Group Announcements

Happy Easter! Our next meditation evening is on 9 April. We then continue fortnightly on 23 April, 7 May and so on.

Open Invitation

We meditate in English and would love for you to join us.

We are a group of mindfulness practitioners in the zen tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh and Plum Village. We meet every two weeks on Thursday evenings in Sendling to practice sitting meditation, walking meditation, deep listening, joyful singing, and being present. Our group is open to all faiths and includes both experienced and beginning practitioners as well as native and non-native English speakers.

We look forward to sitting with you.

Details

Day: Thursdays every two weeks including 9 April, 23 April and so forth.

Time: 19:00 – 21:00. Doors are open from 18:40 for everyone to arrive and settle in.

Registration: none necessary

Place: Achtsamkeitszentrum, Treffauer Str. 19, 81373 Munich-Sendling

U-Bahn station: Partnachplatz

The doorbell is labeled „Achtsamkeitszentrum“ and our rooms are one flight of stairs down from the building entrance. We have mats, cushions and blankets as well as chairs for those who prefer them. You may want to bring thick socks or indoor slippers in the cooler months.

The center has a donation basket and the requested contribution for meditation evenings is 5€. Please find the right amount for yourself, your presence is always appreciated.

If you need further information, please send an e-mail to lia.feraren@gal-bayern.de.

Some Words from Thay on Resurrection as a Practice

“As practitioners of mindfulness, we know how to generate a feeling of joy and happiness whenever we want. The principle is very simple. When we breathe in mindfully and bring our mind back home to the body, we are established in the here and now. We recognize that we have many conditions to be happy right here and now, we do not have to run into the future to look for more. With this kind of understanding and awareness, to create a feeling of joy and happiness is always possible. One in-breath or one step made in mindfulness can already bring us happiness, with the insight that we are alive, it is a wonder to be alive and to be walking on planet earth. Happiness is possible. Joy is possible. 

When we come home to the here and now, we might get in touch with suffering. Suffering is a reality. There is suffering in us and in the world. We wake up to the suffering of ourselves and of humanity, of the world. Most of us do not want to acknowledge the suffering in us. Our suffering may have been transmitted to us by our father, our mother, our ancestors. They might not have been able to transform their suffering and that is why it has been transmitted to us. Therefore sometimes we suffer and we do not know why we suffer like that. 

With mindfulness we can recognize the suffering in us, in our nation, in the world. The practice of mindfulness helps us to calm down the suffering, to bring relief and to transform it. With mindful breathing and walking, we have enough energy of mindfulness and concentration to recognize the suffering in us and to embrace it tenderly, we feel relief and we suffer less. 

If you know the practice well you can go further; you are able to transform the suffering into something more positive, like making good use of mud in order to grow lotus. There is a deep connection between suffering and happiness. Suffering is an art and with some training, you find out that if you know how to suffer, you suffer much less. Using the energy of mindfulness and concentration you embrace your suffering, you calm it down, and you suffer much less. You can make good use of suffering to create joy and happiness.“
– Thich Nhat Hanh, „Resurrection as a Practice“

Photo Copyrights: EIAB and Plum Village