The doors and windows of the heart are open

I have just come back from co-leading our first MBSR (Mindfulness based stress reduction) Intensive retreat, for people who want to do the MBSR course but can't commit to 8 weeks, so we did it over 5 days. It was a fantastic retreat and we all took an incredible journey together as we settled ourselves to a few days in the glorious Yorkshire countryside just above Skipton, underneath the imposing Kilnsey Crag! We had a lovely venue to stay in at Wharfedale Lodge and food provided by Relish caterers in nearby Grassington. And so together we explored how stress affects us, how we can use mindfulness to develop a new relationship to stress, what is going on in the brain and the body, and how we can use different meditations to calm the body down and come to a more peaceful place of acceptance and openness.
We had a joyful, as well as challenging time together as different personalities explored not only what we were learning as part of the course, but also how to live closely together for 5 days with people who started off as strangers and have now become friends. It was clear we were taking a learning journey together and several poems have emerged from these few days which I will share over the next few days.
We will be running another Intensive about this time next year, as well as other mindfulness retreats throughout the next few months and 2014. The next one is a Mindfulness and Creativity retreat which gives people a chance to approach their particular creative leaning from a foundation of mindfulness. I am particularly excited about this retreat as I find the more I practice mindfulness the more creative I become, and certainly the poetry has come about from practising mindfulness.
More information about these retreats are on the website http://www.yorkmbsr.co.uk/

And here is the first poem to come out of this retreat.

The doors and windows of the heart are open

The doors and windows of the heart are open
for love to fly freely,
spiralling through a lazy Sunday afternoon sky and
catching air currents to ride effortlessly through open space.

The doors and windows of the heart are open
for love to cartwheel on dew-laden grass and
roll down hillocky and bumpy fields and
land in a breathless, giggling heap at the bottom.

The doors and windows of the heart are open
for love to dance barefoot and carefree
into welcoming arms and a tender embrace.

The doors and windows of the heart are open
for love to tangle her hair and catch her clothes
on a thrilling ride through dark and dense forests
full of knotty roots and clasping brambles and
emerge into the sunshine with a racing pulse and pumping blood.

The doors and windows of the heart are open
for love to touch your outstretched fingertips and
know you are less than a skip away.

The doors and windows of the heart are open
for love to be herself,
to be heartful and compassionate,
to be truthful and trusting,
to be loving and to be loved.

The doors and windows of the heart are open
for love to meet you at the edge of daring and
to jump together into the unknown abyss
without caring if or where our feet will land.

© 28 September 2013