Last weekend I had the pleasure of co-leading the Buddhism and Deep Ecology Retreat with Sanghasiha, another Order Member in the Triratna Buddhist Community. It was hosted by the Alfoxton Park Community and this was a brilliant venue.

Sanghasiha and I led a range of workshops and talks, including meditation in the mornings and pujas in the evenings. Pujas are devotional rituals with chanting to invoke the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. See here for a Friday evening one that I attend at times.

I led two workshops. The first was a healing session, based on working with trees and in this case, with a wonderful Oak Tree that is over 900 years old and which was central to this group practice. I also explored ways of working with energy, including a few practices for cultivating ‘chi’ which was key to the shiatsu teaching and training that I did some years ago.

The second workshop was on Shamanic Journeying. Shamanism is a healing modality that I am using more frequently and as a result have had it included in my practitioner insurance. I realise that this year marks 10 years since doing The Shaman’s Path – an introductory workshop led by The Sacred Trust.

This weekend I am about to continue with further training. I would like to share more about this inspiring, animistic and ancient modality of healing in future posts.

In addition, once I get some photos, I will add these to this page. At the time I had my phone turned off for the duration of the workshop – which is a practice for staying present and supporting a focused and undistracted frame of heart-mind.

If you are curious about Shamanism and its use in healing, feel free to get in touch with me.

May all beings be well and blessed, Guhyasakhi