An Experiential Enquiry into Death & Dying

Experiential retreat run by The Sammasati Project: An Experiential Enquiry into Death & Dying — 6-10 March 2013

An intense and tender process, this workshop provides an opportunity to gather the experience, knowledge, and skills needed to prepare for our own dying. Not only will this impact how we face our own death but how we live, post-workshop, too. It allows us to experience some of the many issues which confront a person when they realise that they will soon die such as fear, shock, guilt, grief, anger, regrets, pain, loss of control, completing relationships, changing perceptions, insights, relaxation, spiritual understandings and many more. 

This experiential understanding in turn will help us to be of greater support to others in their dying process whether they are family, friends or in a professional environment if we are in the health or caring sector. It is the first module of the Sammasati Support–Person Training, which can be continued in April at the same venue.

This workshop is in the form of a retreat and will include an exploration of the mystic Osho’s vision of dying consciously and joyfully. We will experiment with a range of meditative methods, and gain an experiential understanding of the transition called dying and the practice of the bardo.

The process can provide a greater appreciation of life, of the profundity of death, and of the pivotal role of meditation throughout.

Doctor and author Michael Murphy suggests, ‘If there is no training, and [support people] have not taken conscious heed of their own loneliness and disconnection, no wonder that there is bluster and fear [about dying]. Since dying involves body, soul, and spirit… lectures or instruction manuals are inadequate since feelings are very much involved. In order to be a truly competent guide, [the support person’s] training needs to be very personal, helping him to imagine his own dying and the dying of those he loves. Only then will he be in a more comfortable position to help others, since he himself will be able to become more a witness and guide…(The Wisdom of Dying: Practices for Living).

Read some testimonials from previous participants of this workshop on http://www.maneeshajames.com/testimonials.htm and watch the video testimonials at http://bit.ly/VENer0

Cost: 
£595 – includes accommodation and food
£545 – early bird price if paid in full before 17 January 2013

Venue: Monkton Wyld Court, Bridport, Dorset DT6 6DQ

Date: 6 March at 18:00 until 10 March at 18:00

The course will be facilitated by Maneesha James and Sudheer Niet who both have extensive experience in facilitating and teaching meditation; relating or ‘being with’ skills; supporting others in the dying process and a background in nursing.

Note that, as for those wishing to participate in the entire Training, an interview with Maneesha is a pre-requisite.

Please see our Training page at www.thesammasatiproject.co.uk for more information and contact details.

Links to the retreat are also: 

https://www.facebook.com/events/569293513086711/ 

http://www.iluna.co.uk/eventdetail/13210/an-experiential-enquiry-into-death-dying.html

 

What goes around…

Here’s most of an article in the Spectator, 5 January, by Peter Jones. It quotes a letter by Seneca the Younger (AD 1-65) describing the pagan idea of religious feeling. Given the disposition of most Britons towards matters of faith, you’ll possibly reckon this amazingly contemporary. 

After discussing the divine spirit which guards us and watches us in the evil and good we do, [Seneca] turns to nature: Imagine you come across a dense wood of exceptionally tall, ancient trees that shut out all sight of the sky with thick screens of overlaying branches. Its loftiness, its seclusion and your wonderment at finding so deep and unbroken a gloom out in the open, will prove the presence of a deity. Likewise, an impressive cave hollowed out deep into a mountain, produced not by the labours of men but the processes of nature, will strike into your soul some kind of inkling of the divine. We venerate the sources of important streams; places where a mighty river bursts suddenly from hiding are provided with altars; hot springs are objects of worship; the darkness or unfathomable depth of a pool has made their waters sacred.It is the singularities of nature that create and demonstrate the presence of the numinous. So if you meet a mannever terrified by dangers, never touched by desires, happy in adversity, calm in the midst of storm … will not a feeling of veneration for him come over you?

Jones concludes (my bold):

However that may be, we see here no creeds, no centrally controlled political structure; just manifestations of ‘the divine’ for all to appreciate. Ancient religions were very good at providing channels to the divine while also promoting the general social cohesion … without demanding any particular set of beliefs.

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