Here's Autumn
- haythem65
- Oct 1
- 6 min read
And as well as our latest news, this edition includes a new feature written by Damian Lofthus
What’s happening over the next two months with The Little Company of Calm?
Mindfulness and Walking in Nature
“Nature is getting ready for its wondrous autumn display. Come and join us for our next mindful walk in nature on 10 September at 10am in Elemore Park. So pleased we are being joined by Anthony, the park manager with his host of knowledge about the park and all things natural. Book on www.tlcoc.co.uk/book or contact us to reserve your place. ”
Mindfulness on the Beach
On Sunday morning, September the 15th, we are once again back at Sandhaven beach for the Autumn Beach festival,
More direct experience of practicing Mindfulness directly in Nature. You can do shorter or longer practices, a movement, a stillness practice, all guided with a view towards finding calm and peace Joanne Hunt is helping me again and we have both adapted practices to include the sand, the sky, the waves, and hopefully the sun! Tickets and info available on our website booking page
Mental Health First Aider
We have all experienced how mindfulness can support our mental health, especially in difficult times. Many people though suffer in silence either because of the stigma attached to mental health or simply because they don't know where to turn.
And that is where Mental Health First Aiders (MHFA) come in. They are that person you can approach who will listen without judgement and support you to find the right support that you need.
Liz is proud to have gained her certificate to act as a MHFA so if you are at any of our sessions or activities and just want to talk things through don't hesitate to approach Liz. She's ready and now qualified to help.
New Mats and Blankets for Meditation and Mindful Movement
We are really pleased to share our good news that we have funding from Barchester Foundation to buy ourselves some brand new yoga mats and blankets. Some of you may have noticed that our old ones were beginning to look a little tatty! We should have these at St Michael's Community Centre sometime in September. Do ask if you would like to borrow one for your session.
Links with Nature/Durham Wildlife Trust
We are thrilled to be doing more mindfulness in nature sessions this autumn in our beautiful local parks with the Links with Nature Team at Durham Wildlife Trust. Really looking forward to teaming up with ARCH Recovery College and Sunderland Carers' Centre too for these sessions.
Carents
So pleased to be offering a mindfulness session to the members of Carents this October. Carents are doing a brilliant job supporting unpaid carers who care for their parents and also at times their own children as well as working. Check out their website for more info.
Further down the line
In October, our MBSR programme (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) is definitely running. Thanks so much to those who have committed and shown faith in us. It is full, but you can still be on the waiting list if you’d like to email
Our regular weekly Mindfulness Practice Sessions are detailed here.
Mindfulness and Nature at Elemore Park Mondays at 10.15-11.30, for 2 more Mondays only the 8th and 15th of September in the current block of sessions
Calm at Carnegie on Tuesdays at 2.00-3.00pm
Streams of Calm Thursday mornings online and left as a recording to view in your own time.
Calm at St Michael’s Thursdays at 5.30/45-6.30pm
Mindfulness Qigong and Yoga with Ashbrooke Yoga Fridays 12.30-2.00pm (this resumes on the 12th of September, the other weekly sessions are up and running)
To book these, or any of our events, please click here https://www.tlcoc.co.uk/book
Mindfulness Coaching. There are very limited spaces for one to one Mindfulness Coaching.
If you are interested, please email hello@tlcoc.co.uk
And once again, a big thanks to our funding partners during last year, which supported us to spread the benefits of mindfulness to more people - The Community Fund Tyne and Wear and Northumberland (Makem Money), Sunderland City Council, Wear Together UK SPF, East Sunderland Community Chest, Awards for All The National Lottery.
And now a Reflection from Damian
We have a new feature, a reflection kindly written by our old friend Damian. A really warm insightful piece direct from his, and his dad’s own experience of mindfulness. He also adds a poem about meditation by Mary Oliver.
“Me Heid’s (Head’s!) in the Shed” by Damian Lofthus
“During lunch with my 83-year-old dad, at our favourite local restaurant, the Scullery at Silksworth, the subject of Mindfulness came up.
I had mentioned that I had been into Ryhope Dene, with Joe G, early one morning to livestream a mindfulness practice.
I should explain that my dad was born in 1940, a third-generation miner, who left his village school at 15, to go to work at the Pit. At 21 he met and married my mam and moved to the next village, where he has lived ever since. The modern world of the internet, globalisation and climate change seems like a faraway echo to him.
He also describes himself as someone who is, not very “curious”, so I was quite surprised when he asked me why I was going into the dene.
He was clearly intrigued and asked me what it was, we were trying to achieve. Was it peace of mind or an attempt to commune with nature ..?
Wow, maybe he was more in touch with things than I had realised.
Yes and yes, I answered him. But something told me that I hadn’t sold the concept to him entirely, as he stared blankly into the distance. Tough audience.
Then I remembered a Buddhist teacher who explained mindfulness as listening to Nature and listening to our bodies. Trying to explain this in pitmatic terms I tried the expression “Gan canny”, to my dad. Hoping it might convey a sense of slowness and calm. More blank staring but this time, maybe with a tiny glimmer of a half- remembered thought.
Self compassion or “no action needed” as another phrase I translated as “keep had young ‘un “.
A reference to a friendly warning given to miners, just as the cage was going to descend the pit shaft. He seemed to like this one. He smiled.
I struggled to convey to him the human experience of dukka (suffering/unease),although I’m sure coal-mining must have had its fair share of this.
Next week I hope we just stick to football…
I discovered mindfulness myself, in my fifties during a particularly stressful time at work. Regular practice became a life-saver.
I would describe it a bit like learning any new skill ,practice, practice, practice. The rewards are not instant and they can fluctuate over time. They are best learnt within, a group of like-minded people, as you learn a lot about yourself and the human experience.
Gradually your mind becomes calmer and clearer and you start to seek out opportunities to practice. You begin to examine your own thoughts and feelings and feel less beholden to them.
A Poem by Mary Oliver entitled On Meditating, Sort Of
Meditation, so I,ve heard, is best accomplished
If you entertain a certain strict posture.
Frankly, I prefer just to lounge under a tree.
So why should I think I could ever be successful ?
Some days I fall asleep, or land in that
even better place-half-asleep-where the world,
spring, summer, autumn, winter-
flies through my mind in its
hardy ascent and its uncompromising descent.
So I just lie like that, while distance and time
reveal their true attitudes: they never
heard of me, and never will, or ever need to.
Of course I wake up finally
thinking, how wonderful to be who I am,
made out of earth and water,
my own thoughts, my own fingerprints-
all that glorious, temporary stuff”.
I called this feature" “Me Heids in the Shed” because I wrote some of it in my shed at home, looking out over the dene.
More next time
Damian
Love Peace and Best Wishes
Joe Liz and Andrew
“One way to keep in touch with us is via our what’s app group, a weekly post about what’s available to attend during the week. It isn’t interactive, purely informative, no other notification pings. Please message or text me on 07724085833 to be included” Joe
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