Practice in Leeds during Covid


Lockdown meant that the Zen Peacemaker, Leeds Mindfulness, Wellbeing & Spirituality, and Leeds Nur Ashki Jerrahi sufi communities faced many challenges when it came to meeting. I'm grateful to Zoom but there are still challenges with understanding and sensing the space of the "other". 

However, new opportunities for new communication and contact came about in this time. Steve Hart (dharma and vision holder, ZP) designed some peer support workshops for on-line groups for people with mental health difficulties under the Live Well Leeds third sector banner. These workshops looked at self care, self esteem, self compassion, confidence building and looking at heartfelt communication - Non Violent Communication, Assertiveness exploration and ethical  speech. 
The LGBTQ community in Live Well Leeds also got in touch with Steve to receive on-line workshops on mindfulness, meditation, self nurturing, self compassion and loving kindness meditation. Also we couldn't have a live October Kirkstall Abbey Mindfulness, Wellbeing & Spirituality Festival but Steve was filmed at the Abbey talking on the aforementioned subjects and Moortown Women's Institute also received workshops on-line on these subjects also. Steve has maintained 1 to 1 on-line communication with ZP participants in the UK  and maintained connections with Jerrahi participants though stepped back from organising so that Sahil and Ashki could provide orientation on-line which has been received well globally and now the Nur Ashki UK community has a global community which is fantastic ! Leeds Mindfulness is now back at Kirkstall Abbey with live classes recently exploring exploring the brahma viharas (positive emotion enhancement with a cosmic twist !)  And we plan (if possible) to run the Kirkstall Abbey Festival in October.  which we hope to have an Interfaith dimension to complement the Leeds Abbey Museum's Light for Leeds exhibition which has a Leeds faiths based theme. 
Steve will also (when possible) deliver a talk "Light Upon Light: A Comparative Appreciation of Light in the World's Mystical Traditions" at the Abbey and is doing alot of research and reading around the theme of the Creative Imagination in Buddhism and Sufism with a view to delivering a talk in Bradford on this vast subject. Sadly Steve's health isn't good at the moment so please send him some metta and love. 

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