Weathering Storms …….a Taster at Dragon Cafe today

Today @ Drgaon Cafe (2-3pm)

As always, the Dragon Cafe continues to rock – addressing big topics, opening deep conversations and promoting innovation and creativity as the routes to deep healing.

At 2pm -3pm today (Sept 10th, 2018) Anthony Fidler will be sharing some of his learning from an incredible journey to learn how to work and live with non ordinary states.

Today’s program is below and can also be found here. I highly recommend signing up for their mailing list so this treasure trove of resource lands each week in your mailbox! There is a delicious cafe , serving healthy and affordable vegetarian food, tons of activities and some real conversations going on. If you haven’t visited then please check it out! Every Monday at Borough – in the crypt of the church that is right opposite the tube station.

Anthony demonstrating his basic Qi Walking practice

“Anyone who has studied with me will know that this is my signature whatever class I’m teaching. There will always be spontaneous modifications and side practices woven into it, but ‘walking into mindfulness’ for me really contains the core of mindfulness practice and you can take it with you everywhere. It is a highly practical method for grounding and centering oneself so ideal for dealing with anxiety in public places” Anthony Fidler

Anthony’s workshop at 2pm will provide a taster for a longer all day event “Weathering Storms” that Anthony and Tamara Russell will facilitate on Nov 16th (Friday, all day, Jamyang Buddhist Centre).

Weathering Storms is a research and exploration day to understand through the body how many eastern contemplative practices can support healthy management and integration of non-ordinary states. We will be working with movements, sounds, touch practices and meditations. We will share experiences (to a level that feels comfortable) and journey together into these challenging but rich mental and physical insights. Non-ordinary states may arise for a number of reasons including trauma, psychosis, episodes of bipolar or just feeling like everything is too much and you want to be elsewhere! They can also arise following psychedelic experiences (via natural, chemical or technology augmented means). In all cases, grounding, compassion and (as far as possible) non-reactivity are our main tools.

Based on touch, grounding through the body, movement and compassion practices, Anthony draws on his own extensive personal research experience when he shares these practices. He really knows what works and how best to implement when needed.

In this exploration, experiencers of non ordinary states and those helping them will be in a non-hierarchical space. We will be reflecting our own unique process of fear of “disconnection” and “madness” even though the content of our experiences may be different. Health professionals particularly, please be aware of this transition into a type of environment that is quite different from mainstream services. Tamara is available to chat to anyone before the session if you have questions.

Working with PROCESS not CONTENT (see the theme of DC these last two weeks) is where we can meet our common humanity and avoid some of the unhelpful polarities we often see in mental health (e.g. “them” and “us”, “unwell person” “well person”).

Those with open minds and hearts welcome and if you are skeptical, you are welcome too! Come and see if this is something that can work for you.

Contact Anthony via this website for more information.

Some nice resources:

Anthony demonstrating Sei Ki Compassionate Touch / HeartTouch.

Anthony learnt this work from Akinobu Kishi Sensei, one of the disciples of the founder of modern Shiatsu, who continued to evolve his own style of meeting another human being in what he called resonance or energetic heart connection. The practice itself is incredibly simple and is effectively a style of meditation in which you allow another person to join you if they wish. What follows is a deep entry in what Paul Gilbert has called the soothing state, a simple good feeling of being together. The body responds to the sudden depth of entry into this state by initiating its dynamic house keeping, which naturally leaves the person feeling more embodied and ‘who they are’.

The Healing Potential of Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness – Conversation with Stanislav Grof