General Spiritual Director
News from the post Fall Festival retreats ~ Part 2
Nov 16, 2024
Dharma in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland
Throughout 2024 KMC Aberdeen have been travelling to the very north of Britain, far out in the North Sea, to offer meditation workshops across the Shetland Isles. Shetland has a population of only 28,000 but have warmly welcomed and supported these events, with high attendance numbers and a real appreciation that we are visiting in person. Recently 80 people attended a public talk on the Art of Optimism in the beautiful Mareel Arts Centre in Lerwick. This was followed by a meditation workshop on the Isle of Unst and a day retreat on the mainland. The venues are in beautiful, often wild and remote locations - after one course we met a new born lamb that had been left in the car of a crofter while they were meditating!
Dharma flourishing in The Shetland Isles
One of the highlights of the longer workshops is a bring-and-share lunch which gives people the chance to discuss the topic and enjoy some community time together. Now that we have been a few times, some of those that attend regularly have shared the deep benefit they are experiencing, and we have our first group of local volunteers willing to help with future courses.
Tharpa recently delivered its first ever box of books to Shetland and following on from each event people buy books or download Tharpa meditations to continue practicing at home. They also have the opportunity to sign up for a 'Remote and Rural' membership to join online with ongoing classes in Aberdeen. At the same time, members from north of Scotland can join in the Shetland courses while we are there, which are also streamed online.
Classes in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland
In the last year we have emphasized reaching out across the north of Scotland with a series of pop-up workshops. We regularly visit some areas and try out new places as well. So far we have visited Inverness, the Orkney Islands, Nairn, Elgin, Inverurie, Ellon, Peterhead, Banchory and Stonehaven, with Keith still to come. Many of the public talks were free, on the theme of Why Meditate and were followed by longer workshops on the theme of Meditation made Easy. We have identified areas that work well for regular classes as well as reaching out with our Remote and Rural online membership. It has been wonderful bringing Kadam Dharma to new places and new audiences and we are excited to see what 2025 will bring!
What people said
"What I enjoyed? Learning how to clean my mind and not let anxiety stress me.""I enjoyed the relaxation, the peaceful ambience and the useful and relevant information which was presented in an understandable way.""The teachings were really interesting. The atmosphere is so welcoming and calming. The shared lunch is great! I am going home with lots to think about.""This gave me the opportunity to make time for myself and to appreciate the goodness of meditation. It gave me the chance to meditate and the impetus to meditate daily.""I enjoyed the three different meditations that all built on each other. I did not feel out of my depth as someone who has never meditated before."
