Photo: Michael Cummo / Hearst Connecticut Media

Greenwich native to host free meditation event

Greenwich native Julio Rivera may have stepped away from software engineering to forge a new career path and lifestyle, but traces of his tech background remain in his navigation of the entrepreneurial landscape.

After realizing his original concept to host mindfulness events in New York City under his brand Zen Compass wasnt best suited to his skills and goals, he pivoted. He dropped the vowels mostly made a new website and refined his strategy. I realized I didnt want to do event production, Rivera said of Zen Compass. Ive been playing with this idea for a couple months and now Im forming more of an online community.

Under the name ZnCo, Rivera still plans to host events, but theyll be smaller, more intimate and he will lead the meditation and mindfulness practices.

In addition, ZnCo will be grounded in holding online events that people can attend virtually. Im reaching out to teachers from around the country to lead practices and people will be able to learn meditation from them at their convenience, Rivera said. I want to make teachers more accessible to people anywhere.

His intentions for Zen Compass were always rooted in forming a supportive community for people to learn about meditation and encourage each other in their practices. After holding several events around New York City, he realized an online community may serve this purpose better since location will no longer limit attendance, he said.

To launch his restructured community, Rivera is planning a Meditation and Mindfulness event at the Boys and Girls Club of Greenwich on Aug. 10. Im planning on using this as a way to gauge interest from people around here in ZnCo, he said. The event will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. with refreshments at the beginning and question and answer period about meditation included. These sorts of events and the online ones are free for now, Rivera said, as hes focusing on creating value with his brand first.

Hes working with several Greenwich businesses that promote a healthy lifestyle on potentially sponsoring his kickoff event, he said.

I know there will be some hiccups as I learn what Im doing as I go, he said. But I think Ive got it now.

Contact the writer at mbennett@greenwichtime.com; Twitter@Macaela_

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Greenwich native to host free meditation event - Greenwich Time