Shantigarbha's blog

While I was in Birmingham, UK last month I ran a training on NVC and Conflict. One of the exercises I led through was on inner conflict - how to mediate a conflict between two different strategies to enrich your life. For example: do I stay put in my house and enjoy my space and freedom where I am? Or do I move town to live in a community with like-minded people?

This time I felt excited and curious about visiting the men of the ‘Khanti Outreach’ Buddhist meditation and study group at Concord state prison. Though I hadn’t been for nearly a year, I’d often thought about the men and how they were getting on with their lives, so it wasn’t a shock to see the walls and razor wire of the prison, or to be standing outside the reception waiting for a uniformed guard to find my name on a list and let me through a colossally heavy motorized magnetic door.

Hi All,
We're excited to be off to India tomorrow morning. Christa is with me for the first month, then I stay on for another two, taking in Sri Lanka. Here's our schedule:

• Dec 12 - 28, trainings at Bhaja retreat centre, near Pune, India
• Jan 7 - 21, trainings at NVC Camp, Auroville, Pondicherry, India
• Jan 22 - Feb 9, trainings in Colombo, Sri Lanka
• Feb 9 - Feb 21, Solitary retreat, Sri Lanka
• Feb 22 - March 1, Western Buddhist Order / TBM Order Convention, Bodhgaya, India

For more information about any of the trainings, click here

And we've confirmed some dates in the US and the UK for when I get back. Here they are:

• March 21-22: Indianapolis, USA: ‘Deepening + Anger’ more info
• March 27 -28: Newmarket, NH, USA: Basic Training more info
• April 4-5: Portsmouth, NH, USA: Deepening + Anger more info

• April 25-26: Birmingham, UK: Foundation Training more info
• May 1: Stourbridge, UK: Evening Introduction more info
• May 2-3: Stourbridge, UK: Foundation Training more info
• May 16-17: Bristol, UK: Foundation Training for Parents more info
• June 20-21: Birmingham, UK: Deepening + Conflict more info
• June 27-28: Bristol, UK: Deepening + Empathy for Parents more info
• July 11-12: Stourbridge, UK: Deepening + Empathy more info

I'm just celebrating the publication of an NVC article I've written
for the News site of the Buddhist Movement I'm part of - the FWBO
(Friends of the Western Buddhist Order / TBMSG in India). It's
entitled 'Heart-to-heart Connection', and you can find it here:

http://fwbo-news.org/index.html

I'm also celebrating the ongoing series of NVC articles I'm writing
for two UK magazines: 'Juno' (natural parenting) and 'Funky Raw' (raw
food). I've posted them on my website: www.seedofpeace.org (click on 'NVC Topics')

And I'm happy to say that I've been able to use most of the material
I've created for these articles in the book I'm currently writing on
NVC and Buddhism! For a preview of some of the material, take a look
at the FWBO News article above.