On Monday evenings meditators sit in a circle in the living room of a simple Japanese-style home that overlooks a pond and the Black Mountains that rise in the distance above it. The group, which includes fifteen core members and more who attend occasionally, meets Monday nights from 7:00 to 9:00, and the first  Monday of the month they gather earlier and conclude with a potluck dinner. Those weekly sessions include an hour and fifteen minutes of seated and walking meditation, and the members then either listen to tapes of dharma talks by teachers from other centers or engage in a discussion of Buddhist doctrine and practice. For beginners, the group also offers introduction to meditation, and the sangha has extended its reach into the wider community with public dharma talks on Sunday afternoons. 

Four members take turns offering reflections at those dharma talks, since there is no resident spiritual leader for Valley of the Moon Sitting Group, which is loosely affiliated with the Insight Meditation Society. Some members practice Vipassana meditation in Burnsville and travel to the Insight Meditation Community in Washington, D.C. to study with Tara Brach, that center's founder and senior teacher.  But, as with other small Buddhist groups in rural areas, not all the core members follow exactly the same spiritual path. Several look to the Vajrayana tradition for guidance and also visit Tibetan temples in nearby states. A few others find inspiration in Thich Nhat Hanh's Community of Mindful Living. Yet, bound by their common commitment to the teaching of the Buddha and the practice of meditation, this diverse group has continued to meet since 1994. 
TT