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See "Music at The Abbey" for details of concerts
Please book ahead for events whenever possible by sending an email to admin@theabbey.uk.com or telephone 01235 847401 between 9.30 am and 2.00 pm.
Some events have limited places, others may be cancelled if insufficient people have registered so please let us know if you would like to attend.
If you would like to pay by cheque, these should be made payable to The Abbey Sutton Courtenay Ltd. We are currently unable to accept credit card payments.
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Programme Events
Autumn/Winter 2010-11
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WISDOM
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The Abbey is a sacred space in which a resident community offers spiritual friendship and hospitality to all who come seeking personal growth, spiritual refreshment and healing. The spiritual life of The Abbey began within the ecumenical Christian tradition and has evolved to become an open, inclusive expression of the core values of all spiritual traditions: compassion, contemplation, inspiration, creativity and prayer.
Through our programme of events, we seek to explore some of the great wisdom traditions and teachings of the world and to celebrate the Sacred through music, the arts and other contemporary expressions of spirituality.
As we face the challenges of our modern world, we are each called to question ourselves, to seek new ways of thinking, being, living - and to become more mindful, to become wise. In this season’s programme we focus on the theme of Wisdom, offering talks, retreats and workshops which develop a deeper understanding of the nature of wisdom and bring us closer to the experience and realisation of our own innate ‘knowing’. In this way we each contribute to our own growth and unfolding and to the part we play in society; we discover inner resources of happiness and wellbeing and step into a more enlightened way of living on our earth.
One of the growing highlights of Abbey life is our programme of musical events. Music at The Abbey regularly hosts outstanding concerts in the 14th Century Great Hall. Please keep an eye on the website for late additions.
Up-to-date details of all events, together with information on booking, are available at www.theabbey.uk.com
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Friday 10th - Sunday 12th September
STILLPOINT: A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE RETREAT
Held In Partnership With The Abbey
and led by Ian Adams and Matt Rees
StillPoint - a centre for spiritual practice - will be hosting a retreat for spiritual practitioners of all ages and stages combining meditation and body/physical practice.
StillPoint, which is based in Oxford, exists to nurture and encourage the practice of Christian spirituality in a variety of ways but particularly focussing on the practice of Christianity as an eastern religion and exploring the contemplative and mystical streams of the Christian tradition.
To book on this retreat please go to www.stillpointretreat.eventbrite.com
For more info on StillPoint visit: www.thestillpoint.org.uk
The retreat will start with supper at 6.30 pm on Friday and end after lunch on Sunday.
£160/£185 (sgl supp)
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Tuesday 14th September
JESUS AND THE POWER OF NOW with Adrian Rance
An evening exploring the radical understanding of Jesus and his teaching on the Kingdom of God. The baptism of Jesus records the moment of his ‘awakening’ to his true identity as being one with God. The teachings of the Kingdom of God are an invitation for each person to also awaken to his or her true identify of being one with God. All the sayings of Jesus point back to this one eternal truth that each person is a unique manifestation of God, and the way to experience this is through awareness of the present moment.
Adrian Rance is an Interfaith Minister and a previous Director of The Abbey and has a long standing interest in contemplative Christianity.
7.30 – 9.30 pm Suggested donations £5 - £10
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Thursday 16th September
KUM NYE OPENING THE HEART: THE WISDOM OF COMPASSION with Jonathan Clewley, Mary Heneghan and Bram Williams
“The basic teachings of the spiritual path arise from within our hearts. When our hearts become our teachers and give us confidence, spiritual nourishment flows through the heart centre and releases healing energies. At that time other enjoyments and sensations seem, by comparison, like momentary flashes. So it is important to contact our hearts and listen to our inner silence.”
(Gesture of Balance, Tarthang Tulku 1977)
Kum (‘subtle body’) Nye (‘massage’) derives from the Tibetan Buddhist medical, meditation and yoga traditions. It combines slow movements, relaxation, self-massage, breathing exercises, visualisation and voice techniques. The aim is to develop clarity, vitality and balance. Kum Nye can be used for self healing, deep relaxation and as preparation for meditation. The evening will be suitable for beginners as well as experienced practitioners. We will introduce and practice these timeless exercises together.
Jonathan Clewley has been a student of Tibetan yoga for over 12 years and a meditation practitioner for longer. Mary Heneghan is an Oxford based acupuncturist and a student of Ringu Tulku Rinpoche. Bram Williams is a London based yoga and meditation teacher.
Wear loose comfortable clothes and bring a mat, cushion and blanket if you have them.
6.30 – 9.00 pm Donation
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Tuesday 28th September to Tuesday 22nd February
(a series of six evenings)
YOGA: PRESENCE & TRANSFORMATION an advanced yoga foundation in self enquiry, courage and awareness with Bram Williams
Your own divinity is as intangible as the rainbow and as dazzling, as beautiful and as arresting. Just as the rainbow has no substance and is visible only under certain conditions, in the same way you cannot always see your own divinity
This course is based on Swami Sivananda Radha's book: Kundalini - Yoga for the West, used as the starting point for investigation into ourselves and our relationship with the world. It is suitable for people with experience of yoga, and it requires some commitment including both home practice and regular meditation. Bram Williams is an experienced yoga teacher who has studied mindfulness, and both Shamatha and Vipassana meditation in Northern India as well as with teachers from the Himalayan Institute in America. He recently attended extended training retreats in Kum Nye (Tibetan Meditation Yoga) at Ratna Ling in California.
The full course outline can be found at www.bodhi-yoga.co.uk
Thursdays 6.30 pm – 9 pm
28th September,
26th October,
23rd November,
14th December,
25th January,
22nd February. 7.30 – 9.30
£112 for all six dates - any profit will go to a dharma charity. Single dates (only if space is available) are £24 per session.
To express interest, & reserve your place, contact: bram@bodhi-yoga.co.uk
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Wednesday 29th September
THE HEALING POWER OF VOCAL SOUND with James D'Angelo
The voice is the great resonator for re-tuning our human instrument of mind, body and spirit. Its natural overtones can alter our frequencies for the better. In these three evenings we will explore various forms of toning, natural sounds, mantra and Taoist sounds for the organs and experience inner sound meditation.
FURTHER INFORMATION: 01452 413220 www.soundspirit.co.uk
Wednesday 29th September 7.30 - 9.30 pm
Wednesday 20th October 7.30 - 9.30 pm
Wednesday 24th November 7.30 - 9.30 pm
Wednesday 16th February 7.30 - 9.30 pm
£5 per evening
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‘DO I WAKE OR SLEEP?’ - A course on the poetry of John Keats
with Barbara Vellacott
Does beauty lull us to sleep or awaken us? How might it be true that ‘beauty is truth, truth beauty’, as one of Keats’s poems famously says?
Through reading Keats’s poems, we shall explore the ambiguities of ‘waking’ and ‘sleeping’ so vividly expressed in them, and awaken to our own thoughts and responses.
DATES: Saturday mornings 10 am – 12.45
October 2, 16, & 30,
November 13 & 27
COST: £60, including refreshments. Concessions available.
BOOKING: Send a cheque for £60, or £15 deposit, to
Barbara Vellacott at 31 Church Street, Sutton Courtenay, OX14 4NJ.
Keats is famous for the sensuous richness of his poetry, his love for Fanny Brawne, and for his painful death when only 25 and far from home. He has been portrayed as a frail and tragic romantic. But he was a poet who enjoyed lively company, whose friends were social radicals, and who called himself ‘a citizen of the world.’ Through poetry he hoped to ‘do some good’ in a world where ‘the heart must feel and suffer in a thousand ways.’
Whatever you know – or don’t know – about this early 19th century poet, do feel welcome to the group, and find new depths to the universal themes of beauty, truth, love, transience and death through poetry, as well as the enjoyment of reading with others.
From time to time we shall read some more modern poems to bring fresh perspective to these themes.
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Friday 8th – Sunday 10th October
JESUS AND THE POWER OF NOW
A retreat with Adrian Rance
This retreat will be an opportunity to explore the deeper meaning of the teachings and miracles of Jesus in the light of his radical teaching on the transformation of consciousness. Each saying of Jesus points back to his own transformative experience recorded at his baptism and is an invitation for each person to enter into that experience. In this way each person can experience himself or herself as ‘the Way, the Truth and the Life’, or as ‘one with the Father’, or as the Son or Daughter of God.
The retreat starts with supper at 6.30 pm on Friday and ends after lunch on Sunday. It will be held largely in silence, with periods of meditation, times for discussion and contemplative sharing, and a meditative celebration of the Eucharist on Sunday morning.
£160/£185 (sgl supp)
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Saturday 9th October
KUM NYE Loosening the Self Image - a Day Workshop with Jonathan Clewley, Mary Heneghan and Bram Williams
“Spiritual Confidence is more difficult to attain than worldly confidence. We can easily learn how to drive a car, fix a lawn mower, or talk informatively on a variety of subjects. But how can we learn to attain inner confidence? There are no specific steps to follow. Yet, by utilizing the insight, strength and confidence gained from meditation we naturally discover the truth which is always within us. And in becoming more confident of our experience….we learn to believe and trust in ourselves.”
(Gesture of Balance, Tarthang Tulku 1977)
Kum (‘subtle body’) Nye (‘massage’) derives from the Tibetan Buddhist medical, meditation and yoga traditions. It combines slow movements, relaxation, self-massage, breathing exercises, visualisation and voice techniques. The aim is to develop clarity, vitality and balance. Kum Nye can be used for self healing, deep relaxation and as preparation for meditation. The workshop will be suitable for beginners as well as experienced practitioners. We will introduce and practice these timeless exercises together.
Jonathan Clewley has been a student of Tibetan yoga for over 12 years and a meditation practitioner for longer. Mary Heneghan is an Oxford based acupuncturist and a student of Ringu Tulku Rinpoche. Bram Williams is a London based yoga and meditation teacher.
Wear loose comfortable clothes and bring a mat, cushion and blanket if you have them.
10 am – 4 pm £45 (£35 conc)
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Friday 15th October
WHITE TARA: Wish fulfilling Jewel
with Anna Howard
In the tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, White Tara is associated with good health, long life and wisdom. Through awakening to our innate wisdom, we become free of the ordinary experience of suffering and the practice of White Tara in particular can bring us healing and protection from ‘untimely death’.
In tonight’s talk Anna Howard will introduce us to White Tara – known as the Wish-fulfilling Jewel - drawing on the sacred teachings and practices passed onto her through this ancient mystical tradition. There will then be an opportunity to practice a short visualisation and mantra recitation, inviting the direct experience of White Tara’s blessing.
Anna has been a student of Tibetan Buddhist tradition for 14 years, training with some of the most respected teachers of the Kagyu lineage. She has a special interest in Tara, founding Tara Wisdom in 2004 to help bring this work to the West. She is a former member of The Abbey community.
7.30 – 9.30 pm Suggested Donations £5 - £10
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Sunday 17th October
MEDITATION - A Beginner’s Introduction
with Anna Howard
Meditation is an ancient discipline practiced in order to attain happiness. Happiness comes naturally when our mind is still and at peace, and meditation offers powerful techniques for settling and stabilising the mind in its natural state. The benefits of meditation are well-documented and include mental and physical improvements in our health and wellbeing, greater concentration, clarity and awareness.
Today is an opportunity for those new to meditation to begin at the beginning – and to learn the basics of meditation as taught within the Buddhist tradition. The day will consist of teaching and practice sessions, focusing on the meditation technique of “calm abiding” (shamatha) – regarded as the foundation of all other practices.
Anna Howard has been a student of Tibetan Buddhism for 14 years and has been teaching meditation since 2004. She is a former member of The Abbey community and is authorised to teach by respected masters of the Kagyu lineage
10 am – 4 pm £45/£35 (conc) inc lunch
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Wednesday 29th September
THE HEALING POWER OF VOCAL SOUND with James D'Angelo
The voice is the great resonator for re-tuning our human instrument of mind, body and spirit. Its natural overtones can alter our frequencies for the better. In these three evenings we will explore various forms of toning, natural sounds, mantra and Taoist sounds for the organs and experience inner sound meditation.
FURTHER INFORMATION: 01452 413220 www.soundspirit.co.uk
Wednesday 29th September 7.30 - 9.30 pm
Wednesday 20th October 7.30 - 9.30 pm
Wednesday 24th November 7.30 - 9.30 pm
Wednesday 16th February 7.30 - 9.30 pm
£5 per evening
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Friday 29th October
SOUNDBATH MEDITATION
with Sarah Verney Caird and Susan Nares
“Music … gives a soul to our hearts, wings to thought and flight to the imagination.".
On Friday evening we will be offering a Soundbath, using Tibetan and Crystal healing bowls, gongs and voices. This is a profound experience which brings deep meditation and healing. The evening forms the welcome to our weekend retreat but will also be open to members of the public. Please bring a blanket and a cushion.
7.30 - 9.30 pm Suggested donation £5 - £10
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Friday 29th - Sunday 31st October
SOUND AND SILENCE
with Sarah Verney Caird and Susan Nares
The Wisdom of Deep Listening
Following our gathering last year we are returning to share again the gift of music-making as a path to wholeness and peace, opening with a Soundbath on Friday evening. Over the following two days we introduce simple but powerful exercises enabling us to explore and improvise through instrumental music-making, singing and body work. We aim to create a container together within which each participant can feel safe to work according to individual needs. There is also room for silence, personal reflection and sharing of other modalities including movement, art or poetry. No previous experience is necessary and all instruments and materials are provided.
To support group process, participants are asked to commit to the whole weekend Sarah Verney Caird and Susan Nares are experienced music therapists, sound healers, performers and facilitators who also run retreats on Music and Spirituality (see www.soundways.org).
The weekend starts with supper at 6.30 pm on Friday and ends around 4.00 pm on Sunday. Participants may arrive from 4.00 pm on the Friday.
£165 / £180 (sgl supp)
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Friday 12th November
SPIRIT IN THE CAVE OF THE HEART
with Cyprian Consiglio
In this evening talk, Cyprian Consiglio a Benedictine monk of the Camaldolese Congregation, will explore the call to contemplation and mystical depth which is found in every spiritual tradition. This call is meant for every person not just people who choose religion as a profession. Cyprian will draw on the life and inspiration of two Christian mystics of the 20th century, Bede Griffiths and Henri le Saux (Abhishiktananda), who integrated the spirituality of the East - notably Hinduism and Buddhism - with the wisdom of Eastern and Western Christianity.
7.30 – 9.30 pm Suggested donation £5 - £10
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Friday 12th – Sunday 14th November
SPIRIT IN THE CAVE OF THE HEART
A Contemplative Retreat with Cyprian Consiglio
This retreat will explore in depth the universal call to contemplation and will draw on the inspiration of teachers such as Bede Griffiths and Abhishiktananda. The weekend will open participants to the possibility of spiritual transformation through meditation, music and chanting, sacred reading, teaching, prayer and discussion. As a teacher and a musician Cyprian has the gift of leading people to an understanding of their whole person - spirit, soul and body.
£165 / £180 (sgl supp)
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Saturday 13th November
MY SOUL'S COMPANION
An Evening of Sacred Music with Cyprian Consiglio
A concert of sacred and contemplative music. Cyprian Consiglio is also a musician and composer. Much of both his music and his teaching revolve around the Universal Call to Contemplation through spirituality and the arts. An internationally known performer, he has recorded numerous collections of original sacred, world, and liturgical music. For details of his recorded music see www.cyprianconsiglio.com
7.30 - 9.30 pm £10 (£8 conc)
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Thursday 2nd December
THE SHAMAN'S PATH
with Leo Rutherford
Most people experience the world as 'out there', and full of problems but the world seen through the eyes of the shamans is utterly different. The real world is the inner world - that is where we experience life - and the outer is the reflection, the play, the drama, where our inner beliefs and addictions are played out. We learn that we are the centre of our life, so to change the world we need to change our self - change your perception and you change your world.
Shamanism is not a belief system but a way of knowledge that is at least 40,000 years old. Shamanism is the oldest path through which humanity has connected with Creator/Creation. All of us have evolved from shamanic cultures - they are our roots wherever we live.
Leo Rutherford is a renowned shaman, teacher and pioneer of shamanism in the West. He founded the Eagle's Wing Centre for Contemporary Shamanism (Now 'College of Shamanic Medicine') in 1987. Fuller details can be found at www.shamanism.co.uk
7.30 - 9.30 pm Suggested donation £8 - £10
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Tuesday 7th December
WISDOM IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
with John Barton
Many of us have only a slight acquaintance with the Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament and Apocrypha, and so miss out on its richness and variety. It has its own unique qualities within the context of similar literature in other faith traditions. Far from being merely an archaic survival, it has a living relevance for us today.
John Barton is the Oriel and Laing Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture at the University of Oxford, and an author and world authority in his field. He lives in Abingdon, where many know him as a profound and lucid speaker.
7.30 - 9.30 pm Suggested donation £5 - £10
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Wednesday 8th December
CONCERT
An evening with two of England's finest traditional instrumentalists, Karen Tweed (accordion) & Becky Price (piano)
After years of collaborating with other musicians, Karen and Becky will be jointly celebrating the release of their respective debut solo CDs - Karen's a through-composed biographical musical journey and Becky's a modern reworking of traditional English dance tunes. For the second half of the concert, they will team up to perform the English, French and Scandanavian music that they have come to be associated with, and play with such energy, elegance and understanding.
8 pm £8 / £6
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Tuesday 14th - Thursday 16th December
ADVENT RETREAT with Adrian Rance
Advent is traditionally a time of preparing for the birth of Christ. The church celebrates the birth of Christ at the darkest time of year, a symbol of new life emerging in the darkness. But Christ is also the universal experience of the divine that is born eternally at every moment in the human heart. Advent can also be the time of travelling through darkness to the awakening to the reality of the eternal that is the core of our being.
The retreat will be held largely in silence with periods of contemplative sharing. It will be led by Adrian Rance, an Interfaith Minister and a former Director of The Abbey.
You are welcome to arrive from 10 am onwards on Tuesday and the retreat will finish after lunch on Thursday.
Income related - £93.00 - £154.50
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Thursday 16th December
TAIZÉ BY CANDLELIGHT
Wren, Fiona, Janet and Michael invite you to join them for an evening of sacred song from Taizé, a monastic ecumenical community in France, well-known for its meditative music. An introduction to the rounds and four-part harmonies in the first half of the evening will lead into a reflective time of sung prayer and silence.
Please come expecting to sing! No singing experience is needed to enjoy this wonderful evening in the Great Hall of The Abbey, lit by candles and warmed with the glow of a log fire.
7.30 - 9.30 pm Suggested donation £5 - £10
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| Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th December
Music at the Abbey presents ENSEMBLE ZEITKUNST
Ensemble Zeitkunst are a Berlin-based collective of young musicians and authors. Led by cellist Julian Arp, pianist Caspar Frantz and poet and publisher Johannes Frank, and deploying an ever-changing array of highly talented artists, the Ensemble has forged a unique and compelling marriage of words and music, and has achieved the highest artistic and critical success in Europe and Israel.
They return to the Abbey for two nights of chamber music and poetry in the intimate and atmospheric surroundings of the Great Hall. The programme is yet to be finalised but will be published on The Abbey website when available.
7.30 - 9.30pm £12 each night or £20 for both nights.
under 16/concessions half price
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| Friday 21st - Sunday 23rd January 2011
MINDFULNESS RETREAT WEEKEND
with Alistair Appleton
It's the dead of winter, Christmas is all over and the festivities of New Year a fading memory. Time to summon up the resolution to greater mindfulness in 2011!
Come for a weekend of delicious vegetarian cooking, roaring fire, wrapped-up country walks and mindfulness practice.
The course is for established practitioners looking to deepen their practice. Nothing too hard core - but some long, lovely sits.
Bookings should be made at www.burningturban.org £195
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| Thursday 27th January 2011
THE WISDOM OF WORDS: Poetry as Contemplation and Path with Dylan Hayden
For American poet Wallace Stevens, poetry was not about life, but intimately a part of life, and a way of making sense of the world through a passionate engagement of the imagination with reality. In the contemplative shaping of words to the world, Stevens found harmony, solace and an approach to truth, leaving a uniquely beautiful and mysterious body of work as record of his quest. Dylan Thomas Hayden, a member of the resident community at The Abbey, will lead an informal lecture and discussion of Stevens' poetic path with readings from the poet's works.
7.30 - 9.30 pm Suggested donation £5 - £10
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Please book ahead for events wherever possible by sending an email to admin@theabbey.uk.com or telephone 01235 847401 between 9.30 am and 2.00 pm. If you would like to pay by cheque, these should be made payable to The Abbey Sutton Courtenay Ltd. We are currently unable to accept credit card payments.
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