Dear Friends,
I hope you’ve had a restful Christmas break. As we prepare to return to our routines on Monday, I’ve been reflecting on how easy it is to lose that sense of spaciousness the holidays can bring – those moments when time seems to slow and we catch ourselves simply being rather than constantly doing.
The question I keep coming back to is: how do we hold onto some of that stillness as life speeds up again? This is, in essence, what meditation offers – not an escape from our busy lives, but a way of being more fully present within them.
Six Week Meditation Challenge
With this in mind, I’m pleased to say that our Six Week Meditation Challenge begins this Tuesday, 6th January, at The Millbridge Rooms in Hertford. Just turn up between 7:00 and 7:15 PM – it’s open to all, and is on a donation basis.
Over the six weeks we’ll explore themes that build upon one another: awakening to reality, cultivating a calm and focused mind, developing loving-kindness (metta), balancing effort with openness, and integrating practice into daily life. We’ll be learning two core meditation practices – the Mindfulness of Breathing and the Metta Bhavana – with full instruction given each week.
The “challenge” element is simply an invitation to commit to meditating regularly during the course – whether that’s five, six, or seven days a week. There’s something powerful about making such a commitment within a supportive group.
If you’re new to meditation, this is a perfect time to join us. This first evening in January is always our meeting with the most newcomers, and we’ll be teaching from first principles.
And if you’ve been practising for a while but haven’t been along recently, or feel stuck in a rut, the momentum of a group commitment can be wonderfully reinvigorating. It is always good to see our old friends 🙂
The course works best if you can come every week, but come when you can – and if you miss a week or two or several, please come back anyway!
As always, there’ll be meditation instruction, discussion, friendly faces, and yes – tea and biscuits.
With warmth,
Keith