Bi-monthly
We usually meet bi-monthly at Sholden Village Hall and all the women in the Sangha are welcome to join our morning of practice. We ask for a donation of £8 (or what you can afford) to assist in hiring our venue.
This is a friendly, welcoming space where we explore different themes through meditation, talks, creativity and personal sharing.
Our dates for Sholden Village Hall, Deal for 2025:
Sunday 13th July - That Radical Meditation: The Metta Bhavana
Sunday 14th September
Sunday 16th November
People who teach beginners the Metta Bhavana practice (also known as the Loving Kindness meditation) often hear two things from their class; firstly how radical it is to wish someone that you are having difficulty with love and kindness, and secondly how hard it is to be kind and loving towards themselves. Both of these stages in the Metta Bhavana can be radical for those of us raised in the west - with loving ourselves being the more difficult one!
During the morning we will be exploring our own experiences and asking why these stages can be so hard, and how we can change that. We will do some simple workshops finding ‘well wishing’ phrases that work for us, and hopefully opening our minds up to a different way of seeing this whole meditation. (If you are someone who doesn’t find these stages difficult please come along and share your viewpoints with us. That would be very helpful and most welcome!)
Please arrive for a 10:30AM start and bring a pen or pencil and a notebook. The session will run until 1:00PM with plans to have a ‘Bring & Share’ vegan/ vegetarian lunch (finishing around 2:00PM).
If you can make the session, but cannot stay for lunch you will still be most welcome to come along.
We hope to see you there! With metta, Cleo and the Team
Suggested donation £8 (or what you can afford)
Sunday 13 July, 10:30-2PM, Sholden Village Hall, Deal, CT14 0AH
If you can, please let Cleo know of your plans to attend by emailing:
A look back at 2025 so far:
May - Dharma Inspirations
In May we each brought something that inspires us in our Dharma practice to share with each other. The morning was hosted by Jyotikari.
February - Shrine Building
Shrine building is an opportunity to press pause on our everyday busyness and connect with a quieter and more sensitive aspect of being. It's a chance to bring some creativity into our day, we can become sensitive to the colours and textures of beautiful fabrics, for example, or to the associations that come to mind when we handle meaningful objects. We can create a corner of beauty in an otherwise mundane space, and a sense of appreciation.
Our February Women+ Morning focused on shrine-making, hosted by Jyotikari and Gerry. We shared our thoughts and experiences, and in the spirit of ‘Lila’ (a Sanskrit word meaning the ‘play of life’, ‘of consciousness’) we created some shrines together.
There was also time for meditation, and of course tea, coffee and cake too!
A look back at 2024 …
December - Buddhist Symbolism, Art & Clay Workshop
Another creative morning working with clay. We explored Buddhist symbolism and art, using inspiration from that on our clay wrap around pots. It was a morning of laughter and creativity whilst sharing our lives.
October - Clay Workshop
We had a very creative Women+ Morning with all 10 attendees itching to get our hands into the clay. We talked about what we could create for our shrines at home and then very quickly incense holders, Buddha tiles, hearts and a Yab-Yum* emerged from the lumps of clay. There was a strong sense of friendship and sharing our lives plus time to meditate together and reflect on how we could take our kindness and warmth towards each other out into the world. (*A Yab-Yum is symbolic of the union of wisdom and compassion, representing the means to reach enlightenment).
June - Building Stupas on the Beach.
We spent our June Women+ Morning on the beach in Deal learning about and constructing Stupas. Vidyanadi spoke about Stupas and Prajnasisya led a Stupa visualisation meditation, followed by coffee and group discussion. The group then took time building individual Stupas plus a group one.
February - Fear and hope.
Those of us raised in a western culture were never taught that fear is the price of hope. We were never taught that they are two sides of the same coin, or that we can learn to find a place that is beyond them both.
This is a familiar concept in Buddhism, yet little known in Western thinking. Liberated from hope and fear, we are free to discover clarity and energy, but the journey getting there may need some exploring and thinking about.
Come and join us for this Women + Morning where we will explore together what we think of the idea that fear and hope are two sides of the same coin and what does that really mean to us individually. Using ritual by creating and letting go of simple “Hope and Fear dolls" we will hopefully find a peaceful healing place between the two.
Please bring along a notebook and pen and some coloured pencils if you have any and would like to.
A Look Back At 2023…
Restorative Yoga & Sound-bath (December 2023 Morning) - Relax for 1.5 hours of slow-paced relaxation and sound immersion. The nourishing practice of restorative yoga focuses on slowing down and relaxing the body through passive stretching. The postures encourage releasing the muscles rather than engaging them, targeting the connective tissues of the body, which can allow for deep physical and emotional release.
While resting in each posture Laura will play the Himalayan singing bowls, sending their vibrations weaving through the body, promoting relaxation and reduced stress. There will be an extended savasana at the end of the class accompanied by a sound bath. The sound waves from the bowls stimulate the parasympathetic (‘rest and digest’) nervous system and can encourage feelings of increased overall well-being.
All abilities welcome, wear loose and comfortable clothing.
Laura Gilbert is a Mitra from Margate. She has put together this beautiful and restorative morning for us - a perfect offering for this time of year. Laura is just starting to build a business using her training and skills, and we want to support her by suggesting a donation of £10 for the morning; but of course a donation of what you can afford will be good enough.
We can’t think of a better way to be together for the last time this year and hope to see a lot of you there.
Find Laura Gilbert on Instagram - @embodied.offerings
*
Writing for Wellbeing Morning, October 2023
Sunday 8th October at Sholden Village Hall…
Writing for Wellbeing, hosted by Penny & Rachel
Rachel writesWriting for wellbeing is a simple, but powerful way of using the written word for self-expression. We used a range of writing prompts to explore the theme of identity and the different roles that we have in our lives.
We used actual hats to help us to think about the different 'hats' that we wear in our lives and to explore the different ways that we see ourselves, and are seen by others. It is gentle work available to us all, but it can also be surprisingly transformative.
We also read a poem together and used it as inspiration for our own writing. It was a very enjoyable and connecting morning for us all.
Sunday 16 April at Sholden Village Hall…
For those of us who were at the last women’s morning - our little female figures have been fired and glazed and are ready to collect. But everyone is welcome to join us this Sunday - even if you weren’t able to make it last time - it will be lovely to be together with you.
We will start with drinks before we meditate together and talk a little together about cultivating gratitude for all that we have.
More highlights from our previous meeting:
Sunday 12 February at Sholden Village Hall
The theme: "The Wisdom of Accepting Ourselves”. So often there is an expectation that we should look a certain way and this can undermine our confidence and our sense of who we are.
Attendees were invited to shape their own clay figurine and share the wisdom of accepting and loving ourselves as who we are.
The original tiny figurines were made over 26,000 years ago. There are many interpretations of why they were made but one is that they were an expression of the beauty of the older mature female form.
The following was kindly put together by Ingrid, who is a member of our Sangha.
Paleolithic Venuses
The Paleolithic Era is the ‘Old Stone Age’ which lasted from around 3 million to 30,000 years ago. Compare the birth of Christ – 2,023 years ago, or indeed the life of the Buddha, 2,500 years ago.
The Paleolithic Era, the age of the Hunter- Gatherers, ended 30,000 years ago. The people of these times wandered the wilds of Northern Europe and Eurasia and did not settle. They followed herds of wild animals. They made tools of stone. They did not build or cultivate. They have left us little statues of mature women and very little else. No men, no nubile virgins, no children.
The ’Paleolithic Venuses’, as they are unsuitably named, began to appear around 40,000 years ago. They are typically only a few inches (< 10”) high. Carved from stone they have protuberant, often pendulous breasts, pronounced (sometimes possibly pregnant) abdomina, and absent, or vestigial faces, hands and feet. Many appear post menopausal. These are clearly not erotica.
Many have holes or loops and could have been worn attached, and all are smooth, as though held and passed on for generations. It seems most likely that they represented not sex symbols (Venus is a misnomer) but the valued, fecund Mother Figure. Perhaps Mother Nature, or Mother Earth, certainly Woman as a symbol of Creativity, the survival of the Race, of Life itself.
They are often found deep in underground caves, where animals and hand prints are also found painted on the walls. The hand prints are found, by measurement of the ratio of finger to palm, to be female hands.
One very famous figurine, The Venus of Willendorf, is especially interesting. She was found in present day Austria, on the banks of the River Danube, and is estimated to be 40,000 years old. She is carved from Oolite – a limestone never found in that area. The nearest source would be by Lake Garda, in Italy, 600 miles away. Who brought her all that way to Austria? And why?
The figurines leave us with unanswered questions… but the one thing they do clearly demonstrate is a deep respect for Mature Womanhood throughout our continent and throughout time.
It was a highly enjoyable and productive morning.
We meet at Sholden Village Hall.
