This group meets every Tuesday evening, from 19.00 – 21.00 fortnightly in Southsea, Portsmouth.
We normally meet for 8 sessions and then pause for a few weeks before starting again. We only take new people at the beginning of an 8-week run so that everyone can deepen their practice as they get to know one another.
We often meet earlier than 19.00 to share a tea, and sometimes stay after to eat a bowl of soup together.
I invite you to pay attention to connections, conflicts and interactions in your day to day wonderings through life and to bring those struggles with you so you can work on them… Perhaps even make them an offering to our shared attempts to learn ….With practice and courage we can use this time together to bear witness to the burdensome privilege of being human and the intention to meet each other in our humanity.
Please contact me to ask for details of where we meet and to book your place. There is often a waiting list for this group so let me know as soon as possible if you want to join.
There are no fees for practice. I offer it in gift and want to encourage people to enter into the same spirit of generosity with me. If you feel inspired, then you can either gift something to me in return or gift it forward. If you are unsure how this works please ask me. I would love to speak to you about what gifting and mutual support could look like.
For Love in a Time of Conflict – John O’Donohue
When the gentleness between you hardens
And you fall out of your belonging with each other,
May the depths you have reached hold you still.
When no true word can be said, or heard,
And you mirror each other in the script of hurt,
When even the silence has become raw and torn,
May you hear again an echo of your first music.
When the weave of affection starts to unravel
And anger begins to sear the ground between you,
Before this weather of grief invites
The black seed of bitterness to find root,
May your souls come to kiss.
Now is the time for one of you to be gracious,
To allow a kindness beyond thought and hurt,
Reach out with sure hands
To take the chalice of your love,
And carry it carefully through this echoless waste
Until this winter pilgrimage leads you
Towards the gateway to spring.