EICSP - MESP 2018 Main Events, 24 February

Event: Day Workshop: Health, Wellbeing, and Healing through Spiritual Dance and Movement.

Facilitators: Gillian Allan/Merav Israel (The Feldenkrais Method); Karen Reynolds (An Introduction to the Nia Technique); Catherine Wright (Movement Medicine); and Linda Wyman (An Introduction to the Alexander Technique).
Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Date: Saturday 24 February 2018.
Time: Registration: 9.30am-10am. Day Workshop: 10am-5pm.

Event Description: Event Description: Join us for a joyful day of sharing spiritual dance and movement for health, wellbeing, healing and peace. We will all be together throughout the day, building community and celebrating diversity through spiritual dance and movement.

9.30am-10am: Arrival and Registration.

10am-11.20am: Linda Wyman: An Introduction to the Alexander Technique.

A simple and effective way of regaining natural balance and ease of movement improving physical and mental wellbeing. It is a learning process which teaches you how to best use your body helping you to increased energy and more efficiency in all you do.

Linda Wyman trained at Fellside Alexander School in Cumbria for three years and did her post graduate term at the Institute for the Research and Development of the Alexander Technique in New York in 1991. She currently teaches in Edinburgh and East Lothian. www.lindawyman.co.uk

11.20am-11.40am: Tea/Coffee Break

11.40am-1pm: Merav Israel and Gillian Allan: Feldenkrais Method - Introduction Workshop.

The Feldenkrais Method was developed by Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais – scientist, physicist, engineer and martial artist, who synthesized insights from physics, motor development, bio-mechanics, psychology, neurology and martial arts.

The method offers a process of learning through movement, sensing, thinking and imagining to free us from habitual patterns and allow new possibilities to emerge. Through this work we can improve mobility and increase energy and enjoyment in our activities.

The method has two strands: Group lessons called Awareness Through Movement and Functional Integration which are one-to-one lessons. The lessons consist of verbally directed movement sequences, which are comfortable and easy and which gradually evolve into movements of greater range and complexity. Through the learning process you will be able to find new ways of moving while increasing sensitivity and improving efficiency.

This workshop will offer an introduction to the method and a practical experience of Awareness Through Movement. The focus will be on learning through curiosity and friendliness towards ourselves as we explore the elements of moving, thinking, sensing, imagining in the process of discovering easier movement.

Please bring enough layers of warm clothes and a blanket/mat to lie on.

Merav has been studying movement and somatics for 20 years and integrating her experience and understanding in her work as dancer, dance maker and teacher.

The Feldenkrais Method has been part of her life from growing up as a professional in Israel and later on she qualified as a practitioner. With her experience she has developed ability to approach each person according to their needs and facilitate learning, growth and improvement for variety of groups and individuals. Her interest lies in perception and understanding of movement, and in helping others perceive and experience themselves in order to bring new possibilities and reach their fuller potential.

Gillian discovered the Feldenkrais Method after suffering for nearly a decade with chronic back pain which restricted her movement. After beginning to experiment with Awareness Through Movement lessons she was surprised to find how much more easily and painlessly she could move through life.

Her focus in both group and individual lessons is to facilitate the process of learning how to let go of unnecessary tension in a way which promotes curiosity, creativity and self-confidence.

www.meravisrael.com/feldenkrais

www.feldenkraisinedinburgh.co.uk

1pm-2pm: Lunch Break

2pm-3.20pm: Karen Small: An Introduction to the Nia Technique.

The Nia Technique is a dance-fitness class that empowers people of all shapes and sizes to step into a joyful relationship with their bodies and movement. Nia combines martial arts, healing arts, and dance arts to create a high-powered, synergistic workout that no isolated exercise technique can match. Part choreographed and part free-form, Nia delivers a solid aerobic workout, with each experience adaptable to individual needs and abilities. Classes are generally done barefoot to soul-stirring music that motivates every part of you to move. Step into your own joyful journey with Nia, and positively shape the way you feel, look, think and live. No experience necessary.

Based in Fife, Karen Small is a Certified Nia Black Belt Teacher - passionate about sharing and teaching Nia since 2009. Open hearted and warm, Karen offers a relaxed space in which to be yourself - and to connect with others - while guiding you through a fun and pleasurable class experience. Karen co-founded Nia Scotland and for the past six years has supported new teachers on their Nia journey by producing international trainings and events in Scotland. For more information see Island Moves

3.20pm-3.40pm: Tea/Coffee Break

3.40pm-5pm: Catherine Wright: Movement Medicine.

Movement Medicine is a dance practice and an awareness practice. It reconnects us with our hearts through our bodies. You need no prior dance experience, only a desire to move your body and connect with your own wisdom and wildness. Movement Medicine offers tools and maps to help us dance deep into the experience of being embodied.

In this short session, we will explore some of the maps of Movement Medicine.

Catherine Wright is an Interfatih Minister. Dance has been one of her spiritual practices for 15 years. She has been dancing and studying with Susannah and Ya’Acov Darling Khan since the late 90’s. She began teaching in 2011 and in 2014 she graduated as a Movement Medicine practitioner, teacher and facilitator.

For more information visit www.schoolofmovementmedicine.com For more information about Catherine, visit www.catherinewright.co.uk

Cost: £30/£25 (Concessions)/£10 (Students). For a Registration Form:
Contact: Neill Walker, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 0131 331 4469.

Event: Workshop: The Spirit of Anatomy, inspired by the miracle of life - Embodying the Spine.

Facilitator: Audicia Lynne Morley RSMT/P MRSS(T) RCST.
Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Date: Sunday 25 February 2018.
Time: Registration: 3.30pm-4pm. Workshop: 4pm-8.45pm.
Event Description: An exploration through Movement, Drawing and Writing into early beginnings to discover the beauty and originality of the miracle of the human body. Bridging both mindful approaches to anatomy and embryology as well as creative and experiential movement process to enliven embodied awareness. The workshop may include both anatomical and embryological awareness. Touch and Hands on approaches to engage the Body Mind consciousness. The Tamalpa Life Art process approach to Movement, Drawing and Journaling. This workshop is designed to support an embodied experience of the miracle of life, to uncover the deep wisdom the body holds to heal and transform. Suitable for anyone interested in Health, Creativity, Movement and the unique journey we move through as humans.

What to bring:
Warm comfortable clothes to move in + Layers.
Water bottle.
Journal and crayons if you have them.
Blanket + Cushion for body work hands on explorations.
Snacks to keep you going, there will be a break for tea during the session.

Cost: £20/£15 (Concessions)/£5 (Students). For a Registration Form:
Contact: Neill Walker, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 0131 331 4469.

Event: Day Workshop: A Sacred Journey.

Facilitators: Phyllida Anam-Aire and Sara Trevelyan.
Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Date: Saturday 3 March 2018.
Time: Registration: 9.30am-10am. Day Workshop: 10am-5pm.
Event Description: A day of coming together to explore the experiences in our lives which have touched us most deeply and which have opened us to the sacred. This day is a continuation of an evening event where we both together shared moments in our lives which had contributed to our spiritual unfolding. We would very much like to extend this invitation to others so that we can be inspired together and benefit as a group from the deeper understanding and support which arises from this. It is our belief that we are all a part of a greater emerging sacred wholeness, and that the calling at this time is to recognise and affirm this wisdom and acknowledge and honour all of our lives.

The day will combine times of sharing, along with opportunities for quiet reflection, and through writing, art, music and poetry exploring creative ways to express and share some of the gifts of our innermost experience.

Phyllida Anam-Aire is a native speaker of Gaelic who was brought up in a small mountain village in Donegal, where she learned Celtic mythology and rituals such as singing for the dying. She studied to become a Catholic nun, but changed course to learn humanistic psychology with Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. She is now a bereavement counsellor and the author of A Celtic Book of Dying.

Sara Trevelyan is a counsellor/psychotherapist and graduate in Barbara Brennan energy medicine, who has been living and practising in Edinburgh for 30 years. She was brought up in Australia, but returned to London to train in medicine in her early twenties. At the end of the seventies she moved to Inverness for a junior hospital job which was when she first visited Findhorn. She has written a memoir, Freedom Found, about her 20 year marriage to Jimmy Boyle who was a life sentence prisoner. As her marriage ended her spiritual journey took her back to Findhorn which she visits regularly and which continues to be her spiritual home.

Cost: £25/£20 (Concessions)/£5 (Students). For a Registration Form:
Contact: Neill Walker, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 0131 331 4469.

Event: Workshop: A Basic Universal Income.

Facilitator: Dr Martin Williams.
Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Date: Sunday 4 March 2018.
Time: Registration: 3.30pm-4pm. Workshop: 4pm-8.45pm.
Event Description: A basic income is an income paid personally to all members of society on a regular basis without conditions or means testing. Further income can be earned without losing basic income.

Current economic and social policies are producing unsustainable inequalities and injustices.

The twentieth-century income distribution system has broken down, as globalisation has swept forward.

A Universal Basic Income would begin to address many issues which are currently causing huge distress and misery.

Social Justice

Lack of Freedom

Poverty

Inequality

Insecurity

Unbalanced distribution of wealth

In this workshop we will consider the efficacy of a universal basic income.

The arguments for and against will be explored and discussed and we will look at a number of case studies from UK and abroad.

Dr Martin Williams, BA (Hons) PGCE, Dip, Counselling and Psychotherapy, M.Ed. (Humanistic Psychology and Human Relations, PhD) is a professionally trained counsellor/psychotherapist with over 30 years experience of working with individuals, couples, children and young people, parents and families and organisations. Martin is a humanistic psychologist who has worked in schools, day centres, hospitals, healing centers and care homes all over UK and abroad. He has re-defined ‘person-centred’ as honouring and respecting the inner wisdom and wishes of his many and varied clients and working ethically and professionally in whatever ways his clients can best be helped.

Event: Evening Workshop: Befriending Your Authentic Voice.

Facilitator: Rolf Billes.
Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Date: Saturday 10 March 2018.
Time: Registration: 5pm-5.30pm. Evening Workshop: 5.30pm-8.30pm.
Event Description: When asked what we love about our voice, many of us struggle to find a positive answer. Something in our past may have affected the relationship with our own unique voice. And yet, there is a deep longing within to reconnect with that authentic sound. During this workshop, we will support one another in following that longing and gently open the door to the sound that is our birthright.

Rolf Billes is a Naked Voice facilitator trained by Chloë Goodchild, the founder of the Naked Voice. Rolf works as a Church of Scotland parish minister in Colinton, Edinburgh.

Cost: £10/£8 (Concessions)/£3 (Students). For a Registration Form:
Contact: Neill Walker, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 0131 331 4469.

Event: Afternoon Workshop: Bringing Stories to Life.

Facilitator: Edinburgh Playback Theatre.
Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Date: Sunday 11 March 2018.
Time: Registration: 3pm-3.30pm. Afternoon Workshop: 3.30pm-5pm.
Event Description: Join Playback Edinburgh for a unique opportunity to be part of an interactive performance where we'll share stories and see them brought to life using improvisation, movement, voice and music. It's theatre with no script which we'll create together.

Cost: £6/£4 (Concessions)/£1 (Students). For a Registration Form:
Contact: Neill Walker, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 0131 331 4469.

Event: An Evening with Andy Wightman.

Chair: Dr Lesley Orr, is a feminist historian, writer and activist, currently based at the University of Edinburgh Centre for Theology and Public Issues (CTPI).

Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Date: Sunday 11 March 2018.
Time: Registration: 5.45pm-6.15pm. Talk: 6.15pm-8pm.
Event Description: Andy Wightman is a Scottish Green Party Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Lothian region and a writer and researcher best known for his work on land ownership in Scotland. He is the author of "Who Owns Scotland" and "The Poor Had No Lawyers".

Cost: £5/£3 (Concessions)/£1 (Students). For a Registration Form:
Contact: Neill Walker, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 0131 331 4469.

Event: Morning Workshop: Opening to Joy! - (1)

Facilitator: Alice Fateah Saunders.
Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Date: Saturday 17 March 2018.
Time: Registration: 9.30am-10am. Morning Workshop: 10am-1pm.
Event Description: Singing and dancing with the sacred words of the Dances of Universal Peace, interspersed with meditating on the readings of mystical writers, give us a beautiful way of spending time together.

We can expect to increase our sense of joy, harmony and peace, and feel encouraged to find ways of bringing these qualities into our daily lives.

Musical support from Clare Cummings and Gavin Gray

Experienced dancers and newcomers all welcome.

Please wear comfortable clothing and bring soft shoes (bare feet are fine).

Fateah has been leading DUP for many years throughout the UK and other countries. She is a mentor and trainer for the International Network for DUP. She has been following a Sufi path for over 20 years and recognized as a teacher in this tradition since 2006.

You may contact Fateah for further details: 0131-664-6206, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Cost: £8/£6 (Concessions)/£2 (Students). For a Registration Form:
Contact: Neill Walker, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 0131 331 4469.

Event: Afternoon Workshop: Ceridwen's Cauldron: Creative Writing and Celtic Wisdom.

Facilitators: Alette Willis and Allison Galbraith.
Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Date: Saturday 17 March 2018.
Time: Registration: 2.30pm-3pm. Afternoon Workshop: 3pm-6pm.
Event Description: The Welsh goddess, Ceridwen, collected all the wisdom of nature in a cauldron and set it to simmer. When the boy who was charged with keeping the fire going accidentally tasted the liquid, he gained all of that wisdom, becoming the most celebrated storyteller in the realm.

Come, dip your finger into the rich cauldron of Celtic myths and story traditions, and be inspired to (re)write your own story. Alette and Allison will share traditional tales from their book, Dancing with Trees: Eco-tales of the British Isles, and lead you through exercises that will reconnect you to your self, to nature and to the power of storytelling.

Weather permitting, part of this workshop will take place a 10-minute walk away, in the Scottish Wildlife Trust's smallest nature reserve: Johnston Terrace. Please bring appropriate outdoor clothing and footwear.

Alette Willis is a university lecturer, specialising in ecological writing and environmental ethics. She is currently Storyteller in Residence to Real Talk: Storytelling for Wellbeing. Allison Galbraith has a Masters in Scottish Studies and is a full-time storyteller with over a decade of experience in using arts for wellbeing and environmental education. Together they wrote Dancing with Trees (History Press, 2017) to share the wealth of ecological wisdom that can be found in traditional myths and folktales from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. www.restoryingtheearth.com

Event: Evening Workshop: Vedic Mantra Chanting and Kirtan.

Facilitator: Jeffrey Levin.
Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Date: Saturday 17 March 2018.
Time: Registration: 6.15pm-6.45pm. Evening Workshop: 6.45pm-8.45pm.
Event Description: Vedic mantras have the power to purify our body and mind as well as invoke divine grace. This evening will start with a short meditation then we will explore of the 'Om' mantra as well as other of Vedic Mantras such as Gayatri Mantra and Mahamrityumjaya Mantra. The meaning as well as the pronunciation will be the emphasized. Later we will sing some Kirtans accompanied by a harmonium. Kirtans are chants that use simple melodies that involve repetition of various names of the divine. Kirtans can open our hearts and invoke the sweetness of love and devotion to the divine. There will be an opportunity to share or lead a chant. I look forward to an evening where we raise our vibrations and open our hearts through singing and chanting.

Jeffrey Levin: I have been on the spiritual path for a number of years and been inspired by devotional practices as well as the path of knowledge or understanding. I have been sharing and leading bhajans/kirtans and Vedic chanting sessions with like-minded friends and in a few regular groups. I have also spent a significant amount of time India where I have lived in various Ashrams. I learned to chant Vedas while in India and have developed a deeper understanding of the Vedic tradition and its message. I enjoy exploring both western and eastern approaches to spirituality.

Event: 14th Annual Mindful Peace Walk.

Organisers: Jointly organised by the Edinburgh International Centre for Spirituality and Peace, EICSP, Scottish Charity, SC038996, and the Edinburgh Sangha of the Community of Interbeing.
Venue: Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, John Hope Gateway, Arboretum Place, Edinburgh, EH3 5NZ.
Date: Sunday 18 March 2018.
Time: 9.30am-11am, meet at West Gate entrance to the John Hope Gateway, Arboretum Place, at 9.30am.
Event Description: This silent walking meditation is an open event. It will be led by the lay members of the Edinburgh Sangha of the Community of Interbeing, who follow the practice and teachings of Zen Buddhist Master, Thich Nhat Hanh. The walk begins at the John Hope Gateway of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Before the walk begins there will be a brief introduction to mindful walking as meditation practice. This is not a protest or a campaigning event, so please do not use any banners. Children are welcome when accompanied by adults. Please remember to wrap up warmly. Please note that no animals except Registered Assistance Dogs are permitted within the Garden.

‘We walk just for walking. We walk with freedom and solidity, no longer in a hurry. Let us enjoy every step we make.’ Thich Nhat Hanh.

Cost: Admission Free. Just come along on the day. For further information:
Contact: Neill Walker, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 0131 331 4469.

Event: Afternoon Workshop: Contemplative Meditation; a way of bringing together different traditions in silent seeking.

Facilitator: Jim Pym.
Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Date: Sunday 18 March 2018.
Time: Registration: 3pm-3.30pm. Afternoon Workshop: 3.30pm-6pm.
Event Description: Contemplative meditation provides a link with our own soul, spirit or divine spark, through which we can deepen our understanding of of words and phrases as guideposts on our spiritual journey. It is found in one form or another in almost all spiritual traditions and is therefore a wonderful tool to help us to a deeper understanding of our own spiritual journey and that of others.

Jim Pym is a Quaker, with a background in Buddhism and Yoga. He leads courses and retreats, based on a variety of approaches to meditation, mostly in the South of England.

Event: Evening Celebration: Tales of Joy, Love and Romance as well as a riveting feminist Arthurian story, "The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell

Facilitator: Hanna Yaffe.
Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Date: Sunday 18 March 2018.
Time: Registration: 6.30pm-7pm. Evening Celebration: 7pm-8.50pm.
Event Description: Story has been used for generations to convey ideas and profound truths.

We’ll listen to, and experience stories that explore universal healing techniques and transformational qualities.

We’ll travel from England to Eastern Europe. We’ll meet King Arthur, and Sir Gwain and Lady Ragnall, have tea with Jewish and Sufi spiritual masters, and we’ll bump into Holy Fools, and laugh, and wise Mystics will greet us along our journey.

We will also sing some lullabies from troubled places, with a desire to experience compassion and empathy in our hearts, learning tools that will help us to nurture and heal ourselves and our communities.

Living the life of an ardent peacemaker, Hanna Yaffe uses music and stories to create healing, love and unity.

Hanna frequently presents Jewish stories and music with Muslim and Christian musicians and storytellers.

“Lullabies from Jerusalem” and “Birth in a Time of Bloodshed” are Hanna’s award winning CD’s.

She has been a humanist and spiritual peace activist since her teens.

Born in London, she practices an observant Jewish lifestyle, regularly leading prayers at her Synagogue, and teaching traditional Jewish chants.

She has performed at the MESP twice before, and at the Edinburgh Festival of Spirituality, The World Parliament of Religions, St Ethelburga’s and numerous other venues in the UK and abroad.

She lives in Jerusalem with her husband, and near the grandchildren.

Event: An Evening with Dr Rowan Williams.

In conversation with Professor Mona Siddiqui, Professor of Islamic and Interreligious Studies, Assistant Principal Religion and Society, Dean International, Middle East, the University of Edinburgh.

Chair: Ewan Aitken, Chief Executive Officer of Cyrenians.

Venue: St Mary's Cathedral, Palmerston Place, Edinburgh, EH12 5AW.
Date: Wednesday 21 March 2018.
Time: Registration: 6.30pm-7.15pm. Event: 7.15pm-9pm.
Event Description: Dr Rowan Williams is acknowledged internationally as an outstanding theological writer, scholar and teacher. He has been involved in many theological, ecumenical and educational commissions. He has written extensively across a very wide range of related fields of professional study – philosophy, theology (especially early and patristic Christianity), spirituality and religious aesthetics. He has also written throughout his career on moral, ethical and social topics and, since becoming archbishop, he turned his attention increasingly on contemporary cultural and interfaith issues.

He was educated at Dynevor Secondary Grammar School in Swansea, he came up to Christ's College in 1968. He studied for his doctorate at Christ Church and Wadham College Oxford, working on the Russian Orthodox theologian Vladimir Lossky. His career began as a lecturer at Mirfield (1975-1977). He returned to Cambridge as Tutor and Director of Studies at Westcott House. After ordination in Ely Cathedral, and serving as Honorary Assistant Priest at St George's Chesterton, he was appointed to a University lectureship in Divinity. In 1984 he was elected a Fellow and Dean of Clare College. During his time at Clare he was arrested and fined for singing psalms as part of the CND protest at Lakenheath air-base. Then, still only 36, it was back to Oxford as Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity for six years, before becoming Bishop of Monmouth, and, from 2000, Archbishop of Wales. He was awarded the Oxford higher degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1989, and an honorary DCL degree in 2005; Cambridge followed in 2006 with an honorary DD. He holds honorary doctorates from considerably more than a dozen other universities, from Durham to K U Leuven, Toronto to Bonn. In 1990 he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy. Dr Williams is a noted poet and translator of poetry, and, apart from Welsh, speaks or reads nine other languages. He learnt Russian in-order to read the works of Dostoevsky in the original. This led to a book; he has also published studies of Arius, Teresa of Avila, and Sergii Bulgakov, together with writings on a wide range of theological, historical and political themes.

Elected as Archbishop of Canterbury on 23 July 2002. Confirmed as 104th Archbishop of Canterbury on 2 December 2002 in St Paul's Cathedral, London. Enthroned as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury on 27 February 2003 in Canterbury Cathedral.

At the end of 2012 he moved to a new role as Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge.

Event: Retreat: Mindfulness Day.

Facilitator: Venerable K Sri Rewatha Thero.
Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Date: Saturday 24 March 2018
Time: Registration: 9.30am-10am. Retreat: 10am-5pm.
Event Description: This Day Retreat, which is suitable for beginners and more experienced meditators, teaches mindfulness meditation based on a fusion of traditional Buddhist practice and modern western approaches to health care and education as promoted in the programme of the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Centre.

Venerable Rewatha, a Buddhist monk of thirty-five years standing, has designed aspects of this course to allow those who are interested in learning mindfulness ways of developing mindful skills as an aid to managing stress. Complete beginners are welcome. The retreat will include both sitting and walking meditation, Dhamma discussions and mindful movement (yoga).

There will also be opportunities for one to one discussions with Venerable Rewatha Thero.

Donations will be sent to Mindful Pre-School in Sri Lanka.

Event: An Evening with Alastair McIntosh.

Title: Towards Third Millennium Christianity: Activism, Nonviolence and the Mystical Imperative.

Chair: Prof Jolyon Mitchell, Director of the Centre for Theology and Public Issues (CTPI), New College, University of Edinburgh, where he is also Professor in Communications, Arts and Religion.

Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Date: Saturday 24 March 2018.
Time: Registration: 6.30pm-7pm. Event: 7pm-8.45pm.
Event Description: If Christianity still matters, then why? McIntosh will argue that Jesus was an activist on a cosmic scale. He understood nonviolence as the power of love. Religion of the first and second millennia has, for the mostpart, compromised that vision. Third Millennium Christianity is a refreshed opening of the way. It seeks, perhaps with other faiths, to walk the mystical path and bring fresh hope into the world.

Alastair McIntosh is the author of Soil and Soul (2001) and Poacher’s Pilgrimage (2016). He is an honorary fellow of the School of Divinity at Edinburgh University and an honorary professor at Glasgow University.

Cost: £6/£4 (Concessions)/£2 (Students). For a Registration Form:
Contact: Neill Walker, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 0131 331 4469.

Event: Afternoon Workshop: Creative Meditation.

Facilitator: Theo Dijkman.
Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Date: Sunday 25 March 2018.
Time: Registration: 3pm-3.30pm. Afternoon Workshop: 3.30pm-6pm.
Event Description: This workshop offers participants an opportunity to explore meditation as a creative process. Most of the time we tend to follow fixed patterns in relation to ourselves and the world we live in. In this workshop we will learn how to ‘play’ with the mind and use it in new ways. Through this we may get a sense of greater direction and freedom in how we use our mind as well as how to approach issues differently. We will consider aspects of meditation including reflective and receptive meditation and the use of a seed thought to enable the creative process.

Theo Dijkman is a UKCP registered psychotherapist, supervisor and trainer. He was first introduced to meditation practice in 1978 and currently delivers meditation practice training as part of the MA Psychosynthesis Psychotherapy programme at the Institute of Psychosynthesis in London.

Event: Evening Workshop: Connection through Music, Movement and Meditation.

Facilitator: Corinne Harris.
Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Date: Sunday 25 March 2018.
Time: Registration: 6.30pm-7pm. Evening Workshop: 7pm-8.45pm.
Event Description: Corinne Harris has been involved in theatre for thirty years as an actor, director and musician. Her belief in the transformative potential of theatre as an art form and platform for life changing possibility has led her to exploring the theatre of possibility both on and off stage. She received an MA from RADA and King’s College, London specialising in directing – her primary focus being the practice of Eastern European directors. In the past year she has been to Poland with Wojtek - Theatre Objektiv and New York with Messages from a Mental institution with The Elements World Theatre. Corinne is currently co-artistic director of Lucida Performance Lab who are in development with Ashes on Canvas.

Event Details

MESP 2018 Main Events, 24 February - 25 March 2018