Events List

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Booking Offer and Passes

MESP 2012 Main Events
Thursday 1 March - Sunday 11 March 2012

Thursday 1 March 2012

Event: Day Workshop: Mythical Yoga: The Element of Spirit.

Facilitators: Sue Powell and Michael Williams, Ph.D..
Venue: Meeting Room, Quaker Meeting House, 7 Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh, EH1 2JL.
Time: Registration: 9.30am-10am. Workshop: 10am-4.30pm.
Event Description: Yoga/holistic therapist Sue Powell and storyteller Michael Williams invite you to explore the Element of Spirit and our relationship with the Divine in all its many forms. Exercise your body, mind and spirit through creative activities, stories from different traditions and gentle yet deep reflective yoga practices. No previous experience is necessary. Please bring a journal, pen and a sense of adventure. Wear loose clothing and bring a yoga mat if you have one. You can still take part if you don't have a Yoga mat.

Michael has been a professional storyteller for more than ten years. He is also a story coach and mentor and an educational consultant. In 2009 he was part of the 'Healing Words' storytelling tour to the Holy Land where he worked with groups of Arabs and Jews. He is a well-known workshop leader who has worked in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Canada. www.rjmwilliams.co.uk

Sue’s path has led her from the world of advertising to social work; through a transpersonal psychotherapy training and into the wider world living in communities across the globe. Sue’s life/work is inspired by a number of the world spiritualities including Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism. Her yoga training is in the lineage of Sw. Sivananda.

Cost: £25/£20 (Concessions). For a Registration Form:
Contact: Neill Walker, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 0131 331 4469.

Event: The 2012 Middle East Festival Forum on Spirituality, Religion and Film.

Speaker: Dr Nacim Pak-Shiraz, Lecturer in Persian and Film Studies, the University of Edinburgh.
Title: Representations of Spirituality and Religion through Film.
Chair: Dr Stefanie Van de Peer is a researcher of women's films from the Middle East and North Africa. She has published widely on Tunisian, Egyptian, Syrian and Lebanese films.
Forum on Spirituality, Religion and Film.
Forum Panellists: Dr Amy Hardie, Head of Research - Scottish Documentary Institute; James McKenzie worked for the Filmhouse as Chief Operating Officer between 1995 and 2011, during which time he worked on over 200 film seasons, including Cinemamed, a major retrospective of Arab cinema. He currently works at Stills, Scotland's Centre for Photography; Prof Jolyon Mitchell, Director of the Centre for Theology and Public Issues (CTPI), the University of Edinburgh.
Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Time: Registration: 6.30pm-7pm. Discussion/Forum: 7pm-9.15pm.
Event Description: The presentation will be illustrated by film clips throughout. Dr Nacim Pak-Shiraz obtained her PhD in Film and Media from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). She was a lecturer at the Institute of Ismaili Studies from 2007–2010 where she taught various subjects including Iranian Cinema and Literature of Muslim Societies. Dr Pak-Shiraz’s interests include Iranian and Middle Eastern cinema, religion and spirituality in film and media, religion and the Iranian performing arts, contemporary expressions of Shi‘i Islam in art and material culture, and Persian language and literature.

Cost: £5/£3 (Concessions) on the door on the night.
Contact: Neill Walker, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 0131 331 4469.

Friday 2 March 2012

Event: Day Workshop: Health, Wellbeing and Healing Through Spiritual Dance and Movement.

Facilitators: Dominic Ashmole (Dances of Universal Peace); Sarah Bonner-Morgan (Wu Chi to T’ai Chi and back again - Yin and Yang in everyday life); Audicia Lynne Morley (Movement Ritual); and Linda Wyman (An Introduction to the Alexander Technique).
Venue: Meeting Room, Quaker Meeting House, 7 Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh, EH1 2JL.
Time: Registration: 9.30am-10am. Workshop: 10am-5pm.
Event Description: Join us for a joyful day of sharing spiritual dance and movement for health, wellbeing, healing and peace. We will all be together throughout the day, building community and celebrating diversity through spiritual dance and movement.

9.30am-10am: Arrival and Registration.

10am-11.20am: Linda Wyman: An Introduction to the Alexander Technique.

A simple and effective way of regaining natural balance and ease of movement improving physical and mental wellbeing. It is a learning process which teaches you how to best use your body helping you to increased energy and more efficiency in all you do.

Linda Wyman trained at Fellside Alexander School in Cumbria for three years and did her post graduate term at the Institute for the Research and Development of the Alexander Technique in New York in 1991. She currently teaches in Edinburgh and East Lothian. www.lindawyman.co.uk

11.20am-11.40am: Break.

11.40am-1pm: Audicia Lynne Morley MRSS (T) CICA RCST, Tamalpa Practitioner, Dancer: Movement Ritual.

Movement Ritual was developed by Anna Halprin as a daily practice in order to activate and nourish the spine and nervous system; Build strength and flexibility; Increase and develop kinaesthetic sense; Deepen the breath and vitality of the body; Focus the mind, developing concentration and awareness; Develop a meditation, mindfulness in movement practice; Act as an avenue for creative expression and personal discovery.

Movement Ritual is an organisation of natural and organic movement sequences that encourage a holistic approach to health and awareness through movement. Through this practice, we can develop our relationship to our body, the history it holds and the wisdom and health within. The sequence specifically focuses on the spine, developing flexibility, strength and inner connection and encouraging fluidity, openness and tone. The original sequence is based on Anna Halprin's long-term study and practice of movement and has been developed and influenced by Audicia's own in-depth study of T'ai Chi Chuan, Experiential Anatomy, Pilates and Developmental Movement Patterns. For further information: www.statetheta.com

1pm-2pm: Lunch.

2pm-3.20pm: Sarah Bonner-Morgan: From Wu Chi to T’ai Chi and back again - Yin and Yang in everyday life.

All martial arts provide a tremendous practice for bringing us back to the present moment and the reality of a situation. By quietening our minds of the ‘ten thousand things’ which jangle our lives and nervous systems we return to a state of Wu Chi or emptiness - a space for presence, a chance for our spirits to rise and our awareness to grow. The traditional flowing movements of T’ai Chi emerge from Wu Chi and Wu Chi is the place we return to.

Sarah has been studying the Taoist martial arts for over 25 years, initially T’ai Chi and latterly Pa Kua and Hsing Yi. Her fascination, which spills over into her work as an Alexander Technique teacher, is with Wu Chi – the condition of emptiness which precedes all movement.

3.20pm-3.40pm: Break.

3.40pm-5pm: Dominic Ashmole: Dances of Universal Peace.

The Dances of Universal Peace are a powerful group spiritual practice originating in Sufism. We sing or chant sacred phrases while dancing in a circle. By opening our voices and hearts, dancing together and honouring sacred traditions of many different peoples and times, we may experience feelings of connectedness, joy, playfulness, healing and strength.

Dominic Ashmole has been leading Dances of Universal Peace since 2007. Under the guidance of his teacher, Philip O’Donohoe, he became a certified leader in November 2010. He offers a fortnightly group in Edinburgh. See: www.shamsuddin.co.uk

Cost: £25/£20 (Concessions). For a Registration Form:
Contact: Neill Walker, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 0131 331 4469.

Event: The 2012 Middle East Festival Forum on Spirituality, Mental Health and WellBeing.

Speaker: Prof Chris Cook, Professorial Research Fellow in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University, and Director of the Project for Spirituality, Theology and Health at Durham University.
Title: Spirituality and Mental Wellbeing.
Chair: Rev Prof Stephen G Wright RN RCNT RNT DipN DANS RPTT MSc FRCN MBE, University of Cumbria, Carlisle. Founding Editor: “Spirituality and Health International,” Chairman: The Sacred Space Foundation.
Forum on Spirituality, Mental Health and Wellbeing.
Forum Panellists: Prof David Fergusson FRSE, Prof of Divinity and Principal of New College, Vice-Principal of the University of Edinburgh; Isabella Goldie, Head of Mental Health Programmes, Scotland, Mental Health Foundation; John McMahon is Lead Chaplain (Primary Care, Community and Mental Health Services) with NHS Lothian, based at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital and Associated Services.
Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Time: Registration: 6.30pm-7pm. Discussion/Forum: 7pm-9.15pm.
Event Description: Spirituality is increasingly recognised as an important consideration in provision of mental health care. Mental health service users are requesting that it be addressed, and research is suggesting that it is important that it is addressed, in the treatment of mental disorders. However, many of the world’s major traditions of spirituality have long recognised that spiritual wellbeing and mental wellbeing are not easily separated. An eastern tradition of Christian spirituality, within which mental watchfulness is considered to be important, will be considered as an example of the way in which some spiritual traditions have long recognised that spirituality and mental wellbeing are actually inseparable.

Professor Chris Cook is a Professorial Research Fellow in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University and a Consultant in Substance Misuse with Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust. He trained at St George's Hospital Medical School, London, and has worked in the psychiatry of substance misuse for 25 years. He was ordained as an Anglican priest in 2001. He is Director of the Project for Spirituality, Theology and Health at Durham University and an editor (with Andrew Powell and Andrew Sims) of Spirituality and Psychiatry (Royal College of Psychiatrists Press, 2009).

Cost: £5/£3 (Concessions) on the door on the night.
Contact: Neill Walker, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 0131 331 4469.

Saturday 3 March - Sunday 4 March 2012

Event: Two-Day Retreat: Peace and Quiet - Stillness of Body, Mind and Spirit in the Busy World.
Inspired by the Lives and Teachings of the Desert Fathers and Mothers of the Middle Eastern Spiritual Traditions.
 

Facilitator: Rev Prof Stephen G Wright RN RCNT RNT DipN DANS RPTT MSc FRCN MBE, University of Cumbria, Carlisle. Founding Editor: “Spirituality and Health International,” Chairman: The Sacred Space Foundation.
Venue: Mull Room, The Gillis Centre, 100 Strathearn Road, Edinburgh, EH9 1BB.
Dates: Saturday 3 - Sunday 4 March 2012.
Time: Registration: 9.30am-10am. Retreat Days: 10am-4.30pm.
Event Description: This two-day retreat will take us deeper into what it is to experience inner peace and how to sustain this in a world where so many demands are placed upon us that take us off centre. Drawing inspiration from the Middle Eastern Spiritual Traditions of the Desert Fathers and Mothers, we will explore ways to become more still in body and mind, how to keep our hearts open amidst the challenges of life that would otherwise make us close down, how to listen more deeply to ourselves and each other and to the "still small voice" within. Over the two days we will have an opportunity to draw upon the teachings of our own experiences, the wisdom of the contemplative tradition, and many different reflective and meditative practices from different spiritualities that can heal those parts of us which are broken, come to inner stillness, and draw closer to the "peace that passes all understanding." Bringing peace to our work, relationships and to the world begins first with knowing inner peace; our weekend together will take us deeper into that peaceful place. Ideally, it would be best if participants could commit to attending both days as the weekend will have a retreat-like  quality to it, helped in part by the opportunity to get to know one another, but the weekend will be structured to allow those who can only attend for one day to participate as well.

Stephen works as a spiritual director for the Sacred Space Foundation (see www.sacredspace.org.uk) helping those in spiritual crisis (including burnout) and guiding spiritual seekers. Before this he had a long and distinguished history in academia and in the British National Health Service, gathering lots of glittering prizes along the way. He has co-authored two books exploring the nature of healing relationships - “Therapeutic Touch” and “Sacred Space – right relationship and spirituality in health care” (both co-written with Jean Sayre-Adams). “Reflections on spirituality and health” published in 2005, by Wiley, received outstanding reviews. “Coming Home” was published in 2009, a personal and scholarly account of spiritual awakening rooted in the experience of his work as a spiritual director, for which he received significant training in the presence of several renowned teachers and at the Interfaith Seminary (www.theinterfaithfoundation.com). He is an active Trustee of several charities and an Associate Member of the Iona Community. He works with organisations developing the practice of healing, spiritual care, conflict resolution and staff support. He is an ordained interfaith minister and spiritual director and brings a rich experience of spiritual practice from many faiths to his work. His recent published works ("Beloved," "Contemplation," "Song and Dance for the Way Home") include songs, chants, dances, poetry and prose influenced by his primary spiritual practice of the Contemplative Way.

Cost: £80 (both days), £40 (per day). For a Registration Form:
Contact: Neill Walker, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 0131 331 4469.

Saturday 3 March 2012

Event: The 2012 Middle East Festival Forum on Aggression, Leadership and Masculinity.

Speaker: Michael Williams, Ph.D..
Title: Aggression, Leadership and Masculinity - a storyteller's perspective.
Chair: Carol Craig is Chief Executive of the Centre for Confidence and Wellbeing - a small Scottish based charity which she set up in 2005. Carol is author of three books: The Scots' Crisis of Confidence; Creating Confidence: a handbook for professionals working with young people; and The Tears that Made the Clyde: Wellbeing in Glasgow. Prior to setting up the Centre Carol ran her own training and development consultancy.
Forum on Attitudes to Aggression, Leadership and Masculinity.
Forum Panellists: Lynn Jamieson is a Co-Director of the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships www.crfr.ac.uk and a Professor in Sociology at the University of Edinburgh. She has had a long interest in gender and violence. Her portfolio of research includes studies of rape and sexual assault trials in Scotland; Andrew Lyon was for number of years the Director of Glasgow Healthy Cities. He is now with the International Futures Forum; Brodie Paterson, Ph.D., M.Ed., RMN, RNLD, RNT, Dip Nursing, FEANS, Director CALM Training Ltd, Chair of the European Network for Training in the Prevention and Management of Aggression.
Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Time: Registration: 6.30pm-7pm. Discussion/Forum: 7pm-9.15pm.
Event Description: Among the themes picked up in the Forum discussion will include: Differing religious and spiritual attitudes to aggression (and retaliation). Leadership. Masculinity (and aggression). Pacifism. Turn other cheek, among others.

Michael has been a professional storyteller for more than ten years. He is also a story coach, mentor and an educational consultant as well as a registered teacher and accredited peace education facilitator and child care worker. In 2009 he was part of the 'Healing Words' storytelling tour to the Holy Land where he worked with groups of Arabs and Jews. He is a well-known workshop leader who has worked in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Canada. He is currently the Editor of 'Therapeutic Storytelling' at the All Things Healing online community. www.rjmwilliams.co.uk

Cost: £5/£3 (Concessions) on the door on the night.
Contact: Neill Walker, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 0131 331 4469.

Sunday 4 March 2012

Event: Concert: Ancient Songs of Devotion from Kurdistan,
Woven with the Mystical Tones of the Celtic Harp with Tara Jaff.

Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Time: Registration: 7pm-7.30pm. Concert: 7.30pm-9.30pm.
Event Description: Tara Jaff will present traditional Kurdish songs with lyrics of the 17th and 18th century Sufi poets of Kurdistan blended with the soothing sounds of the Celtic harp played in an innovative style adapted to the musical rhythms and mode of the region. The harp (chang in Kurdish and Persian), the oldest know stringed instrument, had a presence in Iranian music until the 17th century. The chang was often mentioned by the mystic poets of the region.
 
Tara Jaff is a Kurdish musician who has been exposed to many influences. Over the years she experimented with different string instruments, but it was her fascination with the ancient harps of Sumeria, Assyria and Elam, dating as far back as 3000BC, that led her to the contemporary Celtic harp. Tara has embraced this instrument and has introduced it to Kurdish music, and in particular to folk songs. She has developed an innovative style to adapt to the various musical rhythms and modes of the region, bringing a contemporary expression to an ancient form of song and music.
 
Tara has been living in the United Kingdom since 1976, and she has performed widely in concerts, festivals, conferences and galleries, mainly as a solo artist, and she has featured regularly in radio and television in several countries. Her occasional collaborations have been with a wide range of artists; musicians, singers, poets, storytellers, painters and film-makers. She is also involved in outreach work where she brings her harp to hospitals to play soothing music to the patients and staff. For more information on Tara Jaff see: www.tarajaff.com

Cost: £10 on the door on the night.
Contact: Neill Walker, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 0131 331 4469.

Monday 5 March 2012

Event: Day Workshop: Spiritual Experiences of Illness.

Facilitators: Afifa Ematullah and Paul Abdul Wadud Sutherland.
Venue: Meeting Room, Quaker Meeting House, 7 Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh, EH1 2JL.
Time: Registration: 9.30am-10am. Workshop: 10am-4.30pm.
Event Description: Abdul Wadud and Afifa will explore the theme of Spiritual Experiences of Illness. Two sessions, 10am-12.30pm including morning tea, and then 1.30pm–4.30pm including afternoon tea. Paul Abdul Wadud Sutherland and Afifa Ematullah, both practicing Sufis, look at how illness, physical, emotional and mental, particularly chronic cases or serious accidents change our lives and perspectives and often open the wellsprings of new creativity. Facilitators refer to poems and stories including their own published and unpublished work and Afifa closes her discussion with a healing meditation.

Cost: £25/£20 (Concessions). For a Registration Form:
Contact: Neill Walker, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 0131 331 4469.

Event: Evening Workshop: Creative Inspiration for Health, Wellbeing and Healing.

Facilitators: Afifa Ematullah and Paul Abdul Wadud Sutherland.
Venue: Meeting Room, Quaker Meeting House, 7 Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh, EH1 2JL.
Time: Registration: 6.15pm-6.45pm. Event: 6.45pm-9.30pm.
Event Description: Abdul Wadud and Afifa will explore the theme of Creative Inspiration for Health, Wellbeing and Healing, illustrated with a range of their own written and visual work. Afifa is a highly respected artist and poet, author of Return, which through her poems, photographs and art speaks of her journey toward a deeper awareness and spiritual enlightenment. She has been likened to Sufi poets – Mirabhai, Rabia of Basra and Mevlana Jalal al-Din Rumi. Abdul Wadud (under Paul Sutherland) is a well-known poet, writer, workshop leader and editor of the literary arts journal Dream Catcher. His books Seven Earth Odes and Spires and Minarets explore wide range of spiritual themes. Both are published in anthologies of mystical Sufi poetry. Abdul Wadud and Afifa have jointly led workshops and read their poems together here and abroad.

Cost: £10/£8 (Concessions). For a Registration Form:
Contact: Neill Walker, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 0131 331 4469.

Tuesday 6 March 2012

Event: Day Workshop: Science meets Spirit: Sacred Sexual Practices for the 21st Century.

Facilitator: Mary Sharpe.
Venue: Meeting Room, Quaker Meeting House, 7 Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh, EH1 2JL.
Time: Registration: 9.30am-10am. Workshop: 10am-4.30pm.
Event Description: Love or lust? How can we make sexual, loving relationships mutually empowering, harmonious and sustainable in the long-term? This one-day workshop will set out the science and practices behind the underlying, conflicting evolutionary drives towards mating and bonding and link them to ancient spiritual wisdom from various traditions, East and West. By understanding what makes us tick at this fundamental level we can choose behaviours that steer us away from egotistical, anti-social, self-absorbing, often addictive behaviours towards long-term, harmonious, love relationships that enhance personal development, mutual wellbeing and spiritual growth.

Mary practised law for years before studying sacred sexual practices at the University of Cambridge. Thereafter she trained in applied psychology and basic neuroscience. For the past 10 years she has run her consultancy business with workshops on personal and professional development including “Courting Disasters and How to Avoid Them.” See: www.sharpethinking.com, www.courtingdisasters.co.uk

Cost: £25/£20 (Concessions). For a Registration Form:
Contact: Neill Walker, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 0131 331 4469.

Event: Evening Workshop: The Unveiling of Reality.

Facilitator: John de Ruiter‏.
Venue: Mull Room, The Gillis Centre, 100 Strathearn Road, Edinburgh, EH9 1BB.
Time: Registration: 6pm-6.30pm. Workshop: 6.30pm-9.30pm.
Event Description: John de Ruiter grew up far from typical spiritual centres, in Stettler, Alberta, where he experienced supreme awakening. In pure accordance with his realization, John was transformed. Since then, John’s life has been determined only by direct knowledge, his every decision a response to deeper calling, regardless of personal cost. Because John acts according to his deepest knowing, his meetings feature long silences, visual connections and spacious dialogue. John‘s meetings are deep and delightful, an unbounded reservoir of meaning into which all are invited.

John de Ruiter is a Canadian-born teacher and pioneer of integrated philosophy who lives in and answers questions from a profound depth. It is from this depth of knowledge that he serves those who thirst for deeper meaning, purpose and communion. He regularly conducts seminars around the globe, inspiring, uplifting and opening new doors for his audiences.

Cost: £15/£12 (Concessions). For a Registration Form:
Contact: Neill Walker, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 0131 331 4469.

Wednesday 7 March 2012

Event: Day Workshop: Coming to our Senses: Ecopsychology as Transformative Practice.

Facilitator: Michael Wilson.
Venue: Meeting Room, Quaker Meeting House, 7 Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh, EH1 2JL.
Time: Registration: 9.30am-10am. Workshop: 10am-4pm.
Event Description: The dream of the earth, writes the poet Rainer Maria Rilke, is to enter us so completely that we are transformed; transformation is earth's deepest purpose for us. It is likely that we become more susceptible to this purpose when we allow ourselves to encounter nature in the spirit of kinship, as well as through dialogic inquiry with what we encounter. This not only means the feeling landscapes, birds, insects, trees, and so on, we encounter when out walking, but also includes nature within through paying attention to our dreams. Whether we are going in (Carl Jung) or going out to go in (John Muir), or going out to connect (Freya Mathews), these encounters with nature are potentially transformative. Crucially, one of the sacred duties of imagination is to come to our senses, to follow nature, and allow nature to bring us closer to ourselves and to the more-than-human-worlds (Abram). Through a series of explorations this one-day workshop will consider the theme ‘coming to our senses.’ The day will also offer a balance of poetry and discussion that relates to the theme.

Mike Wilson is an experienced psychotherapist (UKAHPP Acc. Reg. UKCP Reg.), transpersonal psychology practitioner, and eco-psychologist, with extensive experience in teaching and facilitating groups. He practises in Edinburgh and from his home in Berwick-upon-Tweed, and offers workshops in the field of transpersonal psychology and related areas in the UK, and sometimes farther afield. He has a longstanding interest in the evolution and practical application of transpersonal psychologies, which his workshops give testimony to. Mike’s co-authored book Creative Ethical Practice in Counselling and Psychotherapy will be published by Sage in early 2012. www.michaelwilson.uk.com
Limited to 16 places, so please book early to ensure your place.

Cost: £55/£45 (Concessions). For a Registration Form:
Contact: Neill Walker, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 0131 331 4469.

Event: The 2012 Middle East Festival Forum on Culture, Health and WellBeing.

Speaker: Prof Phil Hanlon, Professor of Public Health, the University of Glasgow.
Title: Afternow: What's next for the Health of Society?
Chair: Rev Sandy Young, Head of Service, NHS Lothian Spiritual and Bereavement Care.
Forum on Culture, Health and WellBeing.
Forum Panellists: Prof Raj Bhopal, CBE, Bruce and John Usher Professor of Public Health and Honorary Consultant in Public Health Medicine, the University of Edinburgh; Maureen O'Neill is the Director of Faith in Older People which is a small voluntary organisation which focuses on spiritual care and ageing. Previously she was Director of Age Concern Scotland, now AGE, and has been involved in the voluntary sector in Scotland in various capacities for over 30 years; Dr Richard Woolfson is a child psychologist and author of more than a dozen books on child and family psychology, which have been translated into more than 30 languages.
Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Time: Registration: 6.30pm-7pm. Discussion/Forum: 7pm-9.15pm.
Event Description: Among topics covered will include: the benefits of modernity; the limitations of the benefits of modernity and how we now experience adverse effects; the so called 'dis-eases of modernity'; our 'stuckness' or ingenuity gap - why we find it so hard to get out of our predicament; some root causes - materialism, individualism, scientism, economism, consumerism; why the sustainability crisis makes change inevitable; why the change seems to amount to 'change in age' in which a new inner life and outer world is likely to emerge; the threats but also opportunities inherent in this situation.

Phil Hanlon was educated in the West of Scotland and graduated in medicine from Glasgow University in 1978. Following a period when he gained clinical experience in adult medicine and general practice, he took up a research post with the Medical Research Council in the Gambia, West Africa. On returning to the UK he completed a period of training in public health after which he was appointed to the post of Director of Health Promotion with the Greater Glasgow Health Board. In 1994 Phil moved to become a Senior Lecturer in Public Health at the University of Glasgow and was promoted to Professor in 1999. Between January 2001 and April 2003 Phil undertook a secondment to establish the Public Health Institute of Scotland.

Cost: £5/£3 (Concessions) on the door on the night.
Contact: Neill Walker, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 0131 331 4469.

Thursday 8 March 2012

Event: Day Workshop: Taize - Singing for Life.

Facilitator: Rev Jenny Williams.
Venue: Meeting Room, Quaker Meeting House, 7 Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh, EH1 2JL.
Time: Registration: 9.30am-10am. Workshop: 10am-4.30pm.
Event Description: Simple repetitive songs from the ecumenical Christian community are a way to experience unity - with one another and with the Divine. Easy to learn, great to sing with others. The focus of the day will be the experience of singing, silence and sharing which mirrors the way of life in the community itself in France. Information about the community, its history, purpose and influence will be woven through in response to the interests of participants.

Led by Rev Jenny Williams who lived in the Taize Community (www.taize.fr) for 18 months, an experience which both expanded her understanding of Christianity and led to a greater appreciation of other world religions. “The experience of living in the ecumenical Christian community of Taize in my mid-twenties changed my life. There I learnt a meditative form of prayer; encountered singing as transformal; met people from all over the world. In this workshop I hope to share my passion and gratefulness for this community that has moulded my spiritual life and practice.”

Cost: £25/£20 (Concessions). For a Registration Form:
Contact: Neill Walker, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 0131 331 4469.

Event: Evening Workshop: Swings and Roundabouts -
Reclaiming our Creative Path as Individuals through Ensemble Practice - for health reasons this workshop is no longer taking place.

Facilitator: Corinne Harris.
Venue: Meeting Room, Quaker Meeting House, 7 Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh, EH1 2JL.
Time: Registration: 5.30pm-6pm. Event: 6pm-9pm.
Event Description: Ensemble practice enables the individual to experience a deep sense of connection with the group – the ensemble – through a shared creative process. We will focus on how to reclaim our creative path incorporating elements of ensemble practice, meditation and contemplative silence – encouraging us to return to a time in our lives when we didn't edit ourselves and were able to be truly present in play – unselfconscious spiritual and creative endeavour. Incorporating storytelling techniques, playback theatre, movement, words and/or drawings, we will explore how we can bring this creative freedom into the present. Working together, we will find ways of communicating our personal thoughts and stories and create an ensemble piece from our shared creative process. Freeing ourselves from the shackles of the critic within will enable us to engage with our true creative selves, overcome personal and artistic blocks, and seek and begin a truly creative life journey. 

Corinne Harris has been involved in theatre for thirty years as an actor, director and musician. Her belief in the transformative potential of theatre as an art form and platform for life changing possibility has led her to exploring the theatre of possibility both on and off stage. She received an MA from RADA and King’s College, London specialising in directing – her primary focus being the practice of Eastern European directors. This led to an interest in the ego and notions of self in performance within ensemble theatre. Corinne teaches piano, singing and acting from her studio in Trinity. She also leads workshops in confidence building and presentation skills. Corinne is directing Theseus and the Minotaur for the Elements and Wotjek the Bear for Theatre Objektiv in 2012. Both productions premiere at the Scottish Storytelling Centre in February and March respectively.

Cost: £10/£8 (Concessions). For a Registration Form:
Contact: Neill Walker, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 0131 331 4469.

Friday 9 March 2012

Event: Day Workshop: Making Sense, Letting Go and Moving On: Coming to terms with life's larger challenges - bereavement - illness - break up of an important relationship - redundancy - etc. - Cancelled due to illness of the facilitator.

Facilitator: Dr Martin Williams, BA (Hons) PGCE, Dip, Counselling and Psychotherapy, M.Ed. (Humanistic Psychology and Human Relations, PhD).
Venue: Meeting Room, Quaker Meeting House, 7 Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh, EH1 2JL.
Time: Registration: 9.30am-10am. Workshop: 10am-4.30pm.
Event Description: This day workshop is aimed at people who have recently met one of life's larger challenges - bereavement - illness - break up of an important relationship - redundancy - etc. During the workshop participants will be given an opportunity in pairs or in small groups to take stock - make sense of the challenge and its impact - look at the learning from their lives so far - begin to focus on the challenge as an opportunity as opposed to a knock down and begin to plan the next steps in their healing and transformation. The focus will be on finding a new paradigm based on detachment and letting go of ego. The first part will be spent on the challenge - grieving - acceptance and making new sense of it. The second part on learning from life so far and the third on beginning to make plans for the next stage – healing, transformation and moving on.

Dr Martin Williams, BA (Hons) PGCE, Dip, Counselling and Psychotherapy, M.Ed. (Humanistic Psychology and Human Relations, PhD) is a professionally trained counsellor/psychotherapist with over 30 years experience of working with individuals, couples, children and young people, parents and families and organisations. Martin is a humanistic psychologist who has worked in schools, day centres, hospitals, healing centers and care homes all over UK and abroad. He has re-defined ‘person-centred’ as honouring and respecting the inner wisdom and wishes of his many and varied clients and working ethically and professionally in whatever ways his clients can best be helped.

Cost: £25/£20 (Concessions). For a Registration Form:
Contact: Neill Walker, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 0131 331 4469.

Event: The 2012 Middle East Festival Forum on Transpersonal History
and the Future of Peace in the Middle East.

Speaker: Thomas Clough Daffern PhD.
Title: “Transpersonal History and the Future of Peace in the Middle East:
Towards a Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the Middle East"
Chair: David Lorimer, MA, PGCE, FRSA is a writer, lecturer and editor who is Programme Director of the Scientific and Medical Network and has been Editor of Network Review since 1986.
Forum on Transpersonal History and the Future of Peace in the Middle East.
Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Time: Registration: 6.30pm-7pm. Discussion/Forum: 7pm-9.15pm.
Event Description: This talk will consist of a detailed study of the ideas underlying transpersonal history, a new historical methodology based on combining the findings of transpersonal psychology with those of scientific historiography. Applying the core ideas of transpersonal history to the problematic history of the Middle East, the talk will consider the various competing historiographies and narratives that go to make up the complex mosaic of stories that comprise the historical memories and lineages of thought that people this crowded region.

From this perspective, we will then go on to look at the role that competing historical narratives play in framing contemporary conflict and war – how the recent and ongoing wars and violent conflicts in the Middle East are framed and perpetuated by appealing to historical narratives of revenge, justice, retribution, grief and pain.

As transpersonal historians however, taking on board the insights of modern thinkers such as Maslow, Rogers, Assagioli, Jung, Wilber, Grof, Sorokin, Buscaglia, and many other leading transpersonal thinkers, we can begin to ask – is there a way that we can rise to a new kind of consciousness, and look down on these past narratives as ancient stories of past hurt and pain, to which we have all contributed, through taking positions that were less than fully representing our authentic potential as self-actualised human beings? We can begin to ask – what would be the implications for the Middle East, and then for the rest of the world? If we actually factored in an awakening of consciousness on a mass level, moving away from violence, and towards non-violence, authenticity, love and wisdom as the primary modes of relating to ourselves and others? The talk will also explore how these precise narratives are actually embedded in the ancient wisdom teachings of the Middle East. Finally, the nascent work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of the Middle East will also be presented, as arising out of the theoretic work sketched above, and a brief documentary about its work will be shared. We will end with a brief description of the Golden Gate Project.

Cost: £5/£3 (Concessions) on the door on the night.
Contact: Neill Walker, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 0131 331 4469.

Saturday 10 March - Sunday 11 March 2012

Event: Two-Day Retreat: Desert Wisdom Retreat: Nature, Nomads, Prophets
- inspiring sources of simplicity, clarity, transformative healing and renewal.

Facilitators: Alan Heeks, with musical accompaniment by Dominic Ashmole.
Venue: Mull Room, The Gillis Centre, 100 Strathearn Road, Edinburgh, EH9 1BB.
Dates: Saturday 10 – Sunday 11 March 2012.
Time: Registration: 9.30am-10am. Retreat Days: 10am-4.30pm.
Event Description: The space, beauty, silence and solitude of the desert make it a profound source of inspiration, simplicity, clarity, transformative healing and renewal. Its nomadic peoples offer us a potent role model in finding stability and renewal amid constant change and uncertainty. And the prophets who found their voice in the desert offer us deep wisdom and practices which can still guide and transform us now.

Alan Heeks has led a dozen retreats in the Tunisian Sahara, travelling by foot and camel with Bedouin guides. In this retreat, he offers a chance to experience the wisdom of the desert for yourself, to find new insight, healing, and inspiration. The retreat will use a range of approaches, including guided meditations, periods for silent reflection, desert walks, Dances of Universal Peace based on texts from Jesus and Muhammad, and extended translations, sound mantras and body prayers from the book Desert Wisdom by Neil Douglas-Klotz.

In the desert, it is easier to feel oneself in unbroken connection with the peoples, the spiritualities, and the questions of the eras of Muhammad, Jesus and Moses. This weekend can help you to feel this continuity with the Caravan of Creation, and to find ancient keys and practices to current simplicity, clarity, transformative healing and renewal.

Alan Heeks is a practical visionary. After a Harvard MBA and highly successful business career, he has spent the past 21 years leading retreats and workshops, and creating three unique land-based teaching centres, all aiming to help people connect with spirit, nature and sustainability in practical ways. Alan is Director of Hazel Hill Wood, a 70-acre conservation woodland retreat centre in Wiltshire, and founded the Magdalen Project, a 130-acre organic farm and teaching centre. He also founded the Threshold Centre, the first mixed tenure cohousing community in the UK. Alan has a long-standing passion for the people, spiritualities and landscapes of the Middle East and North Africa. He has studied under Neil Douglas-Klotz since 1995, and has led retreats on Desert Wisdom and Aramaic Christian texts in the UK and internationally. His book the Natural Advantage: Renewing Yourself was published in 2000, and he is currently writing Maturing Men: a guide to life beyond 50. For more information, including Alan’s desert retreats, see: www.living-organically.com

Cost: £50 (both days), £30 (per day). For a Registration Form:
Contact: Neill Walker, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 0131 331 4469.

Saturday 10 March 2012

Event: The 2012 Middle East Festival Forum on Conflict and seeing different points of view.

Speaker: Dr Eolene Boyd-MacMillan.
Title: Conflict in Relationships.
Chair: Hugh R Donald OBE.
Forum on Conflict and seeing different points of view. Mediation, law, business, science, international relations and art can each facilitate the transformation of conflict into opportunities for insight and growth, whether on the individual, inter-personal or inter-group level. Our panel features key contributors from these fields.
Forum Panellists: Philip Archer, Principal of Leith School of Art, painter, graduate of the Royal College of Art, and Ginny Elston, art student; Mary Sharpe, Founder of Sharpe Thinking; John Sturrock QC, Founder and CEO, Core Solutions Group.
Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Time: Registration: 6.30pm-7pm. Discussion/Forum: 7pm-9.15pm.
Event Description: In a globalised context, people of different cultures and worldviews are rubbing shoulders in new ways. On issues of deep difference, mere tolerance is insufficient. To transform conflict or exclusion arising from diversity we need to own and maintain our own personal values while appreciating the deep values of others who are different. This requires the skill of Integrative Complexity (IC). IC is a core life skill that enables us to move toward practical win-win solutions. IC promotes relationships of integrity and equality. It is about HOW we think, not WHAT we think. It is a neutral framework that allows individuals to affirm their own and others’ deep values. Decades of research by Prof Peter Suedfeld and colleagues show that when levels of Integrative Complexity (IC) rise, peaceful solutions to conflict ensue. When IC drops, violent conflict is predicted.

The first to ‘reverse engineer’ the construct of IC developed by Suedfeld and colleagues, Eolene and her PRRG Cambridge University colleagues use IC to help groups and individuals to maximise an array of human values, such as justice and mercy. Flexible use of IC enables people to engage with difference constructively, overcoming cognitive constriction and social polarisation arising from the ‘threat’ of deep difference or opposing worldviews. The approach that will be introduced is based on changing ‘us-vs.-them’ perceptions of social reality by improving the quality of people’s whole person information processing, achieving high Integrative Complexity (IC), particularly in the domain of values.

Dr Eolene Boyd-MacMillan has recently returned to England after five years in Edinburgh where she continues to have strong links. While in Edinburgh, she ran the Children and Young People’s Counselling and Creative Play Therapy Service at Wallace House, Edinburgh, CrossReach Counselling: Lothians (part of the Social Care Council for the Church of Scotland). She pioneered an initiative with the Leith School of Art partnering young clients with art students in order to co-create works of art as part of their therapeutic and developmental processes. She served as Associate Lecturer with the School of Health, Department of Counselling and Psychotherapy, the University of Edinburgh, where she taught an inter-disciplinary master’s level course on ‘Personal Transformation, Spirituality and Counselling.’ It proved a popular elective seminar with students enrolling from the Divinity, Nursing and Social Work Schools as well as from Counselling. She had a private counselling practice for adults and offered ‘spiritual direction’ as well. Throughout her time in Edinburgh and currently, she has been Research Associate with the Psychology and Religion Research Group, Faculty of Divinity, the University of Cambridge, an Associate with the Cambridge Institute for Applied Psychology and Religion and an Associate Lecturer in the Cambridge Theological Federation. A psychologist and practical theologian, counsellor and spiritual director, her current work explores the intersection of religious and spiritual issues with mental health as well as conflict transformation at the local and national levels. Other research focuses on spiritual transformation (in Transformation, 2006), social and personal psychological processes in faith communities (in the Human Face of Church, 2007), and conflict transformation among senior religious leaders of differing religious orientations (in Conflict Transformation, 2008) and in diverse inter-personal contexts (in Conflict in Relationships, 2010).

Cost: £5/£3 (Concessions) on the door on the night.
Contact: Neill Walker, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 0131 331 4469.

Sunday 11 March 2012

Event: Mindful Peace Walk.

Venue: The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 20a Inverleith Row, Edinburgh, EH3 5LR.
Time: 10am-11am, meet at the John Hope Gateway, Arboretum Place, at 9.30am.
(please note that the gates to the Garden will only open at 10am).
Event Description: This silent walking meditation is an open event. It will be led by the lay members of the Edinburgh Sangha of the Community of Interbeing, who follow the practice and teachings of Zen Buddhist Master, Thich Nhat Hanh. The walk begins at the John Hope Gateway of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Before the walk begins there will be a brief introduction to mindful walking as meditation practice. This is not a protest or a campaigning event, so please do not use any banners. Children are welcome when accompanied by adults. Please remember to wrap up warmly. ‘We walk just for walking. We walk with freedom and solidity, no longer in a hurry. Let us enjoy every step we make.’ Thich Nhat Hanh.

Cost: Admission Free. Just come along on the day. For further information:
Contact: Neill Walker, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 0131 331 4469.

Event: The 2012 Middle East Festival Forum on the Middle East and the West.

Speaker: Prof Hugh Goddard, Director of the HRH Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Centre for the Study of Islam in the Contemporary World, the University of Edinburgh.
Title: The Middle East and the West: what are the prospects? - exploring some of the contemporary developments, and also some of the different dimensions, political, historical and cultural, as well as spiritual and religious.
Chair: Nancy Adams, a former lecturer in International Relations with the London programme of the University of Southern California, has been a 'Living Letter' to Israel/Palestine with the World Council of Churches, worked with Windows for Peace and the Families Forum, and is involved with the Scottish Palestinian Forum and the Edinburgh Women's Interfaith Group.
Forum on the Middle East and the West.
Forum Panellists: Rev Clarence Musgrave, was minister of St Andrew's Scots Memorial Church, Jerusalem, 2000-2006; Rabbi Mark L Solomon is Interfaith Consultant for Liberal Judaism, Minister of the Edinburgh and Manchester Liberal Jewish Communities, and Lecturer in Talmud at Leo Baeck College; Prof Dabir Tehrani, Honorary Professor at Heriot-Watt University since April 1984.
Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Time: Registration: 6.30pm-7pm. Discussion/Forum: 7pm-9pm.
Event Description: Recent events in both the West (e.g. the banking crisis) and the Middle East (e.g. the 'Arab Spring') have made it abundantly clear that both regions are very much in a state of flux, politically, economically, socially and religiously. This talk will examine these recent developments and offer some comment on the implications which they have for the relationship between the Middle East and the West.

Prof Hugh Goddard is the Director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Centre for the Study of Islam in the Contemporary World. Prof Goddard was an undergraduate in Oxford, where he studied Islamic History under Albert Hourani, and then took his doctorate from the Centre for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations in Birmingham, where his supervisor was David Kerr. He has worked and studied in the Middle East, in Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt, and has also undertaken a number of research visits to other regions of the Islamic World, including Pakistan, India, Nigeria, Malaysia, Indonesia and Central Asia. Prior to moving to Edinburgh he worked in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies in the University of Nottingham, where he served as Professor of Christian-Muslim Relations from 2004.

Cost: £5/£3 (Concessions) on the door on the night.
Contact: Neill Walker, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 0131 331 4469.