Dear Friends,

These April days have been so beautiful recently. I wonder whether you chose to make some time to sit in the sun this weekend to soak up the goodness? (there is a poem as usual below).

The two eight week courses have just finished, transforming even more lives with the power of compassionate mindfulness. This is the same transformational power as the spring and we can know this, experience this, as we tap into the presence of practice.

Coming together increases its power when we practice in a group. Our own personal experience is reflected back through other's resonance. The resonance is through our hearts.

Maura Sills writes (Sills, M. 2011, p.104) "Resting in the heart can help us resonate with the huge energetic field of the heart, which has a bio-electric field 60 times the size of that of the brain, and a bio-magnetic field 5000 times vaster than that of the brain (McCraty, R. 2003, p.1). From early in embryologial development, our hearts gather information from around us. As the brain develops, the heart continues to deliver more information to the brain than vice versa (e.g., McCraty, R. 2003). The work of Heartmath (www.heartmath.org) reveals how intuitive, sensitive and intelligent our hearts are, and how resonating with the heart can support us meeting the stresses in our lives with more coherence. A coherent heart enhances coherence throughout the body, as well as communicating to other people through resonance".

Coherence here, means forming a unified whole, which develops as we practice -  mindfulness is first and foremost embodied presence. By practising and valuing our time spent this way, we develop coherence.

The next opportunity to give yourself plenty of time to really soak up the practices together will be :- 

"Coming Home to the Heart" a weekend of Mindfulness and Self Compassion Practice,

July 8-9th

at the lovely Fintry Trust just south of Godalming in Surrey.

Here is the link to the flyer, http://www.dailymindfulness.com/sites/default/files/course_flyers/Fintry-flyer-July-8-9-2017-current-1.pdf

Do join us for a gorgeous weekend, with time for practice, time for laughter, time for peace and sitting in the sun.  Fintry is renowned for its timeless grace, warm hospitality, and wonderful home-made food.

With love, 

Barbara

 

'The Word' by Tony Hoagland

Down near the bottom

of the crossed-out list

of things you have to do today,

 

between “green thread”

and “broccoli,” you find

that you have penciled “sunlight.”

 

Resting on the page, the word

is beautiful. It touches you

as if you had a friend

 

and sunlight were a present

he had sent from someplace distant

as this morning—to cheer you up,

 

and to remind you that,

among your duties, pleasure

is a thing

 

that also needs accomplishing.

Do you remember?

that time and light are kinds

 

of love, and love

is no less practical

than a coffee grinder

 

or a safe spare tire?

Tomorrow you may be utterly

without a clue,

 

but today you get a telegram

from the heart in exile,

proclaiming that the kingdom

 

still exists,

the king and queen alive,

still speaking to their children,

 

—to any one among them

who can find the time

to sit out in the sun and listen.