Flag Newsletter for the recurring Zoom links for Weekly Tuesday 11am and Thursday 6pm Qigong, and weekly Mindfulness Practice 6pm

Dear Sue,

Swimming Dragon & Monkey Magic

Qigong Starts This Week

II am so looking forward to seeing you again - and newbies too - at the 6pm Qigong class today and the Thursday session at 11am. The recurring Zoom login links are embedded in the buttons in this Newsletter. 

The winter is the perfect time to be warming ourselves through practices connected to the element of fire that increase our own inner heat. And Swimming Dragon Qigong fits this bill perfectly.

In many traditions dragons breathe fire, which is heat coming from within. Swimming Dragon helps to cultivate our own inner warmth, both physically and emotionally. This Qigong form is connected to the element of fire and the heart with its warmth of loving kindness. It is a wonderfully fluid, sinuous practice that creates an inner glow, both in the body and emotionally through the outward flow of loving kindness from the heart.

Time for fun too. During the autumn we practiced some of the Animal Frolics Qigong: Deer, Tiger and Bear Frolics. To start our New Year practice we will visit the playful Monkey Frolics, which are also connected to the heart. Be prepared to make some Monkey Magic and have a bit of a giggle.

FREE Mindfulness Taster Monday 17th January at 6pm

You will find the latest addition to my vocabulary sprinkled around this newsletter: the word ’respair’. This is an old and long out of use word that means the opposite of despair. It refers a return to hope after a period of despondency.

One of the benefits of Mindfulness Training is learning skills that can gently enable the warmth of respair to become our everyday mode of being. Those of you who have participated on a Mindfulness Course will continue to deepen the benefits these courses offer on how we navigate the challenges and obstacles of daily life. How it is possible to move from despair to respair.

There is a Free Mindfulness Taster session this coming Monday 17th January at 6pm. Tell your friends, family and colleagues about it and encourage them to sample the how and what of mindfulness at this free session. Follow this link for further details and to secure a place at the Taster session.

Another word added to my vocabulary is “confelicity', which means our joy in another person’s happiness. On The Four Immeasurables Day of Retreat on Saturday 29th January we learn how to connect more skilfully with this quality through practising meditations and movements that enhance our capacity for appreciative joy, or confelicity.

And if you wish to know more wonderful words follow this link to a recent article in The Guardian about Sue Dent’s new book, Word Perfect.

Warmest wishes,

Sue

PS The Thursday 6pm weekly Mindfulness Practice Sessions start this week too. See you then!

Mindfulness Stress Reduction Training Course via Zoom

FREE Taster session:

Monday 17th January at 6pm

7-week Course starts:

Monday 24th January at 6pm-8pm

‘Respair’ is the opposite of ‘Despair’ and means  ‘the return of hope after a period of despair.’ During the Mindfulness Stress Reduction Course we learn to how reach this state of respair. The gentle yet powerful skills taught during the course reduce stress and anxiety and increase mental calm and emotional balance. We learn how to manage difficult feelings and many discover that better sleep is one of the other of many benefits of this training. 

Course fee £155. This Includes life-time access to all sound files and course notes.

NOTE: For those who cannot afford this, I have for many years offered a pay what you can afford scheme so no-one is deprived of the precious and often life-changing skills.

Registration and further details

Mid-winter sunrise at Mill House Farm

Weekly Qigong

STARTS THIS WEEK

Tuesdays 6pm GMT

Thursdays at 11am GMT

on Zoom

Suitable for all ages and abilities. The gentle, flowing and fun postures, stretches and swings increase strength and flexibility, improve breathing and calm the mind. 

£6 per session.

Details can be found here

Weekly Mindfulness Practice

Thursdays

6pm-7pm GMT

Starts This Week

A time of quiet for all to share. A period of calm and reflection for an hour from 6pm BST on Thursdays. We practice a little seated Qigong, reflect on a poem and sit quietly together in contemplation. 

Free, Any donations (suggested £5) offered will be sent a local charity of our choice. 



This year we are again supporting the Abergavenny Food Bank: Last year we donated over £1900.00, this is helping to alleviate some of this often invisible suffering.

Four Immeasurables

Day Retreat

Saturday 29th January: 10 am – 4pm

'Respair', the word that describes our moving from despair to hope and connecting with the immeasurable quality of Appreciative Joy, for ourselves and others. There is another unusual word that expresses this beautifully, it is: “confelicity', which means the joy we have in another person’s happiness.

Our day together offers the benefit of a shared experience and deepening of friendships. For those who have been coming regularly since this occasional series on The Four Immeasurable started in the autumn of 2015, welcome back! And for those who haven’t yet Zoomed into this very friendly room of engaged, curious and kind people, we look forward to meeting you.



Further Details & Registration