Autumn Courses Now Booking

Living Well with Pain and Illness 

Begins September 30th 2011, 

Each week, on this 8 week course, participants will learn new strategies and approaches to pain and illness within a warm and friendly group setting. We will introduce a wide range of mindfulness skills to ease the suffering associated with persistent pain, fatigue and ill health, and the stress that often arises as a result.

WHO?

This course is aimed primarily at people living with chronic pain and other long term health conditions.

WHEN

The course runs over eight morning sessions from September 30th 2011 - 10.30 am to 1.00 pm. These are followed by a full practice day on 25th November from 10.30am to 4.00pm

THE COST 

£200 (waged), £150 (low waged),£120 (unwaged)

HOW DO I BOOK A PLACE?

First of all you need to talk to us so we can help you to decide if the course is suitable for you. Please phone Helen or Uddyotani on 0113 2445256 or email: leedsbreathworksproject@yahoo.co.uk or contact us by post: Breathworks Leeds, 

Triratna(Leeds), 4th Floor, Leeds Bridge House, Leeds LS10 1JN

To see how this course has helped others with chronic pain click here

OR If you are not looking for a course of this kind,please pass these details on to someone who might be interested.

Meditation and Buddhism

Living with Awareness
Begins Tuesday 27th September. 

7.00 to 9.15pm for 4 weeks, followed by a day retreat on Sat 22nd Oct 10.00 to 4.00pm

In this course we explore a practice called the Mindfulness of Breathing, which is a simple and direct way of developing awareness and calm. By coming back to the sensations of the breath we are able to cultivate calmness, clarity, and a relaxed concentration and presence. The course includes Just Sitting meditation, an unstructured practice which complements formal meditation.
Cost for the course: £50/£25 concs, including the day retreat  

Living with Kindness

Begins Tuesday 25th October 

7.00 to 9.15pm for 4 weeks, followed by a day retreat on Sat 19th Nov 10.00 to 4.00pm

This is a course where we explore Metta Bhavana meditation, a practice which allows us to cultivate emotional warmth, kindness and friendliness towards ourselves and others. This enhances awareness of our responses to others and allows us to interact in an increasingly positive way with the world around us thus increasing our own sense of well-being and happiness. The course includes Just Sitting meditation, an unstructured practice which complements formal meditation.
Cost for the course: £50/£25 concs, including the day retreat  

Introduction to Buddhism

Begins Tuesday 22nd November 

7.00 to 9.15pm for 4 weeks.  

This course will introduce you to the historical Buddha and discuss some of the basic principles of his teachings, including the three-fold path of Ethics, Meditation and Wisdom. Drawing on traditional sources and on our own everyday experience we'll show just how relevant the teachings still are to our daily life and how they can help us deal with the stresses and strains of the 21st Century. Open to everyone - you do not need to have attended a meditation course.
Cost for the course: £35/£18 concs.  

How to Book

Online: click here

After the Riots... 

Jenny Roberts writes: 

The recent riots have made me think deeply about 'having opinions'. I suspect that I was not alone last week in not knowing quite where I stood: politically, ethically or socially. On the one hand it was clear that the rule of law needed to be upheld, safety on the streets needed to be restored and, in the longer term, respect for others needed somehow to be re-established.

Yet on the other hand there clearly were and are, some major - and long-term - social injustices which need to be addressed. Then there is the amoral behaviour of politicians, senior police officers and a growing number of journalists and newspaper owners who are playing the system themselves (and for the most part) getting away with it. And what about the ultra-materialistic, 'me, me, me' society spawned in the 1980's and which continues to infect our society? 

If I was young, unemployed and deprived, might I too feel a deep resentment towards 'normal' society? Might not I want my share of all the goodies so far denied to me? With few decent role models in my community or in authority, could I have been a looter as well?

Anger, fear, revulsion, indignation all played a part in my initial response to the riots. But as I listened to interviews with youth workers and ex-gang members it also became very clear that there was more than one flavour to these events, and that the knee-jerk response of many politicians and judges was not being helpful. It's a complex situation and I was feeling more and more confused - unable to find a lucid response to all the violence and mayhem.

Then, one day this week, practising the Metta Bhavana, something remarkable happened. Quite suddenly, I realised that I was not only tired of having conflicting opinions on the riots but really, I was sick and tired of having any opinions at all. And, as I realised this, my metta practice spontaneously transformed into a Tong-Len meditation (breathing in the pain of others and breathing out loving-kindness). I found myself seeing and feeling the suffering of everyone involved: the looters, the arsonists, the victims, the frightened residents, the police, ambulance staff and fire-fighters who put themselves in danger, the senior police officers who seem to get criticised whatever action they take... even the politicians - even David Cameron and Teresa May, who have to find a (hopefully) non-dogmatic way out of this.

So now I feel that the only possible response to the riots is one of love and compassion - to everyone, regardless of who they are, what they have done, and what they might do. And I wish so much that everyone else could feel that way as well. Of course, it's not the solution to the underlying problems (whatever those are) but isn't it the only safe foundation for making sensible decisions about long term change? 

I can't change the way things are. But instead of taking on views, I believe more than ever, that it is more constructive to continue to cultivate a deep sense of compassion through my practice. It may only be a tiny personal contribution in the vast sea of loss, anger and retribution, but it seems to me that - for the moment at least - this is vastly more powerful than any 'opinion'.

If you would like to comment on this article for the next newsletter, please email your comments here 

Month of Sundays
 
Days that could have
been anything,
nights that could have been anything,
turned with the leaves.
 
Then, someone played
the piano------
halting,
unpracticed, and perfect.
 
I listened to pity
and lowered my head in shame.
Ashamed not of my teas,
or even at what had been wasted,
but to having been dry-eyed so long.

Jane Hirshfield 

Suggested by Samanartha  

Carol Ann Duffy

Suggested by Mandy Sutter, who writes: 

Kirkstall Festival 

Jenny writes: It seems a long time ago now, but we had such a brilliant day out with our stall at the busy Kirkstall Festival. We talked to loads of people about meditation and Buddhism, and we sold enough incense, greeting cards, and meditation cushions to pay for the pitch and make a small profit for the Centre. The highlight of the day was generously provided by Claire Bentley-Smith who spent two hours making lots of little people happy with her face painting (and notched up £30 in donations for the Centre). 

Carol saved the day by hanging onto our big orange gazebo as it took off in the wind and Mark pulled a hammer out of his backpack and nailed it back down again. 

Many, many thanks to the fifteen or so sangha members who - following my plaintiff cry for help - turned out at some point of the day to help, and special thanks to Mark's mum who baked a scrummy vegan chocolate cake to give away to the people we were talking to. And we musn't forget Lincoln, Claire's small son, who was very very patient (helped a little by supplies of said chocolate cake!) while his mother face-painted. It was all great fun - and it wouldn't have been the same without all of you!

P.S.Claire has got a great website illustrating a lot of her graphics. 

Worth a look! You'll find it here

Engaged or Disengaged with Nature?

Phil Bluckert writes: 

We are nature. To feel otherwise is to be disengaged with the world around us and to experience a contracted sense of self. And with this, more dukkha (or unsatisfactoriness) appears to arise and hang about in the mind. 

We can explore this in our own experiences and memories. I went on a fantastic Buddhafield North camping retreat recently and I am bringing to mind experiencing non-duality of self with other for much of the weekend. From all the conversations and short film clips from attendees (available to watch on YouTube, 'Buddhism and our relationship with Nature', 'Making a connection with Nature', 'Buddhism, Ecology, and Climate Change' and 'The Joy of Nature'), there was an abundance of collective happiness, peace, and joy from being strongly engaged with each other and nature.

One of my personal highlights was a cloud-watching meditation, finding interesting shapes that resemble something else and watching them change, for instance seeing a hare lose its ears, or a wellington boot turn into a funnel. This is a great way to spend half an hour, or even five minutes.

Our circumstances change just like the clouds, and it can be expected that this sense of an expansive engaged mind is as fragile as a cloud formation in the sky (at least for me at the moment). However, even when one is not dwelling in an expansive engaged mind, the power of having memories of what it is like to have an expanded engaged mind can be hugely comforting. We may also see that giving ourselves a big hug on the inside mixed in with lots of patience and tolerance often works a treat when confronted with a contracted disengaged mind!

To feel part of nature it is good to find regular ways of making a connection - try choosing beautiful locations which resonate in your heart, or activities which you like doing outside such as walking, cycling, camping, or beach sunbathing. Choose to make the effort and experience the benefits.

There are still places available on the Buddhafield North Open Camping Retreat, but hurry, you need to book this weekend (see Sangha News for details)

Video - Introducing the Triratna Movement

You need to be subscribed to Facebook* to see this video - but it's worth joining just to see it!

This isn't what you might expect. It's an edgy, experimental mash-up of archive videos and a track from Radiohead. It's also very entertaining.

It's the work of Samwise Rawlings from Bristol, currently residing in Edinburgh. You might just consider it something of a masterpiece.

Debbie has noticed that it also features a brief shot of Rosemary - can you spot her?

Thanks to Samwise for permission to include this in our newsletter

*P.S. While you're there why don't you join us on our Facebook page?

Weekly Programme at Leeds Buddhist Centre

Diary of Events