other delights. Stay as long as you like.
Everyone is welcome.
Prices & booking
Series dates: 19, 26 Oct · 2, 9 Nov
£12 a class
Free for members from £29 a month See memberships
Available live-streamed on Zoom for members
Wednesday Lunchtime Meditation Class
Wednesdays, 12–1 pm
At Heruka KMC, Golders Green
With Kadam Ai Peng McBretney
Also available live-streamed on Zoom for members: see memberships
Current series
How to Keep Your Heart Open, Even When People Hurt You
This weekly class looks at what happens when someone hurts us, or a difficult year slowly closes our heart. Each session gives you practical methods for working with anger and resentment, and for keeping some warmth towards people who make it hard. An open heart turns out to be a kind of strength, and it can be trained
About the classes
Suitable for complete beginners and experienced meditators – everybody welcome. No previous experience is needed, and nothing to prepare.
An hour out of the middle of the working day. Each class includes guided meditations, a short talk, and time for questions, so you go back to your afternoon steadier than you left it.
The Teacher
Kadam Ai Peng McBretney has trained in Kadampa Buddhism for many years under the guidance of Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche. Drawing on her own experience of applying Buddha's advice in daily life, she teaches simply and practically, with warmth and good humour, so that what you learn in the class is something you can use the same day.
Taking an hour out
Chairs and cushions are provided – sit however you're comfortable. Come as you are; there's no special clothing and nothing to bring. If you work from home, it's a real break in the day rather than another hour at a screen.
Stay for tea, if your hour allows
There's tea afterwards and time to talk, with the teacher or with others in the class. Or slip away at one if you need to be back at your desk. Both are completely fine.
Everyone is welcome.
Prices & booking
Series dates: 21, 28 Oct · 4, 11 Nov
£10 a class
Free for members from £29 a month See memberships
Available live-streamed on Zoom for members
Thursday Morning Meditation Class
Thursdays, 10–11am
At Heruka KMC, Golders Green
With Udit Bharadwaj and Noha Shahin
Also available live-streamed on Zoom for members: see memberships
Please note: this class now runs 10–11am. Some printed leaflets show the earlier 12.30 time.
Noha with their daughter
Meditation for Busy Parents
About the classes
A gentle pause in the middle of the week. Each class offers a simple guided breathing meditation to help you unwind, settle a busy mind, and reconnect with a sense of calm. No experience is needed and there is nothing to prepare; you can sit on a chair or a cushion, whichever you prefer. Come whichever weeks suit you.
Afterwards there's tea, and time to sit together and talk. Bring whatever's on your mind – tiredness, patience running short, or just wanting to feel a bit more like yourself again. Noha and Udit offer practical suggestions from Buddhist practice, and you'll often find the most useful thing in the room is another parent who's had the same week.
The class begins with the Liberating Prayer, a short traditional Buddhist prayer of praise to Buddha Shakyamuni. You are welcome simply to listen.
Bringing your children
Babies and toddlers are very welcome in the class – you don't need to arrange childcare to come.
There is step-free access to the centre, somewhere to park your buggy, and a baby changing table in the accessible toilet.
Children stay in their parent's or carer's care throughout; we don't provide childcare or supervision. If your little one needs a break, you're welcome to slip next door into our Peace Café, where you can still see and hear the class on the screen, and come back whenever you're ready.
Nobody here minds a bit of noise.
Who the class is for
Everyone is welcome. The class is designed with parents of young children and mothers-to-be particularly in mind, so you'll find yourself among people in the same season of life – but you don't need to be a parent to come, and you'll be just as welcome if you're not.
Your morning
- 9.30am – doors open, tea, park the buggy
- 10.00am – class begins
- 10.30am – refreshments, and time to talk with other parents
- 11.00am – ends
You're welcome to leave after the meditation if you need to get on.
The Teachers
Noha Shahin and Udit Bharadwaj teach this class together as a husband-and-wife team, so whichever of them you meet, you're in the same hands.
Udit has been practising Kadampa Buddhism since 2019. They married, and in early 2024 moved into one of the centre's flats here in Golders Green, where they live with their young daughter, who you'll see in the photos. Both are students on the centre's Foundation Programme, and both help at the centre whenever they can. of family life.
As parents of a young child themselves, they know how hard it can be to find a quiet moment. Their suggestions come from Buddhist practice, and from their own experience of trying to stay calm and kind in the middle of family life.
Prices & booking
Dates: 22, 29 Oct · 5, 12 Nov · 19, 26 Nov · 3, 10, 17 Dec
No class on Thursday 15 October – a week's break while the centre attends the International Kadampa Fall Festival in Spain. Classes resume on Thursday 22 October.
Price: £5 a class
Free for members from £29 a month See memberships
Available live-streamed on Zoom for members
Getting here
Walking from Golders Green station
The entrance. Please ring the bell if the door is closed
Address
11 Woodstock Road
Golders Green
London NW11 8ES
4 minutes' walk from Golders Green station. Coming from the station, we're on your left, with a sign by the door.
Step-free access and parking available.
“Practical meditation guidance in a peaceful space. Pretty garden, friendly faces and tasty food at the weekend courses!”
Emily Danby
“A true refuge in the heart of London—peaceful, welcoming, and deeply nourishing. The meditation classes and weekend courses offer practical wisdom you can easily apply in daily life, and the community is warm and supportive. Plus, the food is fantastic, and the conversations are always meaningful!”
Shailee Noronha
“Heruka Centre ticks all the boxes. Meditation, peaceful environment, lovely garden, warm kind people, great food and if you want more they do day course and retreats. Highly recommended.”
Andy Levy
How does Kadampa meditation help?
Modern life is challenging and if we lack the inner resources to control our mind, we will inevitably find life stressful and difficult to manage, giving rise to feelings of anxiety, irritation and even loneliness and depression. This can make us feel unhappy and helpless, and it can also have an impact on our relationships as we become less able to cope constructively with disagreements and differences in our views and wishes.
Kadampa meditation gives us the solution. The meditations taught, and the teachings which help us to understand what to meditate on, give us techniques to understand where our unhappiness and problems are coming from and how to change them. Not only this, but over time, we will learn to transform difficult situations into opportunities for growth and development, so that instead of feeling powerless when faced with a difficult situation, we will come to welcome difficulties into our life as they provide the actual means with which to bring about positive change and spiritual development. In this way, peace and happiness will become our daily experience, and we will approach life with a new confidence and sense of purpose.
"If our mind is pure and peaceful we will be happy, regardless of our external circumstances, but if it is impure and unpeaceful we will never be happy, no matter how hard we try to change the external conditions."
How to Transform Your Life by Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso.
Everyone is welcome
"Happiness is a part of the mind that experiences inner peace, or peace of mind, so the real source of happiness must lie within the mind, not in external conditions."
Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
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