MESP 2019, Information
MESP 2019, Brochures, Poster, Flyers
MESP 2019, Calendar
MESP 2019 Main Events, Registration Forms
Individual Events:
NB: There will be no refund if you cancel your booking.
Afternoon and Evening Workshop: Health, Wellbeing and Healing through Spiritual Dance and Movement
An Evening with Prof Paul Rogers
Day Workshop: Sounding our way into Joy
Afternoon Workshop: Biodanza and Shamanism - The Celtic Connection
Where are you really from?
Day Workshop: Enneagram Taster Day
15th Annual Mindful Peace Walk
Afternoon Workshop: Creative Meditation Part 2
Evening Workshop: Bringing Stories to Life
Day Workshop: Coming Home to Ourselves – Resting in the Wisdom of Yeshua: A Middle Eastern Approach to the Teachings of Jesus
Afternoon Workshop: The Hare and the Moon: finding balance in turbulent times
Evening Workshop: Vedic Mantra Chanting and Kirtan
Event: Afternoon and Evening Workshop: Health, Wellbeing and Healing through Spiritual Dance and Movement.
Facilitators: Gillian Allan (Feldenkrais Method); Aileen Reid (Open Floor Movement); Sarah Madigan and Bronwyn Tutty (An Introduction to the Nia Technique).
Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Date: Sunday 3 March 2019.
Time: Registration: 3pm-3.30pm. Afternoon and Evening Workshop: 3.30pm-8.40pm.
Event Description: 3.30pm-5pm: Gillian Allan: Feldenkrais Method.
The Feldenkrais Method was developed by Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais – scientist, physicist, engineer and martial artist, who synthesized insights from physics, motor development, bio-mechanics, psychology, neurology and martial arts.
The method offers a process of learning through movement, sensing, thinking and imagining to free us from habitual patterns and allow new possibilities to emerge. Through this work we can improve mobility and increase energy and enjoyment in our activities.
The method has two strands: Group lessons called Awareness Through Movement and Functional Integration which are one-to-one lessons. The lessons consist of verbally directed movement sequences, which are comfortable and easy and which gradually evolve into movements of greater range and complexity. Through the learning process you will be able to find new ways of moving while increasing sensitivity and improving efficiency.
This workshop will offer an introduction to the method and a practical experience of Awareness Through Movement. The focus will be on learning through curiosity and friendliness towards ourselves as we explore the elements of moving, thinking, sensing, imagining in the process of discovering easier movement.
In this session we will explore the relationship of easy posture to vocalising.
Please bring enough layers of warm clothes and a blanket/mat to lie on.
Gillian discovered the Feldenkrais Method after suffering for nearly a decade with chronic back pain which restricted her movement. After beginning to experiment with Awareness Through Movement lessons she was surprised to find how much more easily and painlessly she could move through life. Her current interests lie in exploring the impact of the method on the movements of voice and breath to enable us to find a more satisfying and authentic way of vocalising.
Her focus in both group and individual lessons is to facilitate the process of learning how to let go of unnecessary tension in a way which promotes curiosity, creativity and self-confidence. www.feldenkraisinedinburgh.co.uk
5pm-5.20pm: Tea/Coffee Break.
5.20pm-6.50pm: Sarah Madigan and Bronwyn Tutty: An Introduction to the Nia Technique.
The Nia Technique is a dance-fitness class that empowers people of all shapes and sizes to step into a joyful relationship with their bodies and movement. Nia combines martial arts, healing arts, and dance arts to create a high-powered, synergistic workout that no isolated exercise technique can match. Part choreographed and part free-form, Nia delivers a solid aerobic workout, with each experience adaptable to individual needs and abilities. Classes are generally done barefoot to soul-stirring music that motivates every part of you to move. Step into your own joyful journey with Nia, and positively shape the way you feel, look, think and live. No experience necessary.
6.50pm-7.10pm: Tea/Coffee Break.
7.10pm-8.40pm: Aileen Reid: Open Floor Movement.
Open Floor is an awareness practice in which you can expect to tune into your body, being just as you are and revelling in the sheer pleasure of a good dance. We practice moving with what is within us, remaining present in the moment to moment of our movement.
Since the beginning of time human beings have gathered to dance. We dance for our past, dance for today and dance for our future.
Aileen is an Open Floor Teacher in Training: Alongside leading Open Floor she leads movement with older people in care homes and day centres across Midlothian. Another string to her bow is cooking delicious food for retreats and various lovely people doing lovely things. She lives in Portobello and walks the land beside the water.
“Open Floor puts me in touch with the depth of what is within me, lets me fully realise and experience the colour and texture, ebb and flow of what it is to be human going along this journey of living.“
Cost: £20/£15 (Concessions)/£10 (Students). For a Registration Form:
Contact: Neill Walker, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 0131 331 4469.
Event: An Evening with Prof Paul Rogers.
Title: Risks of Conflict and Options for Peace in the 2020s.
Chair: Simon Barrow, Director, Ekklesia.
Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Date: Thursday 7 March 2019.
Time: Registration: 6.30pm-7pm. Event: 7pm-8.45pm.
Event Description: What will be the most likely causes of international conflict in the 2020s, what are the best ways of responding to them and improving the prospects for a less violent world, and what roles can Scotland play?
Paul Rogers is Emeritus Professor of Peace Studies at Bradford University. He has written or edited 30 books and his work has been translated into many languages. His most recent book is Irregular War, the new threat from the margins (I B Tauris 2017)and a collection of his writings over the past 50 years was published by Springer in 2018 Paul Rogers is international security consultant for the Oxford Research Group, writes a weekly assessment of international security trends for www.opendemocracy.net and was Chair of the British International Studies Association, 2002-04. He is a frequent lecturer at universities and defence colleges and also does well over a hundred radio and TV interviews a year for the BBC, Radio France International, Al Jazeera, CNN, CBC Toronto, NZBC and many other national and international networks.
Cost: £7/£5 (Concessions)/£2 (Students). For a Registration Form:
Contact: Neill Walker, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 0131 331 4469.
Event: Day Workshop: Sounding our way into Joy.
Facilitator: Rolf Billes.
Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Date: Saturday 9 March 2019.
Time: Registration: 9.30am-10am. Day Workshop: 10am-4.30pm.
Event Description: At our birth we were each gifted with great joy in anticipation of the life we would be leading. We couldn’t wait to embark on new adventures and explore what it would mean to be in a human body. As we grew older, we sometimes felt the connection with pure joy while at other times the weight of the world would all but separate us from that experience. So how do we restore our connection with that original feeling? Is there a way home for us, like the trail of crumbs in the Grimm’s fairy-tale of Hansel and Gretel?
During this workshop we will discover that our own voice holds a unique map for our journey home. With the help of short chants, body movement and sounding exercises based on the Naked Voice work pioneered by Chloe Goodchild, we will embark on the vulnerable course that re-connects us to the Joy which is the birth right of each and every one of us.
Rolf Billes is a Naked Voice Facilitator and a Church of Scotland minister.
Cost: £25/£20 (Concessions)/£10 (Students). For a Registration Form:
Contact: Neill Walker, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 0131 331 4469.
Event: Afternoon Workshop: Biodanza and Shamanism - The Celtic Connection.
Facilitator: Claire Lewis.
Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Date: Sunday 17 March 2019.
Time: Registration: 3pm-3.30pm. Afternoon Workshop: 3.30pm-6.30pm.
Event Description: This is a Biodanza Dance Workshop experience with a focus on connection with our Celtic ancestors: Re-linking with the wisdom of living in harmony with the earth and our indigenous ancestors who lived by ancient medicine teachings for health and rejuvenation, through the cycles of life; Bringing community together through music and dance was an essential structure of their life to keep the wisdom teachings alive.
Join me for this dance of re-connection with life.
It seems that in Northern Europe we have lost our connection with our indigenous ancestors. Those that lived in the wisdom of the land, in the deep link with the life and spirit of nature. What happened to community living that was once the fabric of life in this part of the world?
The Celtic shaman, who lived in many parts of Europe, held this ancient wisdom of life that kept balance and harmony with the forces of nature. Their memory is still present within us and we are all called to return to life based in this wisdom as we face a critical junction on our planet.
Shamanism is one of the oldest natural healing practises on our planet. It is practised all over the world and is a direct link to our indigenous ancestors. It is the call 'home', our most ancient medicine.
Rolando Toro Araneda, founder of the Biodanza system of holistic dance, created the extension of Biodanza Neo (new)-Shamanism specifically to integrate the ancient practises of natural medicine into the experience of Biodanza. As a medical anthropologist he had explored the world of shamanism in many countries including Africa and South America.
In this workshop we will begin with an introduction about Biodanza, Shamanism and the Celtic people indigenous to this land. We will then share a Biodanza class based on the dances that re-connect us to the ancient medicine of music, movement, expression and healing communion.
Celtic Tree of Life: Celtic Shamanism “is rooted in nature and the legacy of our ancestors who lived in the closest harmony with the natural cycles of energy throughout the seasons. It’s an ever unfolding wisdom tradition; a path of realizing one’s authentic truth, healing wounds and living a life of destiny and freedom. It is humanity’s oldest and most progressive way for natural soulful empowerment.” John Cantwell, Celtic Shaman, Ireland
Claire Lewis: I am the director of the Biodanza teacher training schools, Rolando Toro System, in Edinburgh & Dublin having first trained as a Biodanza teacher between 1996 - 2002, teaching in Scotland and Ireland for over 16 years. I trained in Biodanza and Neo-Shamanism with Rolando Toro Araneda during that time, in the UK, Brasil and Argentina and have experienced many workshops over the years which integrate the old wisdom teachings with our modern life.
In 1994 I did a part time course in African Shamanism at the University of Edinburgh and have recently been researching more about Celtic Shamanism on my journey to re-connect with the lost shaman/medicine men and women of the Northern lands.
I facilitate weekly classes in Edinburgh with different groups including those with disabilities/diverse needs. I also train new Biodanza teachers in Scotland and Ireland and give training courses in other Biodanza schools around the world. I am one of the UK delegates for the International Biodanza Federation (IBF) the worldwide organisation for the International development of the Biodanza profession.
Cost: £8/£6 (Concessions)/£2 (Students). For a Registration Form:
Contact: Neill Walker, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 0131 331 4469.
Event: Where are you really from?
Co-created by World Spirit Theatre and Citizens Theatre Glasgow.
Actors: Pinar Aksu, Qendresa Bajrami, Tony Khan and Olivia Ndoti.
Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Date: Sunday 17 March 2019.
Time: Registration: 6.45pm-7.15pm. Event: 7.15pm-8.30pm.
Event Description: Where are you really from? explores identity, culture, labels and stories of migration. Sharing the stories of asylum seekers and refugees living in Scotland, what label they are given and how they are treated. The play shows why people leave their home countries, what they face in a new community and how they are treated in a new country.
Co-created by World Spirit Theatre and Citizens Theatre Glasgow. World Spirit Theatre produces community theatre using Theatre of the Oppressed methods to explore integration and the asylum process from the perspective of those with direct experience as well as celebrates the contributions of asylum seekers and refugees to Scottish communities.
'No one is born fully-formed: it is through self-experience in the world that we become what we are.” - Paulo Freire
Cost: £7/£5 (Concessions)/£2 (Students). For a Registration Form:
Contact: Neill Walker, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 0131 331 4469.
Event: Day Workshop: Enneagram Taster Day.
Facilitator: Ken Webb.
Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Date: Saturday 23 March 2019.
Time: Registration: 9.30am-10am. Day Workshop: 10am-5pm.
Event Description: Often misunderstood as a personality typing method, the Enneagram is a sophisticated map designed to foster spiritual growth and personal transformation. Rather than putting people in boxes, as most personality typing tools do, the purpose of the Enneagram is to get people out of the box into which they have, unconsciously, put themselves. It is all about making the journey from Ego to Essence, from Shadow to True Self.
Participants will be given an a brief history of the development of the Enneagram from its roots in the wisdom tradition of the Desert Fathers to its rediscovery and introduction to the modern world. You will then be introduced to the basic triadic framework of the Enneagram (meaning the diagram of nine), and the basic dynamic that gives rise to the personality. Finally you will be given a taste of the journey from Ego to Essence of all nine types and of spiritual practices that facilitate that journey.
It will not be possible for participants to know with certainty what type they are from attending this event. And it is rarely the case that anyone is just one type. The purpose is to grow, not only into the fully awake manifestation of your own dominant type, but also to grow towards the strengths of all the other 8 types.
Born in China and brought up in Burma, Ken Webb graduated from St Bartholomew’s Hospital, University of London to practice medicine first in the UK and then, for many years, in Thailand. He went on to study theology at Trinity College Bristol, graduating in 1992, and was ordained into Anglican ministry after a further year of post graduate study. He served a curacy in Cheltenham before returning to Thailand to start up a new bilingual international congregation at the invitation of the bishop of Singapore. Returning to Scotland in 2001 he was licensed as rector of Christ Church Duns in 2002. He spent the last five years before retiring in 2017 overseeing the training of those preparing for authorised ministry in the diocese of Edinburgh. Ken was introduced to the Enneagram in 1995 and began to delve more deeply into it in 2014, undertaking a number of courses put on by the Shift Network and Enneagram Institute.
Cost: £20/£15 (Concessions)/£5 (Students). For a Registration Form:
Contact: Neill Walker, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 0131 331 4469.
Event: 15th Annual Mindful Peace Walk.
Organisers: Jointly organised by the Edinburgh International Centre for Spirituality and Peace, EICSP, Scottish Charity, SC038996, and the Edinburgh Sangha of the Community of Interbeing.
Venue: Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, John Hope Gateway, Arboretum Place, Edinburgh, EH3 5NZ.
Date: Sunday 24 March 2019.
Time: 10am for 10.15am-11.15am meet at West Gate entrance to the John Hope Gateway, Arboretum Place.
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. Please note that no animals except Registered Assistance Dogs are permitted within the Garden.
‘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 email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 0131 331 4469.
Event: Afternoon Workshop: Creative Meditation Part 2.
Facilitator: Theo Dijkman.
Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Date: Sunday 24 March 2019.
Time: Registration: 3pm-3.30pm. Afternoon Workshop: 3.30pm-6.30pm.
Event Description: Following on from last year’s successful workshop we will again be considering meditation as a creative process. Most of the time we tend to follow fixed patterns in relation to ourselves and the world we live in. In this workshop we will learn how to ‘play’ with the mind and use it in new ways. Through this we may get a sense of greater direction and freedom in how we use our mind as well as how to approach issues differently. We will consider aspects of meditation including reflective and receptive meditation and the use of a seed thought to enable the creative process. This workshop will be of interest both to participants who attended the first Creative Meditation workshop and those new to it.
Theo Dijkman is a UKCP registered psychotherapist, supervisor and trainer. He was first introduced to meditation practice in 1978 and currently delivers meditation practice training as part of the MA Psychosynthesis Psychotherapy programme at the Institute of Psychosynthesis in London.
Cost: £8/£6 (Concessions)/£2 (Students). For a Registration Form:
Contact: Neill Walker, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 0131 331 4469.
Event: Evening Workshop: Bringing Stories to Life.
Facilitator: Edinburgh Playback Theatre.
Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Date: Sunday 24 March 2019.
Time: Registration: 6.30pm-7pm. Evening Workshop: 7pm-8.45pm.
Event Description: Join Playback Edinburgh for a unique opportunity to be part of an interactive performance where we'll share stories and see them brought to life using improvisation, movement, voice and music. It's theatre with no script which we'll create together.
Cost: £6/£4 (Concessions)/£1 (Students). For a Registration Form:
Contact: Neill Walker, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 0131 331 4469.
Event: Day Workshop: Coming Home to Ourselves – Resting in the Wisdom of Yeshua:
A Middle Eastern Approach to the Teachings of Jesus.
Facilitators: Sarah Bonner-Morgan and Jenny Williams.
Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Date: Saturday 30 March 2019.
Time: Registration: 10am-10.30am. Day Workshop: 10.30am-4pm.
Event Description: This is an opportunity to connect with the original words that Jesus spoke and allow the sound of them to touch us deeply. Come with those parts of yourself that need rest, those tensions and wounds of body, mind and spirit that keep us back from living our full potential. We will work with the Beatitudes and the Aramaic word for rest, nyach, feeling the sound, the rhythm, the healing of these words, enabling relaxation and refreshment. The music, movements, and inspiration come from the work of Neil Douglas-Klotz (www.abwoon.org)
Jenny Williams is a Church of Scotland minister currently working in Drylaw Parish Church in Edinburgh. “I have been involved with this Aramaic work for over 20 years and have found it inspiring; supporting my faith, and discovering new ways of expressing ancient truths. It links with my interest in healing, neuroscience and my childhood passion for dance.”
Sarah Bonner-Morgan teaches the Alexander Technique privately in Edinburgh. “I found my way to the Sufi path via a love of poetry, dance and music and deepened my connection to the Aramaic work of Neil Douglas-Klotz through his visionary Inter-Spiritual Leadership Training (AILP) which I completed in 2013.”
We are very glad to have Clare Cummings and Gavin Gray working as musicians with us.
Cost: £25/£20 (Concessions)/£10 (Students). For a Registration Form:
Contact: Neill Walker, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 0131 331 4469.
Event: Afternoon Workshop: The Hare and the Moon: finding balance in turbulent times.
Facilitators: Allison Galbraith and Alette Willis.
Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Date: Sunday 31 March 2019.
Time: Registration: 3pm-3.30pm. Afternoon Workshop: 3.30pm-6.30pm.
Event Description: Join storytellers and writers Alette Willis and Allison Galbraith to explore how working with traditional tales from the long ago can help us to live our lives in more balanced and satisfying ways right here, right now. Alette and Allison will share a wonder tale from the Scottish Borders, The Laddie who Herded Hares, and lead you through a series of exercises linked to this story. The story follows two brothers who journey into the unknown in search of their fortunes. While each takes the same path, they approach the world in very different ways.
What fortune calls you out into the unknown? How will you be in the world, on your journey? To explore these questions, we will use creative writing exercises to unearth where each of us has come from, what roots us, where our home ground can be found. We will go out into nature, visiting Scotland's smallest nature reserve, so that you can listen to what the more-than-human world is waiting to tell you. We will explore the hare and its place in nature and mythology, the hare who wants to bring us back into sync with the cycles of nature, with the waxes and wanes of the moon, so that you can find your point of fluid balance even when facing difficult times.
Note: As part of this workshop will take place outside in the Johnston Terrace Nature Reserve, please dress appropriately for the weather.
Alette Willis is an award-winning author and university lecturer, specialising in ecological writing and environmental ethics. She is currently Storyteller in Residence to Real Talk: Storytelling for Wellbeing. Allison Galbraith has a Masters in Scottish Folklore and is a full-time storyteller with over three decades of direct experience in using arts for wellbeing and environmental education. Together they wrote Dancing with Trees (History Press, 2017) to share the wealth of ecological wisdom that can be found in traditional myths and folktales from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. www.restoryingtheearth.com
Cost: £8/£6 (Concessions)/£2 (Students). For a Registration Form:
Contact: Neill Walker, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 0131 331 4469.
Event: Evening Workshop: Vedic Mantra Chanting and Kirtan.
Facilitator: Jeffrey Levin.
Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Date: Sunday 31 March 2019.
Time: Registration: 6.30pm-7pm. Evening Workshop: 7pm-8.45pm.
Event Description: Vedic mantras have the power to purify our body and mind as well as invoke divine grace. This evening will start with a short meditation then we will explore of the 'Om' mantra as well as other of Vedic Mantras such as Gayatri Mantra and Mahamrityumjaya Mantra. The meaning as well as the pronunciation will be the emphasized. Later we will sing some Kirtans accompanied by a harmonium. Kirtans are chants that use simple melodies that involve repetition of various names of the divine. Kirtans can open our hearts and invoke the sweetness of love and devotion to the divine. There will be an opportunity to share or lead a chant. I look forward to an evening where we raise our vibrations and open our hearts through singing and chanting.
Jeffrey Levin: I have been on the spiritual path for a number of years and been inspired by devotional practices as well as the path of knowledge or understanding. I have been sharing and leading bhajans/kirtans and Vedic chanting sessions with like-minded friends and in a few regular groups. I have also spent a significant amount of time India where I have lived in various Ashrams. I learned to chant Vedas while in India and have developed a deeper understanding of the Vedic tradition and its message. I enjoy exploring both western and eastern approaches to spirituality.
Cost: £6/£4 (Concessions)/£1 (Students). For a Registration Form:
Contact: Neill Walker, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 0131 331 4469.