Buddhafield

There’ll be updates on this year’s workshop programme from about the beginning of April on, but below you can see a selection of the workshops we enjoyed last year.

We have been 6 years now as a family — and love the calm, alcohol free space that is safe for kids to run wild.

Mindful Eating with Abbie Mead. It seems that many of us, like myself, have difficulties and struggles around their body image and relationship with food. I have found mindfulness techniques invaluable for helping people to re-discover the simple, joyful pleasures of eating, and to re-tune into their body’s wisdom as to when and how much to eat. Abbie has completed level 1 of Mindfulness Teacher Training through the University of Bangor, and has been facilitating mindfulness, meditation groups and workshops for the past 5 years. She has intermediate training in counselling skills, and is a Trustee of a small Buddhist charity called Bodhi Tree Brighton.

Vegan & Vegetarian Cooking Demos with Jane Easton and Rhiannnon Buck as part of the Vegan Vihara. See Info Point Boards for locations.

Mindfulness, Embodiment and Shared Experience: “Being the Change” with Mark Leonard and Venerable Amarantho (tbc). How might mindfulness change the way we relate to ourselves, each other and the world around us, and bring about new ways of organising society and the resources we use? In this workshop, Mark and Amaranatho will introduce mindful embodiment exercises and discuss the implications of your experience to explore answers to these questions. Mark has been involved in various capacities developing interest in the Buddhist tradition at the University in Oxford for about 10 years. The motivation being to bring wider awareness of Buddhist practice to contemporary culture at a time where it is both greatly needed and there is great potential for its understanding. Currently he works part-time as the Projects and Development Manager at the Oxford Mindfulness Centre, and is only one of two people working in the Centre who is a Buddhist practitioner and not a clinician, researcher or with a background in the caring professions. Last year he co-lead a course “Mindfulness: a practical guide to finding peace in a frantic world”. Ultimately he wants to make mindfulness as much a part of everyday life as brushing our teeth.

Dzogchen: Finding Freedom at the Bus Stop with Wendy Bates. Finding freedom wherever you are, whatever the circumstances, means liberation in this lifetime. Learning about ’this and that’ is not necessarily helpful in this endeavor because the answer, ultimately, is not a thought. Having a kindly look at how we tie ourselves in knots may lead to loosening of these ties. Wendy is a student of James Low, a Nyingma high lama and consultant psychotherapist, sharing the profound understanding of his life’s work and practise.

A Prison Yoga Teacher’s Experiences with Jo Tytherleigh. The Prison Phoenix Trust encourages prisoners in their spiritual lives through a daily practice of yoga and meditation, working with silence and the breath. Jo has been teaching Yoga in prisons for 7 years, supported by The Prison Phoenix Trust charity.

“Waking the Wild Heart” by Huw Wyn. When we are able to cut through the conceptual stories and beliefs about who we Think we are, our natural state of clarity and awareness is uncovered like the sun shining in the vast open sky. When we live our life from this awareness, we can start to live our life as an expression of our unique offering to the world. This authentic presence is the greatest gift we can share with the world and naturally brings contentment, joy and boundless compassion to ourself and others.