Timeline
About the origin and development of 30NOW
January 2019
Launch 30NOW
Meditation for everyone starts.
Founder Dirk Wolbers will start with a meditation series of 30 days, together with supervisors Joost van den Heuvel Rijnders and Mariëtte Verhoef. Participants receive a daily meditation in their mailbox. This is a sound recording intended for newcomers to the meditation path. But also for those who are already experienced, it turns out to be a valuable program with a big stick to meditate daily.
The idea: You choose the voice and style of meditation that suits you. In 30 days you will understand and experience the power of meditation. In addition, with support functions such as '30NOW First Aid' answer to frequently asked questions and can be found via 30NOW Always share your questions with the supervisor and other participants. After the 30 Day Series, you as a participant can: Membership which you can listen to all meditations from the 30 Day Series.
This first phase mainly consists of exploring, collecting feedback and improving. These aspects are reflected in this first series in the name 'Pre-Release' – which will later be changed to 30 Day Series.
February 2019
Live meditations with sound
In addition to recorded audio meditations, we start with live sessions. Without an image, but with the experience of meditating together and thus supporting each other.
March 2019
New supervisors
More supervisors appear on the 30NOW platform and focus on providing the live meditations.
September 2019
Podcast
Eveline Brandt and Joost van den Heuvel Rijnders start a monthly podcast. Together they conduct kitchen table conversations about Buddhism and mindfulness.
January 2020
hard meditations
Joost van den Heuvel Rijnders publishes a new series of 30 meditations and exercises under the name hard meditations.
Heart meditations focus on the heart qualities of kindness, compassion, compassion, and equanimity. This series is aimed at learning to look at yourself and others with kind eyes.
January 2020
Dirk & Joost
Founder Dirk Wolbers asks Joost van den Heuvel Rijnders to join 30NOW as co-owner/founder. Dirk focuses in particular on design, technology and communication with participants and supervisors. Joost is responsible for the content and coordination of the programmes.
March 2020
Corona and daily live meditations
Corona is causing a pandemic and a lockdown. There is urgency to support people at home in their meditation and in coping with this challenging time. That's why we start offering free live meditations every day. In addition to the live meditations, there is also a lecture every evening for the first three months. All live sessions are recorded so that participants with a Membership can watch them back.
A large number of supervisors wanted to participate in this initiative, which also increased the visibility of the platform.
June 2020
More diversity and currents
We could welcome many supervisors who had participated in the live sessions as regular returning mentor.
In addition, the diversity in meditation movements resulted in even more variety in the offer.July 2020
Keep improving
Continuous improvements are made in the background. From a more pleasant navigation on 30NOW.nl to new cameras for better image quality during the live sessions.
August 2020
Sustainability 30NOW Live
The enthusiastic reactions to the 30NOW Live Meditations and Lectures are overwhelming. We quickly come to the decision to continue with daily live meditations and lectures, even with less strict corona measures / lockdowns.
In addition, the financing model seems to work by supporting all aspects from technology to human deployment. The 30NOW Live sessions are made possible on the basis of donations that are distributed among the facilitators. With the proceeds of the Membership, the other aspects such as technology, support and expansion of the offer are made possible.
September 2020
Beginner series for newcomers
Eveline Brandt, Mariëtte Verhoef, Maryvonne Verkerke and Joost van den Heuvel Rijnders together provide the Beginner Series. A new, free series of voice meditations, tailored for newcomers/beginners in meditation land.
November 2020
300+ sessions looking back 1000+ reactions
With the widely used look-back option, members with a Membership already looking back over 300 Live Meditations and Lectures.
With the 1.100 reflections, questions and insights that are shared, we notice that the Sangha (community) element continues to grow.November 2020
First Live Course
Bart van Melik and Joost van den Heuvel Rijnders start the first 6-week live course 'A life focused on awakening'. Participants receive a weekly pre-recorded lecture that they can watch at a time of their choosing. Every week there is a live session where people meditate, practice and exchange together in small groups. The aim of the course is to integrate mindfulness into all aspects of life.
This first Live Course is an important step towards broadening the offer.
We strive to offer more Live Courses from different tutors.December 2020
book presentations
Facilitators and also authors of inspiring meditation books present their book on 30NOW via 30NOW.nl/books. Important parts of the book pages are the sharing of questions and the live book reviews where we interview the author.
December 2020
In-depth series
Attending the Live Courses live is not always feasible for everyone due to the fixed time. That is why we have decided to make the course material more sustainable. With the launch of In-depth series it will be possible for participants to start independently with the course material, at a time of their choosing. It is also possible to share questions and reflections with the facilitator and other participants.
Photo during the filming for the Live Course a 'Life with Dying'
January 2021
Guiding Principles
Dirk and Joost arrive at four guiding principles for the future of 30NOW:
Diversity
Embracing the richness and diversity of Buddhist traditions with their proven methods and styles.
Open
The practical application of Buddhist meditation styles and their integration into everyday life. This requires an open and investigative approach.
serving
Facilitating meditations and trying to make them accessible to everyone. This concerns young, old, newcomers and more experienced participants.
Connected
Creating an environment where participants can practice together, exchange experiences and thus support each other.
June 2021
November 2021
30NOW is in full development and brings many new possibilities to keep your practice alive and to deepen it further.
Particularly in the field of Live Courses & In-Depth Series the offer is growing for both beginners and more experienced practitioners.
In addition, the announcement of the year group 'LIVE! - 365 days mindful ' a big step. Not only online but also locally (“offline”) meetings are organized throughout the year.December 2021
Corona will also cause many restrictions in daily life in 2021, but also creates an opportunity to introduce more people to the power of online meditation. This is mainly reflected in the large number of participants in the daily live meditations.
In December we will continue to grow in a new form of enterprise with, among other things, a Live Course of no less than a year with Year Group LIVE! - 365 days mindful. A unique aspect is that the LEEF! consists of both local and digital meetings.March 2022
There is a lot of need for more contact options on 30NOW to strengthen the Sangha (community) element. That is why participants with a Membership get access to 30NOW Sangha.
30NOW Sangha consists of 'Sangha Live' & 'Sangha Forum'.
'Sangha Live' are evenings to get together, to meet each other, to connect and to enter into dialogue. We also use Zoom Meetings where you can switch on your own camera and microphone and see and hear each other.
'Sangha Forum' makes it possible to exchange short or long messages with each other on various topics.
June 2022
Through short video recordings we want to show the face of the people behind 30NOW make it more visible.
October 2022
We join 'Boeddhistisch geluid'. A partnership between De Boeddhistische Blik | KRO-NCRV, Bodhi, Maitreya Institute (publisher Maitreya) to make the Buddhist sound heard more strongly in the public debate.
The first theme of this collaboration: Theme: 'Crisis as opportunity'.
April 2023
Live Retreat with Bhikkhu Anālayo
We are extremely pleased – and also a little proud – that internationally renowned teacher Bhikkhu Analyo is our first online retreat will take care of. Bhikkhu Anālayo is a monk, scientist, meditation teacher and author of 'Satipatthana – the direct path to liberation', among others. During this retreat he is supported by Bhikkhunī Dhammadinnā and Helena Pauptit.
June 2023
'Learning to meditate' for everyone
We proudly present the introductory series (part 1) and the in-depth series (part 2) of 'Learning to Meditate', intended for anyone who wants to discover the power of meditation, regardless of background, age or experience.
Guido Scholte, a devoted Buddhist spiritual counselor in Dutch prisons, is the heart of this series. With an everyday approach, he knows how to share complex concepts in an understandable way.
December 12 2023
First workshop
The first one took place on December 12, 2023 30NOW workshop “There Are” takes place, a two-hour online interactive session led by Irène Kaigetsu Bakker. The workshop addressed the theme of being present during the final phase of a loved one's life. With more than 80 attendees, this workshop was a success.