The theme for this meeting was "Letting Go" and involved a few changes to the format, beginning with being in a different room for this week.
We welcomed new and returning members and celebrated a birthday. Then Neesa led us in some Sufi breathing exercises (see meeting on 10th October ). Jenna led us in two songs, one of which was "The River is Flowing" with an extra chant sung over it:
The river is flowing, flowing and growing,
The river is flowing back to the sea.
Mother Earth carry me, your child I will always be.
Mother Earth carry me back to the sea.
/The heart is the start and the end, my friend. The heart is the start and the end./
Peter, having let go of the need to write a poem, read instead an extract from Wild Geese by Mary Oliver, and from Rumi.
The activity was led by Judy Clinton and was a creative writing exercise where we wrote as fast as we could for six minutes on "Letting go". The need to write quickly and without stopping frees you from critical thought getting in the way and perhaps allows feelings to be expressed more easily. We discussed our experience and what we had learnt both from what we had written and the process.
We danced to a song based on a quote by Meister Eckhart:
A seed of God grows into God,
Let yourself go; let God be God in you.
Jehanne and Rob sang two Autumn songs for us, "Shooting Stars" and "Stop the World, I want to get on".
Then we ended as usual with gathering around the centre and singing "This little heart of mine".
Notices:
True Stories told Live will be held on Friday 11th November, Friday 9th December at Star Anise at 7.30pm.
If you enjoyed the creative writing exercise, take a look at Judy's website
and find the details of a workshop on 5th November.
