Events

Mindfulness Practice for Teachers

Phap Trach — 2011-12-14T12:45:00Z

This course is designed to help teachers promote attention and concentration in the classroom. The relaxation exercises taught will provide participants with the tools to counteract the stress and strain of their work and fulfil their need to realize their ideal of compassion.

We will explore new ways of:

• Communicating

• Helping children to be aware of their feelings

• Helping children from difficult backgrounds

• Bringing mindfulness and inclusiveness into the classroom

• Resolving conflicts and preventing violence in the classroom

• Taking care of ourselves as a teacher in order to be able to take better care of our students.

This course will be offered in three parts on three weekends:

P. 1: 23.-25. March.; P. 2: 20-22 April; P. 3: 25.-27. May. It is best if you can attend all 3 weekends.

Language: English

Vietnamese Zen Tradition

Phap Trach — 2011-12-14T12:46:22Z

FOR VIETNAMESE SPEAKING PRACTITIONERS

We invite all our Vietnamese friends to practice with the monks and nuns.

It is also possible to come just for the weekend, when we will celebrate Rose Festival, a traditional Vietnamese celebration to honour our parents.

Language: Vietnamese

June 21 days Retreat

Phap Trach — 2011-12-17T16:39:20Z

Every two years a three week retreat is held in Plum Village. Thich Nhat Hanh selects a particular theme for the whole period that is of interest, above all, to those who have been practicing for many years. Nonetheless, no previous knowledge is required to attend the retreat.

The theme of the June 2012 retreat is 'The Science of the Buddha'. More details can be found on the Plum Village website www.plumvillage.org.

Family Day of Mindfulness

Chau Nghiem — 2012-05-16T12:55:00Z

Schedule:

9:30 Dharma Talk for Children and Parents

10:00 Children’s activities outside, Dharma Talk for adults continues

11:00 Walking Meditation for everyone

12:00 Lunch (Picnic if weather is good) Teens can eat together

2:00 Deep Relaxation for Parents and Children together

3:00 Break into two groups: Circle dancing with Stefanie and Qi Gong with Jorg (switch after 45 minutes). Both of these activities are for parents and children together.

4:30 Goodbye

Join us for a Day of Mindfulness, practicing together to nourish and strengthen the roots of peace, joy and solidity in our family. We will offer mindful and fun activities for the whole family to enjoy. In the morning, there will be a children’s dharma talk followed by a talk for adults. During the adult’s talk, there will be a program for children ages 6-12 and for teens ages 13-17. Children 5 and under are welcome to participate but must be accompanied by their parents. We will play cooperative games and learn mindfulness practices.

We will all practice walking meditation together and eat lunch together mindfully. In the afternoon we will practice deep relaxation and other activities.

The day begins at 9:30am (please plan to arrive at 9am) and ends at 4:30pm. There is no cost, but we suggest a donation of 10 euros per adult and 5 euros per child.

Stress Reduction Through Meditation

Phap Trach — 2011-12-17T16:45:40Z

In our daily lives, many of us are completely caught up in our thoughts. We need to find a balance between physical exercise and the time we spend sitting, and working with our minds. During this weekend we will therefore put the emphasis on physical exercise. Integral Tai Chi and Qi Gong with bamboo sticks are excellent ways to relax, and lead to deep healing.

Daily practice of total relaxation and meditation will also help us let go and heal further.

Language: German with English translation

Calligraphy

Phap Trach — 2011-12-17T16:48:58Z

We will have the chance to make our first attempts at calligraphy. This is also a wonderful opportunity to practice mindfulness. The calligraphy will be accompanied by meditation, relaxation exercises and Tai Chi.

Language: Vietnamese with translation into German and English

Summer Retreat

Chau Nghiem — 2011-01-13T18:00:00Z

This retreat is a time for children, families and single people to practice joyfully together, to create peace in themselves and in the world.

There will be a daily Dharma talk and sharing in groups as well as watering our cultural roots through weekly festivals in order to express our gratitude and joy. Family activities will include the practice of Beginning Anew to establish good communication and resolve conflicts, mindful consumption for the whole family, hiking in nature, arts and crafts, and performances.

Mindfulness programs for children and teens (ages 6-17) are offered with the participation of the parents.

Language: English and German

Transforming our Stress through Play and Mindfulness

Phap Trach — 2011-11-21T15:36:30Z

This course, based on InterPlay, is an active, creative and mindful way to unlock the wisdom of the body, through movement and stories, silence and song, ease and amusement. In the process, we discover the wisdom in ourselves and our communities. This course is devoted to fun. It teaches the language and ethic of play in a deep and powerful way. The practices and exercises offered are firmly based in affirmation and looking for the good. We get far too much criticism in our lives already. We need to spend more time in the warm bath of acceptance. This unique combination of mindfulness and InterPlay is a wonderful antidote to stress and cynicism.

This course will help us understand and experience the liberating nature of mindful play through integrating body, heart and mind in a form that is fun and encourages us to be present and fully alive. Awareness activities will help us experience what it means to be awake to all of our experience by recognizing and releasing our habitual and often limiting responses to our life circumstances. The container for the healing and refreshing InterPlay practices is the daily mindfulness practices with the monastic community which include sitting and walking meditation, and mindful eating. This course is open to anyone who would like to ground their spiritual practice in delight, humor and an open-hearted acceptance of what is.

Language: English with translation into German

The EIAB is closed from 27.8-10.9

Phap Trach — 2011-12-19T08:55:00Z

Pratimoksha in Our Time

Phap Trach — 2011-12-19T08:55:00Z

THIS COURSE IS RESERVED FOR FULLY-ORDAINED BUDDHIST MONKS AND NUNS (BHIKSHUS UND BHIKSHUNIS).

We will consider how to preserve the spirit of the pratimoksha taking into account the technology and culture of our own time.

Language: English

Embracing the Inner Child

Phap Trach — 2011-12-19T08:57:18Z

We all carry suffering and wounds from our childhood within us . Often we are not aware of how these wounds affect our adult life, or we know they are there but don’t want to get in touch with old, painful feelings. The practice of embracing the inner child helps us to establish mindful and loving contact with these difficult feelings from our childhood. Instead of avoiding them, we learn to lovingly transform them, so that they stop creating havoc in our life.

In this course, we also touch the inner child as a symbol of joy, playfulness and light-heartedness. We will develop and enjoy these aspects of our inner child as well.

This course is offered in two parts on two weekends:

Part I: 13-16.9.; Part II: 22-25. 11.

Language: English with German translation

Flowing in the River of Life

Phap Trach — 2011-12-19T08:59:36Z

We are all part of the rich stream of life and bound to it in a thousand different ways. We are more than just an ‘I’. And this same notion of interbeing can also be found in modern approaches to systemic thinking and action.

In this course we will look at the different dimensions of interbeing in our own life: the bond with the ancestors of our blood family, the rich variety of our country family and our spiritual family. Using a number of practices from the Plum Village tradition, we will look deeply at the great treasures bequeathed us by our ancestors that live on in us today.

A range of systemic methods can also help us in this. We can strengthen the positive aspects we have inherited from our ancestors and take steps to transform the painful and the negative.

Language: German with English translation

OPEN HOUSE

Phap Trach — 2011-12-19T09:02:30Z

16.9.

From 4 p.m. onwards

You can also spend mindfulness days with us on Sundays (from 9.15 a.m.)

Hiking Retreat

Phap Trach — 2011-12-19T09:05:00Z

As we hike (briskly) for several hours a day (5-7), we will touch the beauty of nature. We will walk in silence so that every step becomes an expression of peace for the earth. Along the way we will pause for exercises that help us come into deep contact with nature, and there will also be Dharma talks and opportunities to share. A Forest Ranger and a local friend will lead the hikes.

Language: German with English translation

The Yoga of Life

Phap Trach — 2011-12-19T09:06:12Z

In us there is a state of conflict, of division, and Yoga is the practice of re-connecting.

When mind-body are re-unified through the breath, we come to a state of relative calm, we take a rest, and are able to look deeper, recognize the numerous threads that are invisibly and concretely linking us to other beings. We discover that our pain and sorrow are an invitation to stop, purify our vision, drop old views and negative habits of thinking, speaking and acting.

In this course we will practice ways to reach the source of feminine energy dormant in all of us: the capacity of being open, receiving, holding, nourishing, protecting, sharing.

Language: English with German translation

* For information on donations see page.