Into the Valley of Being

You can join for any of the offers, even if you have not been to the previous ones.

These interactive workshops will use embodied exercises from dance and improvisation to support meditation practice. They give us an opportunity to deepen connection with ourselves and with others through easy elements of movement, in the spirit of play and joy to guide us into embodied presence and interaction.

Each workshop will be done twice to accommodate time zones. Get one ticket and come to as many sessions as you wish!

Together, we will explore how to suffuse our meditation and practice of the Dharma with more lightness and relaxation. The four workshops are divided into two sets: “Into the Valley of Being” and “A Celebration of Connectedness” – they are part of a connected series but you are welcome to come to any session you wish.

This series is for anybody who wants to try out meditation supported by the practice of body-based improvisation in a supportive environment. You can work within any space you have available, large or small. Please wear comfortable clothing, and for some parts of the session it would be good if you are able to use a camera.

‘Into the Valley of Being’ (2 & 9 May) 

Two workshops exploring what it means to be present, without doing – in movement and meditation. 

During this time of isolation, our sense of ourselves and contact with each other has changed. Activities that seemed natural have fallen away, such as meeting with other people to meditate, or to travel. ‘We’ or who we thought ‘we’ were, has been put into question. We know less; we are less able to act, do, instigate, manage our lives in the way ‘we’ thought of as normal.

Maybe it is time to move to a different kind of knowing; also a different kind of practice of meditation. Some Buddhist paths speak of transcendence of mundane existence, as if one were ascending to the mountaintop. Some others (e.g. the Japanese Pure Land School) speak of a descent into the valley, where fecundity is nourished and dynamic creativity is born. Also a resting place for everything that is washed down from the mountaintop, welcoming all of us with disappointments and fragility.

Drawing on these themes we will engage in practice of being present, without doing – in movement and meditation. Playfully we can discover what is already present naturally, without effort, and can be discovered with curiosity and attentiveness.

‘A Celebration of Connectedness’ (30 May & 6 June) 

Openness, space and interconnectedness that are present even when times are uncertain. This is the theme of improvisation: being in the unknown, and allowing ourselves to be moved not by our personal intention, but by greater forces flowing through us, responding to life as it presents itself, now. Very little in life can be determined by our own volition, best-laid plans or good intentions … so how is it to live when clinging a little less to what ‘we’ want?

These workshops will foster a sense of curiosity, discovery and kindly interest, towards both ourselves and others. We can build a sense of community across oceans and continents – even via contact on the screen. We will meet, dance and enjoy surprising depths and laughs in playing in the Now.

These workshops are offered by Dharma Toolkit/ Buddhist Centre Online. Please follw this link to read more and to book.

All of these events are offered by donation. If you can, please donate today and support others to attend who cannot afford to pay. Thank you!

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Suggested donation for the whole course: $100 / £80 / €90 or $25 / £20 / €25 per day.

Photo (Sikkim) by Sangay Lama on Unsplash