Don’t we often seek an anchor within ourselves? – An anchor that can take us through each moment of life in wakeful awareness, leading to lasting peace? Isn’t there the wish to fully unravel the qualities of love, compassion, and wisdom that are naturally present in our hearts and minds? How can we learn to relax into life – a process in constant flux – so that we are able to face challenges with greater equanimity and ease? How can we deepen our wisdom and skilful means so that the dust of our false dualistic perceptions falls away? To arrive into our natural state of being is to harmonise our bodies, hearts and minds with the reality as it is, celebrating the radical interdependence of all phenomena – this is the most precious journey one can undertake on which ample support is needed.
This experiential retreat will primarily draw on the wisdom traditions of Buddhism and Bhakti music, and is precisely meant to give us that added wind under our wings. We will meditate on the spontaneous songs of enlightenment of saint-poets, and cultivate a deeper awareness practice through various creative means such as singing, chanting, drawing, painting, reading, writing, movement, working with the earth, dancing, playing, as well as doing nothing. By anchoring our awareness in the felt-sense of the body, we will learn to ‘be with’ whatever it is that is present. The invitation is to stay curious and tap into our authentic self, allowing gentle and loving spaciousness around those knots that otherwise block and freeze our energies from being in-the-flow.
ABOUT THE FACILITATORS
TEJAL SHAH - As a teenager, Tejal got involved in the feminist and queer-feminist autonomous movements in India, which sensitised her to issues of social justice and identity politics. She trained and worked as a contemporary visual artist using the mediums of video, photography, sound, performance and installation, exhibiting internationally in museums, galleries and film festivals. Since 2015, she got interested in nondual Buddhist philosophy and practice as a path to inner and outer peace. Since 2021, she is also studying psychotherapy, sensing a need to combine eastern and western approaches to healing for developing healthier relationships steeped in trust, care, love and understanding. Tejal loves poetry and living in harmony with the natural world. It brings her tremendous joy and satisfaction in co-creating a better world by sharing the light of wisdom and compassion so kindly shone to her by her teachers.
DIPANJALI DEKA - Dipanjali is a multilingual practitioner of Bhakti, Sufi and Hindustani Classical music. She is a Performance Studies research scholar at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. In her study, she interweaves the musical and philosophical pluralities in the many song traditions of bhakti in the Indian subcontinent. Over time, Dipanjali has found that the words of the bhakti poets help her through emotionally challenging times, making her dive deeper into the journey of self-realisation. Through her meditations on music, she committedly and persistently seeks to deepen the relation with the self and the world at large, and walk alongside other fellowseekers on the path.
EVENT PHOTOS
CONNECT WITH THE FACILITATORS
DIPANJALI: https://www.youtube.com/@Dipanjaldeka