MEDITATION – A WAY TO SLOW DOWN AND FIND MEANING IN WHAT WE ARE LIVING
6 WEEKS
Every Monday and thursday, from the 7th of May to the 15th of June
Thursday : from 8pm to 9.30 pm (UTC+1, London time)
Monday : from 8pm to 9.00 pm (UTC+1, London time)
(some recordings of the session will allow you to catch up if you have to miss some dates)
Faced with this unprecedented situation of the coronavirus crisis and the lockdown, I am proposing an exploration, through 12 sessions over 6 weeks, which will lead us to a better understanding of how meditation can help us to slow down, to find meaning, to bring back a feeling of security that is independent of the context, to release our capacity for empathy and kindness, to play an active and fearless role in the transformation of this world, to grow in confidence…
The more time advances, the more we realize that we are living in an unprecedented period. For most of us, we are confined to our homes and our dwellings … Incredible! We are thrown out of our everyday normality. For some of you this is a precious time and it’s important to recognize this. A time spent with one’s family, a time to do what we always wanted to do, with free time, and opportunities for creativity. And for others, the challenge is enormous. Relationally, psychologically … And also very often a mixture of the two … Some people telework a lot, or continue to work outside, often in difficult conditions …
We feel the future as uncertain. Before we were aware of this, now we are truly living it. It is impossible to know what all this will lead to. This uncertainty can generate anxiety. But also sometimes relief … As if we felt a renewal, an openness to everything that is possible. A door that opens up to possible hoped-for changes, whether in our personal life, or in the outside world.
This period of restriction will probably last a long time … We know that the ending of lockdown will probably be gradual. With no idea when we can go back to see a show, go to the cafe or the restaurant. We are pushed on all sides to reinvent the paths that lead to satisfaction. Netflix and Amazon Video distract us a little bit, but we quickly get tired of it, and we feel that it is more often junk food than healthy food. It’s okay in moderation… but how else can you find joy? Can we be happy with less? This is the type of question that this period raises for us. Whether we are confined to our home with a lot of free time, or overwhelmed with telework, or whether we are amongst those who have the right and the duty to go out, can we live moments of fullness, moments in which we feel that we couldn’t add anything to make them better?
It is crucial, I believe, to cherish these questions, to ask them again and again. Because they lead us to find understandings and paths that free us from the need to consume, or to “do things” to be satisfied. They point towards what makes us really happy, towards a healthy happiness. Not that consuming or doing things is a problem in itself – on the contrary, they are quite necessary, it goes without saying. But to just do that all the time ?! Unable to stop, always having to find something to fill up a lack, to feel good, this is an individual and collective problem …
And this period, with the absence of routine and distractions, with the insecurity of not knowing what follows, the fear for our health and that of our loved ones, the physical and emotional exhaustion of those on the front line, pushes us to look elsewhere for a sense of security and satisfaction.
It’s a profound revolution. An individual one, but one which affects the collective. If this revolution does not happen, I do not think that the other revolutions, whatever changes they may bring, take us very far. A society made up of people incapable of finding happiness in simplicity, and peace in a turbulent context cannot, in my opinion, evolve healthily. It is the quality of our presence and of our being, the degree of inner stability, peace, joy and empathy, that we cultivate within the lockdown which will allow us to be truly grounded in order to shape together the world after the lockdown and face the challenges and other crises lying ahead…
These questions speak of the life of the spirit. This search for freedom, for a simple happiness independent of the context in which we live does not date from yesterday … They have always been in the minds of men and women. But in this period that we are going through, they arise ever more strongly.
12 SESSIONS OVER 6 WEEKS
I am therefore proposing an exploration, through 12 sessions over 6 weeks, which will lead us to a better understanding of how meditation can help us to slow down, to find meaning, to bring back a feeling of security that is independent of context, to release our capacity for empathy and kindness, to play an active and fearless role in the transformation of this world, to grow in confidence,…
The different themes presented each week will be supported by guided meditations that you can practice at home, in order to deepen your practice of meditation.
And each week will also have what we could call “inner practical work”, to carry out in our daily life (like returning several times a day to the breath, and noticing how that impacts on us, or noticing when resistance develops in a specific context and see how we can change our response, etc.).
In fact, we are going to transform our life into an experienced based laboratory, to get to know ourselves better, to transform what is harmful to us, to discover interior spaces of silence and peace, to practice meditations that release the love that is blocked by so many conditions, etc. ..
These 6 weeks being progressive, it will not be possible to join this workshop along the way (registration will close before the second week). I hope a group will get formed in order to go together to the end.
Dates
Every Monday and thursday, from the 7th of May to the 15th of June (If you cannot attend to all sessions,you will be able to catch up thanks to the recordings of them !)
Thursday : from 8pm to 9.30 pm (UTC+1, London time)
Monday : from 8pm to 9.00 pm (UTC+1, London time)
Note 2 : On Thursday the 7th, we will start with sorting out the various technical problems that you may encounter. So, the session may end a bit later. And if you are beginning, you can stay online with me after the end, and I will cover a few basics about meditation posture and other things needed for you to get started.
Price
Since the beginning of the lockdown, we have received many beautiful proposals for free online seminars. This is not the case with this one. Respecting the great traditions of Asia, I make a living from my activity of teaching meditation, being mainly paid by donation. That’s what I live for, and I’m proud of it, but it doesn’t allow me to accumulate enough money to work for free.
To cover the costs of the association, as well as a sign of commitment to fully take part in the seminar, a minimum donation of € 20 is required (plus € 10 for membership, if you are not already a member of the association in 2020). If even this amount is too heavy for your budget, do contact me, this should not prevent you from participating.
Thank you, however, for not considering this seminar as “cheap”, and to choose for yourself what feels like a fair and supportive price, according to your means.
If you are not familiar with the donation system, you can read more HERE. And if that system makes you uncomfortable, you are free to go and check the average price for this kind of proposal.
Registration
The seminar is full, so we are closing the registration. We will provide the recordings once it is all over. To knwo when you can receive them, anf follow the seminar yourself, or to be noticed when the next one is coming, register to the newsletter on this website.
Wishing you well and at peace,
Denis