Unless otherwise stated, all events, programmes, classes and courses take place at the London Shambhala Meditation Centre in Clapham. Please see Location Map for directions. Evening sessions usually begin with a short session of meditation.
The recitation of Pacifying the Turmoil of the Mamos is a protector practice associated with the "Dön Days" period at the end of the year (the Water Dragon year starts on 22 February). It is practised in order to pacify the karmic cause of personal, social, and environmental chaos which accumulates at the year's end.
It is said that by this practice we may tune into the protector principle of awareness and reconnect with sacred outlook.
Although this is a vajrayana practice, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche has for some years asked that the whole sangha be invited to take part.
Practice will generally be in the upstairs meditation room.
Booking not required, please contact with any additional queries.
Weekdays at 8:00 pm; Weekend Days at 5:30 pm
No charge.
Wednesday 22 February
Shambhala Day Celebrations
Year of the Water Dragon
Shambhala Day marks the beginning of the Tibetan new year, and represents one of the most important traditions in Shambhala. It is a time to enjoy the wealth of our rich spiritual and cultural heritage with feasting, conviviality, elegance and celebration. Events will include an International Broadcast given by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche - further details to be confirmed. Mamo (protector) chants will be practiced daily in the lead up to Shambhala Day from Saturday 11 to Monday 20 February inclusive.
Please look out for further announcements or contact for more information
Events will take place throughout the day & evening, plus during a weekend retreat on Saturday 25 & Sunday 26 February
WEEKEND PROGRAMMES
Saturday 28 to Sunday 29 April
The Art of Being Human
and the Practice of Meditation
'The way of the Great Eastern Sun is based on seeing that there is a natural source of radiance and brilliance in the world, which is the innate wakefulness of human beings.' Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche.
The Shambhala Training path of study and practice begins with the Heart of Warriorship programme. This consists of five weekend programmes ("levels") which offer meditation instruction and practice, talks on the Shambhala teachings, group discussions and interviews.
Completing the Heart of Warriorship provides the tools you need to establish a personal meditation discipline and take the basic principles of warriorship forward into your daily life. Beginning with a free public talk on the Friday evening, Level One introduces the rich Shambhala tradition, which inspires and encourages us to explore and celebrate what it is to be human. During the weekend we begin to work with the practice of meditation which allows this gentle exploration to take place. Level One offers both a good introduction for complete beginners and a fresh inspiration for those who may already have some experience of meditation within their own spiritual traditions.
Orhun Cercel has been meditating since 1990 and is a student of Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. His varied career has taken him from investment banking to Chinese medicine and psychotherapy. He travels in Europe teaching Shambhala programmes and has been appointed by the Sakyong as a ‘shastri’, or senior teacher.
To pre-register please send a deposit of £20 payable to: 'The London Shambhala Meditation Centre' c/o London Shambhala Meditation Centre, 27 Belmont Close, London, SW4 6AY.
Upcoming dates for The Art of Being Human in 2012 will be:
13 & 14 October with Peter Conradi
For further information please email:
The weekend begins on Saturday at approximately 9.00 am and lasts until roughly 6.30 pm. Sunday continues from 9.00am ending roughly at 6.30 pm with a small reception. Lunch is provided on both days.
£120 (£100 if booking before April 20th). Concessions available
Friday 18 to Sunday 20 May
Kado: The Way of Flowers
with Marcia Shibata
Discover and cultivate the source of creativity and learn how to express this in flower arranging. Kado is a meditative, contemplative understanding of self, nature, space and perception and how they all interrelate and depend on the other for true, authentic expression. Students will begin to learn to see clearly, or notice when they do not.
This is an introductory course and is open to all levels. Beginners welcome!
Kado means “The Way of Flowers”. The Flower Way began in China over 2000 year ago. When it was introduced and assimilated into Japan, the Japanese word “Ikebana” arose, meaning “living flowers”. Kado is a contemplative practice that studies nature as it is. Human beings are part of nature, we are not separate. We follow the same patterns as all life on this planet.
Kado students simultaneously study the human condition when working with natural materials from the earth. By practicing classical Ikebana forms, Kado teaches to see the wisdom of nature clearly, which is the same in ourselves and others. The ultimate purpose in Kado is not to make pleasant flower arrangements, but to discover joyfulness, work with obstacles, and develop respect for all things animate or inanimate.
Marcia Wang Shibata is a senior teacher of Kado within the Shambhala Buddhist community, and co-founder of Shambhala Kado Europe. She is a student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche.
Having studied, and continuing to study and practice in the major schools of Ikebana, both classical and modern, Ms. Shibata teaches from the view of nature’s truth, the Buddha Dharma and Shambhalian warriorship.
To pre-register, please send a deposit of £30* payable to: 'The London Shambhala Meditation Centre' c/o London Shambhala Meditation Centre, 27 Belmont Close, London, SW4 6AY.
*The deposit is fully refundable if cancellations are received by Thursday, 17th May 2012 at kado@shambhala.org.uk. Please note that deposits are non-refundable if cancellations are received after cancellation deadline.
For further information and for concessions please contact:
The weekend course will start on Friday evening at 7.30pm. It will continue on Saturday and Sunday from 9.30am to 6pm each day.
Course fee: £170 including flowers
TALKS
Monday 6 February
Open House Talk: The Desung Path
Protecting Bliss and Harmony
Desungship is a training in being fully awake in our lives. Through this we can appreciate the richness and vividness of every moment. From this space arises the energy, inspiration and compassion to truly help others. Find out about what the Desung do and what we mean by protecting bliss and harmony.
The Desung are part of the Dorje Kasung, an organisation within Shambhala formed by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche to provide a skillful means of practising meditation in action and working with our habitual patterns. The Desung path teaches us how to handle conflicts and challenges in our lives in a rich and mindful way.
DEBBIE COATS has been a student of Buddhism and the Shambhala teachings for 23 years. She is a cancer nurse who specialises in helpline work and providing cancer information. Debbie joined the Dorje Kasung at Vajrayana Seminary in 1990 and the practice of Kasungship has played a huge role in enriching her life. In 2005 she was appointed to the position of Desung Arm Commander on the Sakyong's Dorje Kasung Council.
These Open House Talks are a great introduction to meditation and the Shambhala Buddhist teachings. The evening will include meditation practice and a talk by one of our senior teachers. It is an opportunity to connect with other people interested in meditation and meditation instruction is always available.
Time:
Open from 7.30pm
Talk at 8pm
For further information please email:
Cost: Suggested £3 Donation
COURSES
Tuesday 21 February to Tuesday 20 March
Meditation in Everyday Life
An introductory evening course over five weeks
This course provides introductory tools and teachings for working with meditation in everyday life. With simple instructions and support, mindfulness meditation can become part of our everyday lives and reveal our innate stability, clarity and strength. It is one of the main introductions to meditation that we offer and we highly recommend it for anyone interested in meditation, Buddhism or Shambhala.
This course is also one of the first parts of the evening course curriculum from the Way of Shambhala, an ongoing training in meditation and how we can use Buddhist teachings to awaken to our inherent potential.
Jim O'Neill is a long-term student of Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche and has been appointed by the Sakyong as a 'shastri', or senior teacher. He also works full time as a psychoanalyst.
To pre-register please send a deposit of £20 payable to: 'The London Shambhala Meditation Centre' c/o London Shambhala Meditation Centre, 27 Belmont Close, London, SW4 6AY
Dates: Tuesday February 21st, 28th, and March 6th, 13th, 20th.
Upcoming Dates in 2012: Tuesday September 11, 18, 25 and October 2, 9 October.
For further information please email:
Timings: From 7:30PM until 9:30PM
Cost: £60 (£50 if booking before February 14). Concessions available
Tuesday 17 April to Tuesday 15 May
Contentment in Everyday Life
An introductory evening course over five weeks
This five week evening course is one of the main introductions to meditation that we offer. We highly recommend it for anyone interested in meditation, Buddhism or Shambhala.
It offers both a good introduction for complete beginners and a fresh inspiration for those who may already have some experience of meditation within their own spiritual traditions.
This course is also one of the first parts of Way of Shambhala, a ongoing training in meditation and how we can use Buddhist teachings to awaken to our inherent potential.
Orhun Cercel has been meditating since 1990 and is a student of Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. His varied career has taken him from investment banking to Chinese medicine and psychotherapy. He travels in Europe teaching Shambhala programmes and has been appointed by the Sakyong as a ‘shastri’, or senior teacher.
To pre-register please send a deposit of £20 payable to: 'The London Shambhala Meditation Centre' c/o London Shambhala Meditation Centre, 27 Belmont Close, London, SW4 6AY
For further information please email:
Timings: From 7:30PM until 9:30PM
£60 (£50 if booking before April 10th).
RETREATS
Residential weeekend retreats are held from time to time at IvyBank our retreat house in Hampshire. No retreats are available for listing at present
SCHEDULED PRACTICES
Kyudo Practice
The way of the bow
In 1980 the Venerable Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche invited Onyumishi Kanjuro Shibata XX to come and teach Kyudo to his students. Rinpoche said “Through Kyudo one can learn to live beyond hope and fear, one can learn how to be”. Since then Shibata Sensei has travelled extensively and established Kyudojos throughout North America and Europe and continued to manifest as a true warrior and teach Rinpoche’s students.
In the words of Shibata Sensei “One is not polishing one’s shooting style or technique, but the mind. The dignity of shooting is the important point. This is how Kyudo differs from the common approach to archery. In Kyudo there is no hope. Hope is not the point. The point is that through long and genuine practice your natural dignity as a human being comes out. This natural dignity is already in you, but it is covered up by a lot of obstacles. When they are cleared away, your natural dignity is allowed to shine forth.”
The way of the bow is a living tradition of meditative archery, rooted in the warrior traditions of Japan. It is an art form with no other goal than the highest experience of the present moment beyond the strategies of thought and concept. Through working with the precision of form a natural process gradually unfolds through which direct experience of the essential nature of mind is realised. This is the target.
RICHARD BLECKMAN has been a student of Shibata Sensei since 1992 and was authorised by Sensei as a Kyudo instructor in 1996.
Kyudo practice is generally held at the centre on the Saturday before the nyinthun day (see below: the first Sunday of the calendar month). .
Nyinthün
Nyinthün is held on the first Sunday of the calendar month.
Meditation practice is from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm in the main hall.
Newcomers are very welcome. However if you require meditation instruction, please arrange this in advance.
Sitting meditation usually also takes place in the afternoon from 2.30 to 4.30, and sometimes additional afternoon events are organised (please check in advance if you are travelling especially to attend during the afternoon).
First Sunday of the calendar month, from 10.30 am. .
Maitri Bhavana
Maitri Bhavana is a meditation on loving kindness which is practised for those who are seriously ill, either physically or mentally. It cultivates our compassion through taking on the sense of suffering of others, provides an opportunity to share our health with them, and acknowledges our deep interconnectedness. A list is pinned up at the centre for any of us to add the names and illnesses of relatives and friends who are seriously ill, so they can be explicitly included in the practice. You should include someone because you feel a personal concern for their suffering, such as a relative dying of cancer or suffering from clinical depression. (It would not be appropriate, for example, to include someone who has a cold or a sprained ankle.)
If you would like more information or would like to add someone to the list for the next practice session, please email . Please include both the name of the individual and the illness. You can submit the same name(s) each month if you wish.
One Wednesday per month, at approximately 8.00 pm. .
Sadhana of Mahamudra
The Sadhana of Mahamudra is special practice which takes place once a month during the Wednesday practice evening closest to the full moon.
The practice involves the meditative recitation (in English) of a sadhana (meditation text) written by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche in 1968. The vivid imagery of the sadhana evokes the qualities of enlightened mind as exemplified by Dorje Tröllo, a manifestation of Padmasambhava, and Karma Pakshi, the second Karmapa.
Held on the Wednesday of the month closest to the full moon, at approximately 8.00 pm. .
London Shambhala Meditation Centre
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The recitation of Pacifying the Turmoil of the Mamos is a protector practice associated with the "Dön Days" period at the end of the year (the Water Dragon year starts on 22 February). It is practised in order to pacify the karmic cause of personal, social, and environmental chaos which accumulates at the year's end. 
This course provides introductory tools and teachings for working with meditation in everyday life. With simple instructions and support, mindfulness meditation can become part of our everyday lives and reveal our innate stability, clarity and strength. It is one of the main introductions to meditation that we offer and we highly recommend it for anyone interested in meditation, Buddhism or Shambhala.