New Year's Retreat
As the year draws to a close, we invite you to join us for an evening of gentle movement, guided meditation, music and storytelling (plus some delicious vegetarian soup!) Meditation led by Margo, movement led by yoga teacher, Margaret Huff.
Gathering with others in silence and ceremony, in movement and stillness, we renew our sense of wonder. By honouring the gifts and challenges of the previous year, we prepare ourselves for the one to come.
Date and Time:
Tuesday, December 31, 4 - 9 p.m. (Soup provided, please bring a bowl)
Wednesday, January 1, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. (Please bring your own lunch.)
Location: Unfolding Body Studio, 3276 2nd Street, Cumberland, BC
Registration Fee: $50 - $80
Please complete the form below and send an e-transfer to margostoryteller@gmail.com. You may also drop off a cheque addressed to Margo McLoughlin at Unfolding Body to reserve your place.
December 31, evening program:
4 - 5 p.m. welcome and gentle movement practice
5 - 6 p.m. sitting and walking meditation
6 - 7 p.m. meal sharing and informal story-sharing
7 - 8 p.m. walking and sitting meditation
8 - 9 p.m. storytelling and music
January 1
10 a.m. - 11 a.m. welcome and gentle movement practice
11 a.m. - 12 p.m. guided meditation and Dharma talk
12 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. lunch and walking meditation
1:30 p.m. - 2:15 p.m. sitting meditation
2:15 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. Dharma talk
3:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. closing meditation
Making a Home of the Heart
"Making a Home of the Heart: The Buddha's Teachings on Friendship" is an eight-week course exploring the four practices of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. These are the brahma viharas, or "The Divine Abodes," four beautiful qualities of mind and heart which support our meditation practice. By systematically developing each one and understanding the relationship between them, we gradually chip away at the solid sense of "me" and "mine" which is the source of so much suffering in our lives.
In Pali, the language of the early Buddhist teachings, the word Metta has connotations of acceptance, friendship, and goodwill and is often translated as loving-kindness or unconditional friendliness. In this eight-week series, metta is our starting-place, showing us over and over again the possibility of extending our circles of care.
Buddhist teachings on the environment and the writings of Indigenous authors and teachers such as Robin Wall Kimmerer will be woven into each class, along with suggestions for embodied practices.
Tuesday evenings, January 14 - February 18, 7:00 - 8:30 p.m.
Unfolding Body,
3276 2nd Street
Cumberland BC
Registration Fee options: By donation or $15 - $20 per class or $120 - $160 for the series. You may send an e-transfer to margostoryteller@gmail.com. No security password is needed.
Class size is limited to 15, so please sign up early if you would like to attend.
Dancing with the Messengers
In this five-part series, Dharma teacher Margo McLoughlin will guide a weekly reflection on "The Four Heavenly Messengers," Aging, Illness, Death, and Spiritual Practice. At the heart of the Buddha's teachings is the invitation to look directly at the truth of dukkha or suffering, including the suffering inherent in having a human body. This is where we have the potential to become each other's teachers as we learn to meet the experience of aging, illness, and loss with a warm-hearted friendliness and tender curiosity, supported by the spaciousness of equanimity.
As part of this series, Margo will encourage participants to engage in some form of creative expression, whether it is writing poetry or prose, making some form of visual art, or composing music. This could be a beautiful practice in itself and a way to track our own journey to a place of greater understanding and acceptance of the truth of change.
This course is offered on a sliding scale - $10 - $20 per session or $50 - $100 for the whole series.
Location: Unfolding Body Studio, 3276 2nd Street, Cumberland, BC
Zoom option available as well.
To register, please complete the form below. The registration fee can be made at the first class or by e-transfer to margostoryteller@gmail.com.
Insight Meditation: The Path of Practice
The Noble Eightfold Path offers a beautiful framework for nurturing mindfulness and developing awareness and wisdom in all areas of our life. Each week in this eight-week course, there will be readings, discussion, and guided meditation aimed at deepening our understanding of key concepts while also inspiring our practice. We will draw on the work of contemporary meditation teachers such as Christina Feldman, Joseph Goldstein and Gregory Kramer, as well as the writings of Buddhist monks Bhikkhu Bodhi and Ajahn Sucitto.
Besides looking carefully at key terms from the Pali language, as well as some of the discourses of the Buddha, we will be drawing on the poetry and writings of a number of poets and writers from different traditions. At times, we will do short writing exercises as a way to uncover our own assumptions and cultural conditioning.
Dates: Tuesday, September 17 - Tuesday, November 5, 2024
You are also welcome to drop in. Drop-in fee is $15 - $20.
Time: 7 - 8:30 p.m.
Course fee: $120 or by donation.
Location: Unfolding Body Studio, 3276 2nd Street, Cumberland, BC
To register, please complete the form below. E-transfers can be sent to margostoryteller@gmail.com. No security password needed. Let us know if you prefer to pay by cheque.
Tending the Spark: Mindfulness and the Creative Life with Margo McLoughlin
In this afternoon workshop, we’ll look at the role of contemplative practice in the creative process. How do we prepare the mind and heart to return to a creative project or launch a sustained time of focus on an artistic endeavour?
By nurturing a discipline of attentive presence, we discover how to refresh our perception, awaken wonder and enter the work with a sense of curiosity and openness to discovery.
Margo McLoughlin is a storyteller and writer. She has been teaching meditation and mindfulness to children and adults since 2012, often using storytelling and art as ways to explore the role of awareness in living a creative, compassionate life. Recently, she offered a school program at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria titled, “Discovering the Gift of Perception.”
To register, please complete the form below. The registration fee is $50.00 plus GST ($52.50.) To confirm your registration please send $52.50 as an e-transfer to mcloughlingardens16@gmail.com. Or you may send a cheque to McLoughlin Gardens, PO Box 1223, Comox, BC V9M 3W7
Breathing Like a Buddha, Part One - a series with Margo McLoughlin
Please join us for “Breathing Like a Buddha, Part One” - a series with Margo McLoughlin.
Buddhist meditation instruction usually begins with mindfulness of breathing. Since the breath is a fairly neutral and ever-present aspect of experience, it offers the ideal site for developing present-moment awareness. Gradually, this yields a certain steadiness and stability of mind which, in turn, provides the ground for insight.
Meditation teachers offer a variety of approaches for bringing awareness to the simple process of breathing. Some encourage a moment-by-moment precision of attention. Others suggest using a mental note In this four-part series, we'll read excerpts from Ajahn Sucitto's book, "Breathing Like a Buddha," and explore his holistic perspective on the key discourse of the Buddha - "The Anapanasati Sutta - The Discourse on Mindfulness of Breathing."
In the introduction, Ajahn Sucitto writes: "...I went back to the basics of noticing how I was aware of breathing, and picked up on the fluid rhythm of the life force that the physical act of breathing moves and moderates."
Whether we are new to meditation or already have an established practice, we can benefit by returning to one of the core teachings and experimenting with a different approach than the one we may be used to.
The dates are: Four Tuesday evenings, August 6 - 27
Time: 7 - 8:30 p.m.
Location: Unfolding Body Studio, Cumberland, BC
Registration fee is $60 or by donation. To register, complete the form and send an e-transfer for the total to margostoryteller@gmail.com.
Insight Meditation – An Introduction
“Insight Meditation – An Introduction” is a four week course exploring the Buddhist teachings of wisdom and compassion. Topics will include:
How to establish and maintain a daily meditation practice.
Integrating mindfulness into daily life.
Learning to work with difficult emotions.
The dates are: Tuesday evenings, May 7, 14, 21 and 28
Time: 7 – 8:30 p.m.
Location: Unfolding Body Studio in Cumberland.
Registration fee is $60 or by donation. To register, complete the form and send an e-transfer for the total to margostoryteller@gmail.com.
The Clear Light of Awareness - Uncovering Wisdom and Balancing Effort: A Weekend Retreat for the Victoria Insight Meditation Society
This non-residential, in-person retreat takes place on beautiful grounds of Goward House, not far from the University of Victoria on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. Hosted by the Victoria Insight Meditation Society, the retreat is offered freely, with no registration fee. To receive an e-mail reminder when registration opens, please visit victoriaims.org. The weekend will include periods of sitting and walking meditation, group interviews and a Dharma talk each day.
The Clear Light of Awareness
“The Clear Light of Awareness” begins Tuesday, March 12th and runs for five evenings (three in a row, a one-week gap, then two more). This series combines a review of the foundations of Buddhist meditation with an exploration of the Five Spiritual Faculties – faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration and wisdom. Those who are new to meditation are very welcome to attend, as well as those with more experience. The class format will include guided meditation, teaching and discussion. Please bring your questions about meditation practice and mindfulness in everyday life! Let’s learn from each other how to apply these beautiful teachings to the complexity and challenges of the times we live in.
The dates are:
March 12, 19 and 26 + April 9 and 16.
Time: 7 – 8:30 p.m.
Location: Unfolding Body Studio, 3276 Second Street, Cumberland, BC
March 12 - Saddha (Faith or Confidence)
March 19 - Viriya (Energy)
March 26 - Sati (Mindfulness)
April 9 - Samadhi (Concentration)
April 16 - Pañña (Wisdom)
Registration options:
Sign up for one session, three, or all five. (One session is $25, three is $60, five is $75. If finances are an issue, you may also make a donation of your chosen amount.) To register, choose the number of sessions, complete the form and send an e-transfer for the total to margostoryteller@gmail.com.
Dharma Talk for Victoria Insight Meditation Society
Guided meditation and talk for the Sunday night sitting group. Everyone welcome.
Launch Your Writing Project
Have you got a story idea that’s been waiting in the wings? Join author Jeanette Taylor and storyteller Margo McLoughlin for this six-part online series, designed to help you launch your writing project, whether you are working on a memoir, a work of fiction, or a children’s book. Visit mcloughlingardens.org to find out more.
Dates: Saturday afternoons, 1 - 3:30 p.m., February 3 - March 9
Registration fee: $295 + GST
“Life-Stories as Riddles: A Dharma Talk for Satipañña Insight Toronto”
Guided meditation and Dharma talk for Satipañña Insight Toronto.
Against all odds, the early Buddhist nuns managed to find a spiritual home and devote themselves to their practice, under the Buddha’s guidance. Their life stories, as described in the commentary to the Therigatha (poems of enlightenment of the Elder Nuns), present the challenges they faced to become students and teachers of the Dharma. Margo will share two stories and comment on the teachings they offer us, as students of Buddhist thought and practice, living as we are in the 21st century.
Find the Zoom link here: Tuesday evenings at Satipañña
Storytelling at the Heriot Bay Inn
Join us for an afternoon of storytelling on Sunday January 21 at the Heriot Bay Inn on Quadra Island. Get swept away to other times, lands and dimensions by the illustrious storytellers Laurie North, Jeanette Taylor, and Margo McLoughlin. Door prizes, as well as a free book for every school-age person. Limited seating - no reservations. For additional information, please email quadraliteracynetwork@gmail.com