*updated* Last week we had too many people trying to connect and Google Hangout wouldn't allow some folk to join. For future meditations (including the next weeks in this course) you can also try and connect via Skype. Look for user thebuddhistcentre.com and send us a contact request. Once we've connected, you can then let us know by IM (Instant Message within Skype) that you'd like to join the meditation. See below for other details on the time of the meditation itself.

In this three-week 'mini-course', we'll be exploring approaches within meditation and reflection that can help us move from reactive modes of response in our lives to more profoundly positive and constructive ways to engage with whatever the days bring us.

We'll be looking at Buddhist notions of mindfulness, at how to work with our experience in the body and heart, and at the Buddha’s radical ideas around the relationship between the way we perceive things and how we then experience reality itself. Using meditation, guided reflection, and discussion, we’ll be trying to gently open the hand that so easily closes in the face of the difficulties of the world.

Sessions (2.30-3.45pm EST/7.30-8.45pm UK)

1. June 3rd: The Hand That Closes, the Hand That Opens - Views, mindfuness, breathing through
2. June 10th: Finding the Space To Live - Reflecting on how the mind works in practice
3. June 17th: Releasing Into Freedom - Considering the Seven Factors of Enlightenment as practical aids

We'll be experimenting with only using Google Hangout on our Google + page and Skype (see note above). On Google, look for the event posting there each week.

We'll be online 10 minutes before each session and we'll sit for about 40 minutes, with an introduction and a space for optional discussion afterwards.

We hope you can join us!