We meet once a month to enjoy mind-expanding conversations in a safe space with like-minded people. Come to ConsciousCafe to meet others and explore the journey of life using walking the labyrinth as a metaphor of life’s journey.
We will look at the value of walking as a tool for meditation and reflection. The labyrinth was used in the past as a substitute for pilgrimage.
Victoria Fields and Maggie Smith will act as facilitators for the event.
Victoria Fields is a poet and writer who has written about her own experience of pilgrimage walking the Camino in her book “Baggage”. Maggie Smith is a counsellor who was involved with the development of the labyrinth at the University of Kent and undertook labyrinth facilitator training at Chartres Cathedral.
This event is part of the Canterbury Pilgrim Festival and is a free event.
To book, contact Cora Kemball-Cook
Email: corakc@hotmail.com or 07711 830275
Catherine Hill will lead the discussion on In Sickness and In Health, Making adversity work for you. In 1986 Catherine was badly injured in the Pam Am hijacking in Pakistan and since then has endured over 40 operations and constant pain. She wrote a book about her horrific experience and life after the hijacking, this was described as “inspirational and optimistic…convinces us of the unquenchable force of the human spirit”.
Catherine says she has learnt a huge amount from dealing with the challenges in her life and she will share some of her wisdom.
Cost: £7.00 if paid in advance or £10 on the door.
Refreshments provided.
Venue: The Conservatory, The Anne Robertson Centre, 55 London Road, Canterbury CT2 8HQ (parking available on site)
What a fascinating evening we had at ConsciousCafe Canterbury - and it also generated a lot of discussion both immediately afterwards and in the proceeding days.
Our three speakers all came from very varied and interesting backgrounds. Louise Cox Chester came from a career in investment analysis and fund management but decided to leave this high flying world to set up Mindfulness at work ten years ago. Her organisation supports global corporations through designing and delivering mindfulness based training that brings focus, clarity and calm to people. Mindfulness at work has worked with over 250 organisations ranging from Cisco and Savills to Unilever and UBS. They also deliver mindful self compassion programmes in the NHS, teach in schools and run a not for profit organic retreat centre in Wingham.
Viv Moore is a Mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) teacher with a background in nursing and psychology, she has been a University lecturer with a PhD in Psychology. She runs 8 week MBSR courses and she has specialized particularly in helping clients with severe chronic pain. Emma Slade or Ani Pema Deki came from the banking world and the story of her transformation from high flying banker to Buddhist nun is told in her popular book Set Free which she sells in aid of the charity she set up Opening your Heart to Bhutan. As a practicing Tibetan Buddhist she says that in Tibetan there is no word for “Mindfulness” which seems curious as the practice has come out of Buddhism!
It was surprising to hear that it is not easy to even define exactly what mindfulness is despite the word being in such common parlance these days.
Louise felt that mindfulness could be defined as loving connected presence either towards self or others or towards an object; it is about being present. Viv felt that the practice dealt with the fact of life being suffering and is about addressing pain in our lives. Louise felt that mindfulness helped people make better choices in their lives, it would enable them to have a pause between stimulus and response, it would help them to communicate more effectively and to give their full attention to colleagues in meetings.
We discussed the fact that the practice may not be suitable for everyone, if someone was recently bereaved then a mindfulness meditation would make them more acutely aware of their grief, also people with mental health problems might find it painful or difficult to practice mindfulness. Everyone agreed that yoga practice can be extremely beneficial for everyone as it was mindful practice that made people aware of their bodies.
It was felt that some people got benefits similar to meditation from running or other sports or even from playing a musical instrument. We were able to experience two short meditations and in the feedback one person who had never meditated before and was surprised that in a guided short meditation they were able to clear their mind.
This is just an overview of what we talked about and I am sure that many of you found other nuggets of interest which I have failed to mention. Do let me know your thoughts on the evening.
Cora
ConsciousCafe Canterbury Leader
ConsciousCafe is a not-for-profit organisation, a friendly and welcoming community, a place to live life consciously.