Finding Deeper Ground

A 40-day Online Winter Practice Gathering

June 9th - July 18th 2024

Develop, Deepen, Refresh, and Refine Your Practice

This is a gathering of people who wish to undertake their own “retreat at home in the life” in the company of supportive others. Over the dark time of winter (in the southern hemisphere) we will be undertaking a body of practice together, and plugging into the potency and support of a group of people practicing with a shared intention. Our intention and commitment creates a container that will energise and motivate our practice.

As with the rest of life, we will be exploring Together-Alone! Just as trees spread out their roots underground to find essential nourishment, we will be reaching out with our tendrils of awareness and drawing nourishment from each other’s presence and practice.

This will be an exploration of how we can sink our roots deeper down to nourishing ground, to drop an anchor to the depth, where we can steady our minds, connect with life-giving support, and find our sanity and our love in the gifts and challenges of the every day. 


It's about refreshing our intention. Dusting off our lenses for clearer seeing. Shaking off any crust that may have us feeling jaded, disheartened, or disillusioned. Developing, deepening, and refining our practice at whatever age and stage we feel we're at, and remembering why it's so important.

We will be building foundations, developing skills, and deepening our capacities to commit to ourselves and our inner lives, in the midst of our work and worldly responsibilities. We will be exploring the relationship between our inner and outer life experiences, and the power of wholesome individual and shared intention to fuel our growth and unfolding.  

This course is suitable for both beginners and experienced practitioners who wish to develop, deepen, refresh and refine their existing practice, and also connect with a supportive community. Whether you are just getting started and looking for trustworthy methods and support, or possibly already have a committed practice, there will be an emphasis on learning and refining skilful and proven effective methods for you to apply in your every day life. These will provide a reliable anchor of sanity and love in your life right now, and will support you in any retreat or deeper meditative work you might do in the future. 

We will be exploring the focussed meditation on breathing. This is a universal practice that can lead us skilfully and gradually from wherever we are to the full experience of healing and liberation made possible through meditation. It is a profoundly compassionate practice, said to be suitable for all people, at all times, in all situations. We will be taking time to build and revisit the foundations of this practice in a way that will give beginners a thorough and reliable base from which to develop their practice, and will give experienced people a chance to refresh and refine their practice in an enlivening and illuminating way. 

We will be exploring the practice from a thoroughly embodied perspective, grounding us in the reality of the bodies we have, and the lives we have, right here on this Earth. Ultimately this is what will unlock the true healing potential of the practice. This will be augmented and supported by guided audio movement explorations, based on the Feldenkrais Method and meditative healing principles, to support your unwinding into deeper embodiment, clearer perception and whole body knowing

The course will also be a chance to share and learn some of the foundational teachings and principles of the Buddhadharma. Again, these are universal principles based on observed laws of reality that will support us and serve to loosen and dissolve the knots and tangles of our lives. These astonishingly skilful, precise, healing and liberative methods and teachings were first put forward by Shakyamuni Buddha, and have been taught and offered in an unbroken way up until the present day. These will be offered organically in response to people’s experience and questions, and according to the practice we will be engaged in.

The unique perspective and life experience that each participant brings to this practice community will be a gift. Through our natural and wholehearted presence we will each be contributing to, and drawing from, the nourishment, support and inspiration of the collective. This enriches and strengthens each of us in our respective lives and relationships, and offers a deep contribution to the wellbeing of our world.

Please continue reading for the course schedule, and considerations before registering. 

I am looking forward to your company in Finding Deeper Ground!

Warm wishes,

Chani

Course Schedule : 

The course commences on Sunday 9th June with our first live gathering,

7pm - 8pm NZT. Find your time zone here

We will continue for 40 days until Thursday July 18th. 

Live gatherings will happen each Sunday at the same time, on June 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30th, and July 7th, 14th. 

We may have an additional closing gathering on Sunday July 21st - TBA.

Once you register for the course, you will receive an email with further information including the Zoom link that will be the same for each of our weekly meetings.

10 days before the course begins, you will also receive an invitation to our dedicated online community space, where you can connect with other members of the community to share your questions and experiences.

Finding Deeper Ground consists of : 

* Weekly Live Sessions - A 1-hour session to end and begin each week. We will reflect on and learn from our week of practice, set up the theme for the coming week, and have time to share observations and answer some of the questions from people's practice. 

You are not required to attend all the live sessions, although it is strongly encouraged, as this will be where we answer questions, and plug into the potency and support of the group container of people practicing together.

All the live sessions and Q and A will be recorded.

* Brief Daily Practice Prompts - These will serve to remind you of the process you are in, and will help orient your heart and mind in the direction of your deepening practice according to the theme or emphasis for the week. If you only have 10 minutes a day to practice, these are for you!

* Longer Guided Practices on the weekly theme - For those who have the time and inclination, there will be longer recordings of both movement and meditation practices (from 20-50mins) offered to deepen your understanding and experience of each of the weekly themes.

* Online Community Space - a dedicated space for people to connect with one another, ask questions, share insights, discoveries and challenges. This is an optional aspect of the course to offer and enjoy support from those sharing the journey.

* Open Q and A - You can send in your questions and observations at any time during the week, and these will be woven into and addressed in the Weekly Live Sessions.

Practice Commitments - 

Considering your intention before registering : 

Registering for this event is a commitment. To honour the intention of the course, and the people who will be participating in it, you are requested to please only register if you are willing to commit to the program to the fullest extent of your capacity. Imagine that we are entering a retreat together, where we make every effort to put down what is extraneous and unnecessary, and we endeavour to take up what is most wholesome, supportive, and fruitful. 

You are requested to commit to some degree of daily practice - either the brief daily prompts and contemplations, or one of the longer practices that are offered. This course is designed to be undertaken in the context of our daily lives, and so we make room for all the complexity of life, surfing the waves of what arises in the process. We might miss a day here or there, depending on what’s going on. That’s OK! But we keep our intention to practice every day, and to continually view our lives through this lens. 40 days is intended to be something of a stretch, but also very doable! The main purpose here is to orient the mind in the direction of your depth unfolding (what you most deeply aspire to or yearn for). The 40 day commitment invites us to set a course, and then make effort to stay the course, using the practice and the community as a steady anchor. 

Cost : 

This program is offered on a sliding scale to ensure equity of access. A suggested sliding scale for the 40 days is from $100- $200NZD. However, you will not be turned away for lack of funds, so there is also an option to offer whatever you can. Your generosity is deeply appreciated to enable this work to flourish. 

Spaces are limited to 40 people, so please register early if you are interested.

Finding Deeper Ground Offers You :

  • Weekly Live Sessions

    A 1-hour session to end and begin each week. We will reflect on and learn from our week of practice, set up the theme for the coming week, and have time to share observations and answer some of the questions from people's practice. 

    You are not required to attend all the live sessions, although it is strongly encouraged, as this will be where we answer questions, and plug into the potency and support of the group container of people practicing together.

    All the live sessions and Q and A will be recorded.

  • In-Depth Guided Movement and Meditation Practices

    For those who have the time and inclination, there will be longer recordings of both movement and meditation practices (from 20-50mins) offered to deepen your understanding and experience of each of the weekly themes.

    The movement practices based on the Feldenkrais Method will support your unwinding into deeper embodiment, clearer perception and whole body knowing. They will build your capacity for self-regulation and deepening calm.

  • Daily Practice Prompts

    Each day you will be sent a brief Daily Practice Prompt. These will serve to remind you of the process you are in, and will unfold the particular theme or emphasis for the week. These daily reminders will help orient your heart and mind in the direction of your deepening practice.

    If you only have 10 minutes a day to practice, these are for you!

  • Online Community Space

    This is a dedicated space for participants to connect with one another, ask questions, and share their insights, discoveries and challenges. This is an optional aspect of the course to offer and enjoy support from those sharing the journey.

    There will also be a resources section where all the recordings, video, audio and written resources will be stored for you to access throughout the course.

Cost and more details : 

This program is offered on a sliding scale to ensure equity of access.

A suggested sliding scale for the 40 days is from $100- $200NZD.

However, you will not be turned away for lack of funds, so there is also an option to offer whatever you can. Your generosity is deeply appreciated to enable this work to flourish. 

Spaces are limited to 40 people, so please register early if you are interested.

Weekly Themes

  • Week 1 - Ground

    Befriending the ground, establishing foundations, opening to support, feeling our strength

  • Week 2 -Body

    Befriending this precious body, our only vehicle for this life. Appreciating its capacity with awareness and wonder

  • Week 3 - Breath

    Befriending our breathing, with intimacy and precision. Steadying our minds, balancing our energy

  • Week 4 - Healing

    Observing, understanding, and appreciating the natural healing process that is unfolding

  • Week 5 - Whole

    Weaving together the entirety of our experience, embracing our fundamental wholeness.

 

Please get in touch with any questions you might have about Finding Deeper Ground.