Community

Dear Group Leaders and friends,

Have you looked at our new webpage created by our WCCM IT coordinator Adriano Massi? There are many new links so take the time to explore it. When I was on the site last night I saw others on the twinkling globe from Auckland, Singapore, Montreal, Cork and Uruguay. It’s attracting hits from all corners of the world with more than 500 visitors every day.

However the WCCM news for Group leaders will still be sent from this address with the Tablet. Because of flood issues I’ve been a little later than usual in sending this one.

The first WCCM Meditatio seminar and workshops on Meditation with Children, held in the UK Ireland and Nth Ireland last Dec, were received enthusiastically and over 60 schools have signed up to pilot the introduction of meditation in their schools.

Resources from the Seminars are being produced and you’ll hear more of them in the coming months. They’ll include DVD resources for teachers, a web-based video from the Meditatio seminar and a Meditatio journal about the Seminar.

There has been much media interest and the London Guardian recently featured an article on the introduction of meditation in schools in the Townsville Diocese - Children Need More Meditation and Less Stimulation. Read the article here or on the wccm home page.

This was followed by an article in the UK Tablet about the Community's work introducing meditation to schools – Small Pockets of Quietness. Click here to read it or go to the wccm home page.

The second Meditatio Seminar on Meditation and Mental Health will be held in London 4th and 5th May at Regents College, Regents Park, London and speakers from different meditation traditions and contemporary psychology have been invited. The seminar will highlight the role of meditation and its effects on mental health and will bring together those working professionally and spiritually on mental health and wellbeing and others interested in this important area.

A Retreat led by Fr Laurence Spheres of Wholeness, Healing and the Meaning of Holiness will follow with a focus on the spiritual dimension of 'wellbeing'. It will be held at High Leigh Conference Centre, Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire Friday 6 to Sunday 8 May. Download registration form here. Click here for seminar and retreat poster.

Questionnaire on meditation and mental health. In preparation for the Seminar meditators are invited to fill in an online questionnaire on meditationand its effects on mental health andwellbeing. Fr Laurence’s letter at the beginning of the questionnaire will explain it further. This is the link to it: http://www.calinfo.co.uk/wccm/wccm.htm Click to answer it online and please forward the link to your groups. The WCCM website homepage also has a hard copy for those in your groups without computer access which can be printed off and posted to the International Office address on the questionnaire.

This month Fr Laurence led a silent National retreat in New Zealand followed by the Australian National Conference in Brisbane. He then flew to Kuala Lumpur for a meeting of Coordinators from the Asian, Australasian and Pacific region. There were 28 representatives from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Philippines and Hong Kong. This was the first of 7 global meetings with Coordinators and their key people to plan for the future in this the 20th anniversary year of the WCCM Community. Other meetings will be held in London, Caracas, Geneva, Poland, Brazil and Florida for Coordinators in those regions. You can view a PowerPoint of the Kuala Lumpur meeting on the website home page.

At the end of the February Fr Laurence will visit Lisbon where he’ll meet with students and teachers, give talks at the university and launch the Portuguese translation of John Main’s book ‘Word in to Silence’. From there he flies to Marrakesh for the inaugural meeting of the Guerrand-Hermes Forum for Interreligious Study of Mysticism and Spirituality.The meeting will be attended by leading international scholars and teachers from the Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh traditions.

Thank you for your leadership of your group. Remember there are many resources to assist you. Each week there is a Weekly Teaching on the home page by Kim Nataraja the WCCM School of Meditation Coordinator. You can print these weekly for your group to help deepen their understanding of the teaching and tradition. They are arranged in a three year cycle and over that time will cover the essential teaching of our community. There is also a Weekly Reading for personal use and reflection on the home page from Carla Cooper with rich excerpts from our teaching and other traditions.

Peace,
Pauline

"We are used to dwelling on a world with thousands of mirrors seeing ourselves, seeing how others see us, constantly. Meditation is a definitive smashing of all the mirrors. It is looking not at reflections of things, not at reflections of yourself. It is looking into the reality that is God." - John Main OSB