Natthiko, Ajahn (S/ CH)
Biography:
Born in Sweden in 1961. After a short corporate career in International Finance, a few years of searching ensued. Ordained as a forest monk at Wat Pah Nanachat, the Thai forest monastery for English speaking disciples of Ajahn Chah, in 1992. Spent 7 years in Thailand under the guidance of Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Jayasaro. Moved to Chithurst in West Sussex in 1999, and spent 7 years there under the tutelage of Ajahn Sucitto. Since the summer of 2006 I live at Dhammapala, a Swiss monastery in the tradition of Ajahn Chah and Ajahn Sumedho. In terms of spiritual affinities, Ajahn Sumedho is the living teacher I feel most aligned with. My inclination tends towards the ecclectic, and outside of Theravada and the Thai Forest tradition, I have also found much to inspire in Mahayana, Advaita, Sufism and Christian Mysticism. I have also benefitted greatly from participating in group process work with Karuna Institute in Devon, UK.
Workshop: Return to Innocence
This two and a half hour workshop will consist of two guided meditations, and an extended sharing and exchange in between. Contemplative tools to access the still point, which includes everything, and rejects nothing, will be presented in these meditations. These tools include cultivating awareness of embodiment, breathing, empathy, aliveness, the sense of "I am", the Sound of Silence, uncertainty, and opening to the sense of wonder and mystery available to all. There will be little or no theory, and much trust placed in the power inherent in a group-generated field of awareness, and what arises out of that in the dialogue following on from the first guided meditation. Little will be said on how to deal with the lack of forgiveness, the conflict and terror on a global, external level. The emphasis will be on seeing these forces within, and experience together how they can come to cessation without inner violence, repression or rejection.
The workshop will be in English, without translation. Not more than 30 participants would be ideal, less is in some ways even better.
Welcome!