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Open The Heart And Still the Mind: Ending The Year With Kindness, Compassion And Joy

Teacher: Sue Cooper

Cost: 7 days accommodation plus Teacher’s fee/dana + R350 surcharge

Dates: Thursday 16 December 2021 - Thursday 23 December 2021

sue cooper 2021 This annual “Open the Heart and Still the Mind” 7-day intensive silent retreat is an integration of Buddhist wisdom and practices with psychology.
Through mindfulness and compassion practices we will establish a calm and grounded embodied presence, creating a reliable foundation from which to cultivate a brave, compassionate and joyful heart and mind. These qualities of consciousness allow our thoughts, speech and actions to move beyond habitual fear, self-doubt and anticipatory dread, so that our choices become informed by open-hearted, appreciative awareness and compassionate wisdom.
The extended time in silence will provide an opportunity to process the year and to discover new perspectives and more courageous and joyful ways of being. This will equip us for this world which is characterised not only by change and uncertainty, but also by beauty, joy and wonder. In addition to the guided meditations in all postures, our embodied experience will be enhanced by daily sessions of qigong and mindful movement, as well as time to walk in nature and explore the stunning beauty of the Centre. Short, individual sessions with Sue are included and will provide additional emotional containment and healing.
A pre-retreat 30-50 minute individual session with Sue, either in person in Cape Town or via Zoom/Whatsapp is required if you have not attended one of her residential retreats before and is fully covered by medical aid. The fee will be reduced if you are not on medical aid or have financial constraints.
CPD accreditation for psychologists and other HPCSA registered professionals: to be confirmed and carrying an admin fee.
Please contact Sue on sue.stillmind@gmail.com or see www.stillmindretreats.com for cost of course and further details.

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Sue Cooper is a Cape Town-based Clinical Psychologist with extensive experience as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist, working in private practice since the early 1990's. She has a long-standing interest in the interface between psychological and spiritual approaches to self-discovery and inner healing, and has attended Buddhist meditation retreats, mainly in the Theravada tradition, for over 30 years, both in South Africa and at Gaia House in the UK. She has been inspired by the teachings of Ajahn Chah of the Thai Forest tradition, and is deeply grateful to her primary teachers: the late Godwin Samararatne, Kittisaro and Thanissara, Ajahn Sucitto and Stephen and Martine Batchelor. She has a particular interest in exploring how our practice enables us to embrace our humanness, integrating love and loss in our lives, so that we can live and die with compassionate awareness. She offers weekend and longer retreats throughout South Africa at Temenos, Mont Fleur, Blue Butterfly and Somerset Gift in the Western Cape; Dharmagiri Insight Meditation Centre and the Buddhist Retreat Centre in KwaZulu Natal; and Emoyeni Retreat Centre in the North West Province, as well as 6-8 week "Open the Heart and Still the Mind" courses, on-going weekly groups and monthly half-day/day retreats in Cape Town See: https://stillmindretreats.com and please contact sue.stillmind@gmail.com