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“We’re all running around like stress cats,” said Bethany Simons, referring to the current political climate and life in general. She will try to alleviate some of that stress through a six-week series of meditation sessions at the First Parish Church, 12 Church St., starting on Wednesday, March 5. Simons, a licensed massage therapist, will lead the series titled “Practicing Presence” from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m. for six consecutive Wednesdays.
Each session will begin with a short exercise to help people focus and settle into the present moment. One such exercise Simons has found effective is called “five-finger breathing.” It involves coordinating inhalations and exhalations while tracing the fingers on your hand. Simons said it’s a simple way to “bring ourselves into ourselves.”
“We have to engage both sides of the brain to have balance,” Simons said. Unfortunately, especially these days, a lot of people lack that balance.
After the first short exercise, a guided meditation with prompts will follow. People will sit comfortably, with Simons prompting them to imagine a place of peace and light. As the guided meditation continues, she said, the result will be gratitude for a feeling of stillness – simply being in the present moment.
For people who say they just can’t meditate, can’t sit still, or can’t quiet their mind, Simons offers this: That’s why it’s called a “practice.” She said we all struggle with the busy mind, and it’s hard to find a way to just “be.” Simons wants the meditations to help foster a return to “beingness.”
“We can’t expect the brain to quiet, but it’s accepting yourself through these moments,” she said, adding that we need to be compassionate to ourselves as well as to others.
Although the meditations take place in a church, this is not a religious practice – rather, Simons said, it’s spiritual. She hopes it will be a way to bring people together, and that each session will end with “a passing of the peace,” where participants express a wish of peace for each other.
The sessions are free, but Simons asks that attendees give a donation to the church for the use of its space.
Monday, February 24
The Norwegian thriller “Armand” will screen at Plimoth Cinema at Plimoth Patuxet Museums, 137 Warren Ave. Showtimes are 2, 4:30, and 7 p.m. When Elisabeth gets called to a parent-teacher conference, she’s presented with scathing allegations that trigger a tangled web of accusations between parents and faculty. “Oscar Nominated Shorts” – featuring three categories – will screen at 2, 4:30, and 7 p.m., through Thursday, Feb. 27. You can check the website for times and categories each day. Tickets are $12.50, $11 with a club card, $10 for seniors or members, and $8.50 for seniors with a club card.
Tuesday, February 25
Attend a “Learn to Fold an Origami Crane” workshop at the Plymouth Center for the Arts, 11 North St., from 10 to 11 a.m. Andrea Plate will lead the workshop in creating a senbazuru (1,000 cranes). The senbazuru, popularized by the book “Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes,” has come to mean a wish for a peaceful, kind, and healthy world. The cost is $5 for materials. You can register here, or by calling the arts center at 508-746-7222.
Thursday, February 27
The Manomet History Book Club will meet from 4 to 5 p.m. at the Manomet Branch of Plymouth Public Library, 12 Strand Ave. The book club, which focuses on historic nonfiction, will be discussing “Lost City of Z” by David Grann. Books are available for checkout about a month in advance at the Manomet Branch.
Friday, February 28
The Plymouth Marine Corps League will commemorate the 80th Anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima at the American Legion, 199 Federal Furnace Road, from 5 to 9 p.m. The event, which is open to the public, will include a presentation with artifacts by a historian from the Cape Cod Military Museum. Also, World War II reenactors of Weapons Platoon Fox Company 2nd Battalion 5th Marines will provide a static display with World War II equipment for viewing. The league will hold a raffle fundraiser at the event to support the 250th Marine Corps Birthday Ball that will take place in November.
Blues guitarist and singer Gabe Stillman will perform at the Spire starting at 8 p.m. with doors opening at 7 p.m. Stillman graduated from Berklee College of Music in 2015 and formed the Gabe Stillman Band, which embraces “all corners of American roots music.” Stillman made the final eight of the 35th Annual International Blues Challenge in Memphis and received the Gibson Guitar Award. Tickets are $23.40 and $26, and you can get them here.
The Red Hot Chilli Pipers – make sure you read that right – will perform at Memorial Hall, 83 Court St., at 8 p.m. The band will perform its brand of “bagrock” (bagpipes and rock and roll) or “AC/DC meets Robert Burns.” The band consists of an ensemble of pipers, guitarists, keyboards, and drummers, who hold music degrees from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Tickets are $29, $39, $49, and $59. You can buy them here.
Saturday, March 1
The Jordan Hospital Club’s annual Polar Plunge to raise money for the Jordan Hospital Club Cancer Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Plymouth will take place atNelson Park, starting with sign-in at 10:30 a.m. There will be plenty of family-friendly festivities, food, and coffee or hot chocolate until the countdown to the plunge at 12 noon. To sign up for the plunge, fundraising, or both, you can go here.
The Plymouth Masonic Lodge, 116 South Meadow Road, will present a comedy show at 7:30 p.m. with doors opening at 6 p.m. Michael Petit will host, and comics Matt Brown and Derrick Fonseca will perform stand-up. Tickets are $35 per person and pizza is included, but you can also bring your own snacks. Buy tickets here.
Get a jump start on spring gardening with a seed swap in the Fehlow Meeting Room at the Plymouth Public Library, 132 South St., between 1 and 3 p.m. Bring seeds you saved and/or take home seeds available from the library. There will be a variety of flower, vegetable, and herb seeds available to get you started. Registration is not required.
Dr. Patrick Browne, executive director of the Plymouth Antiquarian Society, will lead a free tour of Burial Hill titled “The Revolutionary World of the Spooner Family,” starting at 1 p.m. The tour will focus on the family who lived in the Antiquarian Society’s historic Spooner House on North Street at the time of the American Revolution. The tour will explore the final resting places of their relatives, friends, business partners, and fellow collaborators in the Revolutionary cause. Attendees will meet at the top of the brick stairs leading from Town Square. The tour may be canceled due to severe weather. To find out more, contact the Antiquarian Society by calling the office at 508-746-0012 or emailing info@plymouthantiquarian.org.
Celebrate Mardi Gras at the Plymouth Center for the Arts, 11 North St., from 6 to 9:30 p.m. You can dance through the galleries to New Orleans jazz by the Hub Tones. Or sip a “Fat Tuesday” (on a Saturday) signature cocktail form Su Casa while enjoying bites of NOLA-style cuisine from Dillon’s Local. Maybe you’ll discover the baby in the King cake, win a raffle prize, or take home an original piece of art from the “Unreal Realities Artwork” show. There will be awards for the most festive attire and most “marvelous” mask. Tickets are $75 and you can get them here.
Wednesday, March 5
The Plymouth Area Veterans Center, 20 North Park Ave., will hold its monthly coffee social from 10 to 11 a.m. State representatives Michelle Badger and Kathleen LaNatra will be special. The event is free to all veterans.
Bethany Simons will lead the first of a six-week series of “Practicing Presence” meditations at First Parish Church, 12 Church St., from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m. See the lead item in this column for more information.
Friday, March 7
Reckoners, formerly known as “A Band of Killers,” will bring soul and rock music to the Spire at 8 p.m., with doors opening at 7 p.m. The band includes some of the top musicians in the Boston music scene, with Tim Gearan on vocals and guitar, guitarist Johnny Trama, Tom Arey on drums, Marc Hickox on bass, and Darby Wolf on keyboards. Tickets are $26.10 and $29. You can get them here.
Saturday, March 8
Judah Leblang will perform his “poignant and humorous” one-man show, “The Expiration Date,” in the Fehlow Meeting Room at the Plymouth Public Library, 132 South St., from 2 to 3 p.m. Leblang will explore “dealing with life’s big questions and living without easy answers.” The show is free for adults; registration is required, and you do so here.
Anthony Geraci and the Boston Blues All-Stars will bring the blues to the Spire at 8 p.m., with doors opening at 7 p.m. Geraci is a two-time winner of the Blues Music Award from The Blues Foundation in Memphis for Instrumentalist-Piano/Pinetop Perkins Piano. He’s worked with traditional and contemporary blues greats, including Odetta, Big Walter Horton, Charlie Musselwhite, Otis Rush, and Big Joe Turner, to name just a few. Tickets are $25.20 and $28, and you can get them here.