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Fr. Joe at the Meditatio Workshop
Father Joe inspired the hearts
and souls of many across the UK in a series of workshops and lectures between
25th – 30th October. These were arranged in conjunction with the
World Community For Christian Meditation ( 'WCCM') and involved sharing
teachings on how Yoga and Christian Meditation can help in recovery. Workshops
were also conducted on Kripafoundation Iyengar Yoga® as a tool for shaping the body as a temple
of God's Spirit.
The program began in the auspicious
surroundings of the shrine of Julian of Norwich. Julian of Norwich was a
fourteenth-century anchorite and mystic who experienced a series of divine
revelations. An anchoress was a person called to a solitary life, but one that
was not cut-off from the world, but one anchored in it. Her life was one of
prayer, contemplation and counselling, her home was a small room, or cell,
attached to the Church of S. Julian, Bishop of Le Mans, just off one of the
main streets of Norwich. Father Joe conducted a mass and meditation in the cell
for members of WCCM and friends of Kripa bringing the meditation to a close
with Julian’s prayer that “all shall be well, all shall be well, and all manner
of things shall be well”.
On Thursday evening Father Joe
delivered a talk on Kripa and how meditation and Yoga can help in recovery. The
audience was a mix of meditators, individuals in recovery and professionals who
experienced a unique blend of teachings which spanned Christianity, Eastern
Spirituality and Western Science. Individuals gained an understanding of the
energy centres in the body, the importance of a breath culture and
dispossession. Yoga was taught as a pathway to move from the periphery to the
centre of our being to a place where as Father Joe says “The Father and I are
one”.
Saturday’s workshop was entitled
Christian Meditation & Yoga for Overcoming Addictive Behaviour and was
provided primarily for adults from across the North East Regional Service User
Forum network, who were all at some stage on their own Recovery journeys.
Feedback was very positive all round with attendees appreciating the distinct
benefits of Yoga and Meditation for a sustained recovery and the comprehensive
approach adopted by Kripa, one attendee commented that “ it makes the recovery efforts
around here look amateurish” The workshop was the seed for encouraging a
blossoming of Christian meditation across the North East. Many attendees have
since expressed a desire to learn more and start a Christian Meditation session
for their own Recovery support groups. The event was funded by the National
Treatment Agency (NTA) based in Government Office Newcastle and the Safer
Middlesbrough Partnership which made it possible for the workshop to be put on
free of charge to the 70 service users.
Sunday's workshop was entitled
Christian Meditation and Yoga for the Joy of Living and was delivered for
seasoned practioners of either yoga or Christian Meditation and was very well
received. One of the organisers and a yoga teacher of some 30 plus years, said
that Father Joe re -affirmed all that is good about yoga and loved his depth of
knowledge about Patanjali and the Vedas. Another Yoga teacher from
Middlesbrough and a Catholic school teacher loved how Father Joe married the
spirituality of yoga with the teachings of Jesus to the degree that she felt
inspired to commence her own sessions for her school pupils.
Terry Doyle (event Co-ordinator
and Meditatio outreach development worker) commented “In short, Fr Joe was
willing to travel to the North East in God's service. He delivered two master
classes, each different in their own way yet both profoundly moving and
inspirational. He also delivered a very moving homily at mass at St Andrew's RC
Church in Teesville which was very well received by all lucky enough to be
touched by Fr Joe's presence and healing words.”
Echoing the teachings contained
in the DVD ‘Yoga for the practice of Christian Meditation’ Father Joe conducted
a yoga class for 30 members of the WCCM at the Meditatio house in Ealing on
Monday evening. Many traveled from far distances across Europe to attend the
class where Father Joe demonstrated various Asanas and Pranayama to assist
young meditators with their practice and to develop the body as a temple of
God’s spirit.
The
culmination of the week was a conference held in London for close to 100 people
entitled ‘Meditation and Addiction: The way through’. Addiction is often
considered as the response of a self that is deeply wounded. Speakers explored
whether there was a role for the practice of meditation in responding to such
patterns of behaviour. Meditation was introduced as a practical way to lead us
to a holistic understanding of ourselves to help us find a way through
addictions.
Father Joe was one of the
keynote speakers alongside Laurence Freeman (Benedictine monk and WCCM
Director), Dr Vanessa Crawford (Consultant Addiction Psychiatrist) and Mike
Sarson (Founder of East West Detox). In the morning session Father Joe
delivered a presentation outlining the Kripa model of recovery combining the
elements of the twelve step program and the gifts given to the recovery
movement by BKS Iyengar (through the Asanas and intensive care units of the
props) Mother Teresa through the wounded healer model (giving from ones poverty
as opposed to ones abundance) and John Main with the teachings of Christian
meditation and contemplative prayer.
The afternoon sessions
incorporated Father Joe’s workshop entitled ‘Breath – The way of Transcendence’
– Meditation and Yoga was presented as a way to wholeness in the recovery from
addiction. The workshop focused on how the breath is an important element in
the preparation of body and mind in the process of meditation. Attendees
practiced various Asanas and Pranayama and were bathed in the ‘Silence of the
Spirit’.
The day
closed with a panel discussion on the different forms of meditation, the
importance of forgiveness in the recovery process and how to integrate
meditation into ones daily life. Feedback from the event was very positive with
many viewing Father Joe’s lecture and workshop as the highlight of the event.
One attendee commented “I gained so much from it, I can not put into words how
much it meant to me to be in an environment where I did not have to wear a mask
over my alcoholism or a mask over my faith in order to learn. I could be free
to simply be fully the person I am in the eyes of God and learn all he wanted
me to bring home in my heart”.
The conference was recorded by
the WCCM and will be made available for download on the WCCM website over the
next couple of weeks. Following the event Father Joe was also interviewed
alongside Laurence Freeman for Catholic radio.
AS NIRVANA PENS IT...
They
came in groups, they came as one, the humble journey just begun.
Arising
from their depths of pain,
Searching
for the answer, their lives in vain.
They
bared their souls with the coming of time,
Desperately
hoping one day they would be fine.
Endlessly
craving the answer, searching for the truth,
Wishing
one day they would be of use.
Then a
flame was brought to the depths of their being
Bringing
a glimmer of hope, a new way of seeing.
Lighting
a pathway that was never seen before,
Bringing
the Holy Spirit to soothe the sore.
That
beacon was lit and in the fullness of time,
The
light will be nurtured, love will align.
An
enduring flame that will begin to burn,
The
impurities, providing healing,
a
compassionate heart they will learn.
From
the one who is filled with grace and love,
Who
shines the light from above.
A
beautiful gift for all to see,
How
privileged are we.
In Gratitude for the photographs, report and poem.
by
Nirvana Crowley
UK
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