http://www.londoninsightmeditation.org.uk/blog/ London Insight Meditation en anthea.west1@gmail.com Copyright 2012 2012-02-01T09:02:13+00:00 http://www.londoninsight.org/blog/sit-in-peace-with-thich-nhat-hanh/ http://www.londoninsight.org/blog/sit-in-peace-with-thich-nhat-hanh/#When:08:02:13Z Thich Nhat Hanh, who will be visiting the UK shortly, will guide a sitting meditation on Saturday 31 March in Trafalgar Square from 2.30pm. This is a free event and everyone is warmly invited to join in this celebration of peace within us and around us. London Insight Meditation has gladly accepted the invitation to be a ‘supporting organisation’ for this event. Many of you will be very familiar with the work of Vietnamese teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, but for those who would like to know more, there is a full account at http://interbeing.org.uk/ Sitting meditation is one of the ways to contemplate peace. We invite you to sit together in silence, generating the energy of peace, solidity, and freedom. You may like to bring something to sit on (it may be a good idea for this to be waterproof). You are welcome to sit on the benches and steps in Trafalgar Square. This event is open to everyone, all ages, from every path, experienced or not. However, please don’t display banners or signs, or give out flyers, during the event. To help with fundraising for the cost of Sit in Peace, music for download is available at http://peacesounds.bandcamp.com/ For further information about the event itself, please see http://www.mindfulnessretreats.org.uk/sit-in-peace/ News 2012-02-01T08:02:13+00:00 http://www.londoninsight.org/blog/saturday-insight/ http://www.londoninsight.org/blog/saturday-insight/#When:16:30:50Z We are very pleased to announce that on 18th February a weekly group, led by meditation teacher Paul Burrows, will begin meeting in central London. Come along on any Saturday from the 18th February, from 10:30am to 1:00pm at the Swiss Church near Covent Garden.  This is something that we have wanted to arrange for a long time, and we’re very grateful to Paul for initiating it. (You can find out more about Paul on our Teachers page: http://www.londoninsight.org/community/teachers/#Paul Burrows). He will be leading the group most weeks, and will invite other teachers to take part at various times.  It will be run as an open group, on a drop in basis - open to all.  It will include quiet sitting time, teachings, discussion and interviews with other teachers and pioneers in the world of mindfulness and contemporary inquiry. There is a £5 fee for London Insight’s overheads, and the opportunity to make a donation to Paul (and any visiting teacher). Like all London Insight’s teachers, Paul is not paid, and his livelihood depends on dana (freely given donations): a tradition that goes back to the time of the Buddha. Chairs are available in the room, but if you’d rather sit on the floor please note that it’s a hard wooden one, without mats, so you will need (preferably) both mat and cushion. The website for the Swiss Church is http://www.swisschurchlondon.org.uk/pub/Location. If you need any more information, please contact News 2012-01-17T16:30:50+00:00 http://www.londoninsight.org/blog/awak/ http://www.londoninsight.org/blog/awak/#When:07:44:11Z James and Jane Baraz ran a very successful workshop on this subject for us last August, and we wanted to draw your attention to the online course of the same name that begins on the first of February. You can find out more about the course, and James himself, at http://www.awakeningjoy.info/. James wrote his book, and developed the course, after finding that years of dedicated meditation practice had left him feeling slightly flat and apathetic. He uses teaching based on the Dharma to raise mood and concentrate on positive emotions; though he doesn’t insist on the word ‘joy’, if you find it a bit too Californian. More than 10,000 people have already undertaken the course, and feedback has been extremely enthusiastic. It’s true that the course does demand a significant commitment in terms of time and money, but we’re telling you about it because we believe that James’ approach is positive, helpful and in the true spirit of the Buddhist teachings. If you do decide to register, and would like to be in touch with others doing the same thing, please add a comment below (you will probably need to answer a simple arithmetic question first, just to prove that you are not an automated process.) News 2012-01-17T07:44:11+00:00 http://www.londoninsight.org/blog/charity-status/ http://www.londoninsight.org/blog/charity-status/#When:07:34:03Z We are delighted to announce that on 22nd December we were registered as a charity. Our full details are: London Insight Limited is a registered charity in England and Wales (charity registration number 1145212) and a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (company number 06444448). Registered office: 68 Devonshire Road, London, E17 8QJ. We have been working towards this status all year, and are very grateful to all the people who have put in hours and hours of hard work on making sure that we fulfill all the requirements. We feel that charitable status gives a fair reflection of our status and aims, and of the kind of work we do. News 2011-12-23T07:34:03+00:00 http://www.londoninsight.org/blog/follow-up-teachings-from-rob-burbea/ http://www.londoninsight.org/blog/follow-up-teachings-from-rob-burbea/#When:09:00:51Z Rob’s retreats are always popular, and his session on ‘The Beauty of Desire’ on December 4th was no exception. A day seemed quite a short time to absorb and understand the complexity of the theme, and as promised Rob has sent us some links to his other teaching on similar subjects. Here is his list: “The second approach/direction I talked about on Sunday I’ve explained more fully in a number of talks: Ways of Looking (2): Dukkha at http://www.dharmaseed.org/teacher/210/talk/12531/ also perhaps, Q and A Session 4 http://www.dharmaseed.org/teacher/210/talk/11502/ Filling out the implications more on this second direction on desire: What is Insight? News 2011-12-11T09:00:51+00:00 http://www.londoninsight.org/blog/2012-programme-now-available/ http://www.londoninsight.org/blog/2012-programme-now-available/#When:10:18:02Z Please do have a look at our Programme section to see all the exciting things that are happening next year. Many outstanding teachers are returning to lead sessions for us again, and we have a few new departures as well. As well as the much-loved monthly day retreats at King Alfred School, we are offering a third annual run of Martin Aylward’s intensive urban retreat on the theme of ‘Work Sex Money Dharma’. This event is quite demanding, in terms of time and effort, but has been extremely popular both here and internationally. Places are limited, and in previous years the event has been fully booked in advance. Other goodies include two public dialogues, both chaired by Madeleine Bunting of The Guardian. On May 20th Stephen Batchelor and Don Cupitt will be talking about ‘The Future of Religion’, and on 21st September John Peacock and Mark Williams will discuss ‘Mindfulness and MBCT: the meeting of two cultures?’. All these participants are very well known and highly respected. We expect a lot of demand for places, so again early booking would be advisable. Vinny Ferraro, who taught very successfully with Noah Levine last year, will be teaching for us again on Sunday June 10th. We look forward to another session in his upbeat and distinctive style. Vinny has long experience in working with prisoners and recovery programmes, and has also done a lot of work in hospices. We haven’t made final venue arrangements yet, so booking is not yet open for this event, but please save the date. Online booking for other events is possible at any time. Like many other organisations, we shall be shutting down the office for the period between Christmas and New Year, but come the first week in January we will be open again for enquiries and correspondence. We wish you a very happy festive season, and look forward to seeing you next year. News 2011-12-05T10:18:02+00:00 http://www.londoninsight.org/blog/generosity/ http://www.londoninsight.org/blog/generosity/#When:08:14:07Z Ajahn Sucitto’s retreat, on 12th and 13th November, was entitled ‘Holistic Awareness’, but it was just as much about generosity. As ever, the retreat depended on the generosity of the teacher in offering his wisdom and reflections, based on decades of meditation and study: particularly appreciated as he was suffering from a nasty cold at the time! He also brought with him many wonderful books for free distribution. We still have a few of these, and will be offering them at future King Alfred School events. Ajahn Sucitto asked that all dana - freewill offerings - for the retreat should go to the Khuphuka Project (see ). Gift Aid will add a significant amount to the very generous donations received. Thanissara, one of the guiding teachers for the project, says “On behalf of Kittisaro and myself and all involved with supporting Khuphuka Project, we are deeply grateful for this gesture of support. Thank you Ajahn for your tremendous gift to Khuphuka Project, we deeply appreciate it. And thank you all at LIM for facilitating this gift, alongside the other awesome offerings you made these last few years to help KP be the great project it is, we appreciate your support.” Retreats like this couldn’t possibly work without the enormous amounts of help given by scores of people, freely and always with good nature and good will: volunteers who assisted with transport, accommodation, registration, setup, washing-up, and many, many other jobs. Sitting in the Sunday sunshine (even the sun was generous to us), I felt really happy to be part of such an uplifting, co-operative event. News 2011-11-16T08:14:07+00:00 http://www.londoninsight.org/blog/climate-change-a-dharma-presence-at-december-3rd-event/ http://www.londoninsight.org/blog/climate-change-a-dharma-presence-at-december-3rd-event/#When:09:21:31Z Gaia House teachers Rob Burbea and Kirsten Kratz led a short meditation before joining the London Climate Change march on December 3rd. About 100 people attended as part of the dharma presence at the event. They came from several different Buddhist traditions, and included monks and nuns. Jane Knight had made some wonderful banners: you can see pictures on our Facebook page, at http://www.facebook.com/LondonInsight?sk=photos. More about the march, and the whole Climate Justice campaign, is available at http://www.campaigncc.org/ It was impressive that so many people turned out on a cold, busy day, and those who attended felt that the effort was well worth while. Increasingly, working to raise consciousness of the suffering caused by climate change is becoming an important concern of the whole Buddhist community. We are very happy to play our part in this effort. News 2011-11-14T09:21:31+00:00 http://www.londoninsight.org/blog/new-gaia-house-website-and-programme/ http://www.londoninsight.org/blog/new-gaia-house-website-and-programme/#When:10:26:46Z Gaia House (the Devon retreat centre with which we are closely associated) launched their new-look, informative website recently, and their 2012 programme is now available.  They have included a lot more detailed information: do have a look, at We have a website revamp of our own in hand, and hope to implement it in the next few weeks. Our 2012 programme is almost ready; we are just waiting on a bit more information about costs and, therefore, prices. News 2011-11-01T10:26:46+00:00 http://www.londoninsight.org/blog/sharon-salzberg-event-cancelled/ http://www.londoninsight.org/blog/sharon-salzberg-event-cancelled/#When:10:19:44Z Sharon Salzberg will be leading a workshop on “Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation” on Sunday 29th January. The event is organised by the Alternatives group based at St James Church, Piccadilly. You can find all the details at http://www.alternatives.org.uk/Site/EventDescription.aspx?EventID=927. The workshop takes place at Cecil Sharp House, in Regents Park Road: the website gives full details. Regular readers will know that this event was originally planned for November. Sharon is one of London Insight’s most popular teachers, and we wanted to let you know of this opportunity to hear her teach in London. The cost is relatively high compared with that of London Insight events, but we understand that there will be no collection of dana (freewill offering). News 2011-11-01T10:19:44+00:00