Updated BRC Newsflash - June 2022

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The Buddhist Retreat Centre

Ixopo, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

For people of all religions

BRC Newsflash: June 2022

Dear Retreatants,

Autumn

In a sub-continent noted for the short, sharp transitions between seasons you have to be quick to spot the signs. Often they are absences. Just when did those aerobatic scavengers, the yellow-billed kites, stop patrolling the roads of KwaZulu-Natal and fly north? You can only tell they’ve gone because the pied crows, tumbling clowns of the skies, have confidently reasserted their presence.

In this part of the world autumn can also be a bit confusing, contra-indicated by the festivals, religious and otherwise, held at this time of the year. The Christian feast of Easter celebrating the resurrection of Jesus (overlaying an earlier pagan spring festival) loses much of its seasonal symbolism in the southern hemisphere when life itself is in retreat.

Even the names of the months obfuscate, derived from Greek and Roman mythology, they mirror spring up north. March is named after Mars, the Roman God of War, and was originally the first month of the year, the traditional time for the resumption of hostilities. April is Aphrodite's month, the Greek goddess of love and beauty, while May belongs to Maia, a Roman goddess of spring.

In South Africa a better reflection of seasonal change is to be found in the Zulu calendar, a lunar calendar, the months dated from the appearance of a new moon. Consequently the months are 28 days long and there are 13 in a year.

We are nearing the full moon of the twelfth month running from the new moon of May into June, the month is known as uNhlangula or uNhlangulana, derived from the verb hlangula – to drive off, brush off, scatter. The name refers to the winds blowing the leaves from the trees. There a several English translations. In Zulu References (1923) Carl Faye renders it as ‘The Moon when the trees are bare, having shed their leaves.’ In Clement Doke and Benjamin Vilakazi’s Zulu-English Dictionary (1958) it becomes ‘the windy, dusty month’; in his 1905 dictionary Alfred Bryant provided this idiosyncratic but delightful interpretation: ‘the little-rubbish-sweeping-moon.’ (For further illumination see Adrian Koopman’s indispensable book, Zulu Names).

As the natural world hits the pause button, whatever the hemisphere, autumn is a good time for reflection. A time to gather in the harvest, to bring out the blankets. Light the fires. Stay close. A season, as the 13th century Zen master Dogen put it, to “take the backward step and turn the light inward.”

The fast approaching full moon of uNhlangula heralds Wesak, the most important day on the Buddhist calendar, commemorating the birth, enlightenment and death of the Buddha nearly 2500 years ago. A moveable feast, Wesak is traditionally held on the full moon - or the nearest weekend - of the lunar month of Vesakha which in Asian countries is coincidental with May. This year Wesak falls on Monday May 16 and will be marked by a retreat at the Buddhist Retreat Centre – Under the Full Moon of May - on the weekend preceding

The retreat is held with the gentle bridle of Noble Silence, a permission if you like, to ‘turn the light inward’ and simply sit with the season. A bridle briefly relaxed for a period of discussion, and conversation over celebratory tea and cake after the Saturday evening Wesak ceremony and the candle-lit circumambulation of the Buddha statue.

Of course contemplative practice doesn’t have to be season related. As an old Zen poem says

The spring flowers, the autumn moon
Summer breeze, winter snow.
If useless things do not clutter your mind
You have the best days of your life.

Clutter. Rubbish. Time for a little housekeeping. Perhaps a little leaf sweeping. Happy Wesak.

Stephen Coan

Now And Zen: Reboot, Recharge And Retreat

There is no better place than the BRC to rejuvenate the body and mind with nature, meditation and movement to guide you into presence and stillness.

All health protocols and Covid-19 regulations are in place - with social distancing, sanitizing and masks - for your safety and well-being.

There are still a few spaces left on the following May retreats:

The Heart And Art Of Awakening - Part 1: Shift Your Life Through Presence And Art

John Homewood and Michelle McClunan | Weekend | 27 May-29 May

Would you like to connect more deeply with Life?
Reunite with the simple joy of being?
Open to the flow of creative abundance?
Shift your life to a new level?

Join two of South Africa’s top transformational facilitators, John Homewood and Michelle McClunan, on a powerful, transformational experience that will awaken, shift and nourish you. This retreat will integrate powerful spiritual teachings of Presence, Awakening and Flow with different creative art processes, to help you to clear blockages that may have prevented you from living a healthy, joy-filled, peaceful and abundant life. The creative experiences are process-driven, as opposed to being outcome-based, so no artistic experience or skill is required. Through wisdom teachings, guided visualisations, meditations, time spent in nature, heart-opening music and a variety of experientially creative processes, you will be led gently into your inner landscape, where you will rediscover your own deep wisdom and reason for being here, on this planet, right now.

PLEASE NOTE: This retreat is further extended to include Monday and Tuesday 30 and 31 May: The Heart And Art Of Awakening Part 2 - Going Deeper
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The Heart And Art Of Awakening - Part 2: Going Deeper

John Homewood and Michelle McClunan | 2 days | 29-31 May

Join two of South Africa’s top transformational facilitators, John Homewood and Michelle McClunan on a powerful, transformational experience that will awaken, shift and nourish you. You will be provided with valuable tools to help you navigate our quickly changing world. This is a follow-on from the weekend’s retreat for those wishing to deepen the process of Awakening and aligning with Presence and Flow. It will be structured in a way to allow newcomers to attend - so all welcome!
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Conducted Retreats June 2022

 indicates retreats held in Noble Silence

The Sacred Feminine : Empowering The Feminine With yoga, Meditation And Your Astrological Moon

Margarita Celeste and Michelle Strybis | Weekend | 3-5 June
In this empowering weekend for women, gentle Yin-style yoga will be offered as an invitation to expand, open and release tightly-held emotions and stress, focusing on the hips and heart. Evening "Moon" themed meditations will help participants to get in touch with this powerful Lunar Body to connect with your inner Feminine. Included will be talks on the Astrological Moon which will help women to navigate their emotional styles, and that of others. Body and Mind will be nourished over a weekend that promises to be nurturing for - mothers and daughters, sisters and best friends - in a moment by moment openness to each other.
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An Introduction To Mindfulness Based Living: "Knowing The Present"

Kerri Martinaglia and Chrissi Preuss | Weekend | 10-12 June
Mindfulness is defined as knowing what is happening, while it is happening, with an attitude of kindness and curiosity. In the beginning, we notice how our attention is like a butterfly flitting from one thought to the next. So we start by slowing down and settling our mind. We then introduce practices that ground us, allowing our attention to drop out of our heads and into the sensory awareness of the body. We learn to rest in the present moment getting used to disengaging from our habits of compulsive doing. During the retreat we will be “coming home” to our body, heart and mind; applying curiosity and compassion to whatever we notice.
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The Poetry In Mindfulness

Linda Kaoma | 3 days | 12 June-15 June
Linda Kaoma’s poetry workshops are spaces for mindfulness, reflection, and self-care. She fuses poetry writing with meditation, yoga, breathwork, and meditative movement. Poetry’s emotive quality lends us the space to explore our feelings and experience deep moments of reflection. It also allows us to take ordinary realities or stories and adorn them with figures of speech and other jewels, thus allowing us to rethink, relook and refeel our current lived stories and narratives. This poetry workshop will include time for play to indulge our inner children, and will include more than just literary exercises such as drawing and visualisations. We need to play in order to learn more about ourselves.
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Cultivating Mind-Heart Resonance Through Emotional Intelligence And Mindfulness

Shanil Haricharan | Weekend | 2 days | 17 June-19 June
The past two years have highlighted the volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous and unequal world we live in. To understand this world and resolve its problems, we must understand ourselves and our relationships; after all, the world is a projection of ourselves. The Buddha, Aristotle, Krishnamurti, among other great thinkers, have claimed that understanding ourselves is the beginning of wisdom. Over this weekend, you are invited on a journey of really getting to know thyself, starting with confronting your conditioning which has created who you are today. As Jungian psychologist and author, James Hollis, observes: “What we have become is frequently the chief obstacle to our journey - an assemblage of defence mechanisms and anxiety management systems” or as Rumi, the 13th century Persian poet, wisely counselled: “You are the unconditioned Spirit trapped in conditions. You fill it with yourself, or it dies”. In this journey we will probe the state of our mind, heart, body and spirit (as indigenous cultures have done for thousands of years) towards finding balance and harmony.
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Iyengar Yoga: Nudging The Body Into Shape And Health

Judy Farah | Weekend | 24-26 June
The upsurge of interest in the ancient practice of yoga attests to its proven physiological and psychological benefits. Our sedentary, western lifestyle has stiffened our limbs and spine to such an extent that many people find the yoga asanas (poses) difficult to perform. Iyengar yoga evolved to deal with this problem - safely, without forcing the body into harmful contortions. Iyengar yoga uses simple, but carefully calibrated props and other supports to achieve postures that would otherwise be unattainable except after years of practice. This retreat is suitable for beginners and for those who may have practised other forms of yoga. It is an introduction to the Iyengar method. For those who wish to consolidate their practice to a deeper level, the additional 5-day retreat is strongly recommended (26 June to 1 July).
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Iyengar Yoga: Deepening Your Practice

Judy Farah | 5 days accommodation | 26 June-01 July
For those who wish to consolidate and deepen their yoga practice, this 5-day intensive retreat is highly recommended. Apart from increased levels of fitness and vitality, you will reap the benefits of being in the tranquil, natural environment of Ixopo. You will leave feeling stretched, relaxed and fit for life.
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A Personal Self Retreat

People often yearn for an opportunity to recalibrate their lives and to spend some time in quiet reflection among like-minded people. The BRC provides such a refuge - where silence is a precious commodity. Treat yourself to a personal retreat where you can wake up to bird song, walk in the morning mist, rake the sand garden and enjoy the Sound Circle in the bamboo grove.
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About the BRC

Perched on a ridge at the head of a valley in the Umkomaas river system in KwaZulu-Natal, the Buddhist Retreat Centre looks out on a vista of indigenous valleys, forests and rolling hills receding like waves in the blue distance. Here, for forty two years, people of all religions and none have come to experience peace and tranquillity. It is a gentle, sympathetic space where one can be still and get in touch with oneself and reflect on the things that crowd one's life.

The BRC was voted by CNN as one of the ten best meditation centres in the world.

CNN Travel awarded another feather in the BRC’s cap by voting it as one of the ten best spiritual centres in South Africa, recently.

The BRC was awarded Natural Heritage status in 1995 under the auspices of the Department of Environmental Affairs and received a certificate to that effect signed by President Nelson Mandela for turning an eroded farm into the natural paradise it has become - thousands of indigenous trees were planted by retreatants under the supervision of Mervyn Croft - with 160 species of birds, including the Blue Swallow, otter, deer, antbear and indigenous forests. The Centre was also given the special status of “Custodian of the Blue Swallow” for its work in preserving the breeding areas of this endangered bird.

Recently, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife granted the BRC “Private Nature Reserve” for the conservation of the rare Blue Swallow and Mistbelt Grassland.

The BRC facilitated the founding of Woza Moya, the community-based NGO, located in Ufafa Valley, twenty-two years ago, on the estate. Their vision is for all people in the community to be healthy and.productive, to live in a safe and clean environment, with good access to services and social justice. The Centre continues to support the organisation by showcasing their crafts in the shop and sponsoring their trainers and consultants.

We have been very touched by your appreciative letters, emails and friendship towards the BRC - your spiritual home from home.

We are deeply grateful for your generous gifts to the Centre this year: new  beds and bases, office chairs and a desk, bathroom towels, indigenous trees and seedlings, books for our library, a generator, a  garden bench, clothing and Dana for our staff - and so much more.Thank you to all of you who continue to support our work in Ixopo with monthly and Paid Up Yogi contributions and donations, with gifts, or with skills and time. And, of course, everyone who comes to the Centre keeps us open and viable. We are deeply grateful for your generosity towards us; it encourages us to continue Louis’ beautiful vision and legacy for the future.

Please continue to support the BRC by becoming a friend of the Buddhist Retreat Centre (a registered non-profit organisation) and find out more about the BRC's Paid-Up-Yogi and Sangha Friends’ projects.

Chrisi

Visit our website for further information, directions, image gallery etc.

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