Meditation, health and yoga in Temple Bar

If you're not stripping off for Spencer or at the Barcamp in Belfast on Saturday June 21, this could be a good option for you.

There's a health and yoga day in the Cultivate Centre in Dublin's Temple Bar from 9am to 6pm. Tickets are €20.



Martin and the team have arranged a complete introduction to many disciplines of healthy living for those attending. Many of the organisations promoting wellness in the country are taking part.

Having attended the recent Art of Living course there, I can highly recommend the venue, people and classes. I learned many important and practical lessons to help me day to day.

On the 21, you'll be able to:

• learn more with yoga, aikido, meditation and tai chi classes,
• find out about therapies such as reiki, reflexology, acupuncture and massage,
• listen to talks on homeopathy, astrology and more,
• participate in workshops such as the Alexander technique and Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT)
  

For anyone into healthy living or who wants to find out more, this could be the perfect opportunity.

All introductions and classes take place in Cultivate and the adjoining Aspect Language School (where meditation, yoga classes and many of the treatments will be held in quiet, private rooms).



There's almost too many to blog about, so I'll direct you now to the Cultivate website. Otherwise, read on for some of the events I'd like to attend and learn more about:

10.00 - 10.50 | Tai Chi with Mark from Lotus Yoga

10.00 - 10.55 | Acupuncture with Mary O'Keeffe and Joanne McGrath from Oscailt - 'Promoting the Body's Natural Ability to Heal Itself'

• The benefits and most commonly treated conditions - pain relief, stress, PMS, insomnia, sinusitis, digestive disorders, addictions etc
• Is acupuncture for you and how it works?
• How it can be combined with western medicine e.g. infertility, IVF, depression

11.00 - 11.55 | Introduction to Psychological Astrology with Margaret Gray from Oscailt

• Become aware of the beliefs that you have used to create all your relationships and understand more clearly what might be in the way of creating fulfilling partnerships
• Transform beliefs and clear unresolved patterns to open new channels for creative communication and intimacy
• Unlock the limitation of self expression, which can result in true and lasting transformation

11.00 - 12.15 | Aikido with the Irish Aikido Federation

12.00 - 13.00 | Homeopathy, interconnectedness and independence - Irish School of Homeopathy

• A lecture on the sustainable use of homeopathy and how you can take control of your health

14.00 - 14.30 | Programmes for Well Being and Deepak Chopra's 'Seduction of Spirit' retreat with Mary Callaghan - Inner Bliss

14.00 - 15.15 | The Inner Journey: Meditation and Self-Discovery with Shane Magee from Lotus Yoga

14.30 - 15.10 | Living Foods bringing vitality through food with Natasha Czopor - Natasha's Living Food

14.30 - 16.00 | Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) with Dr. Anthony Sharkey

• It takes just a few minutes to learn the basics of EFT, with it you can immediately start to remove the blocks to the emotional and physical vibrant health you have always intuited possible for you.

15.15 - 16.30 | Vinyasa Flow Yoga - The Elbowroom

15.15 - 15.55 | Embracing the World: Amma's life, work and teachings - Amma Ireland

16.10 - 17.00 | Acupuncture and Tuina (Chinese deep tissue massage) talk and demonstration with Maria Maher - Oscailt

16.35 - 17.15 | Kundalini Yoga - Kundalini Yoga Teachers Association

17.00 - 18.00 | Alexander Technique: Posture - The Gravity of the Situation with Fiona Cranwell

• Fiona will be conducting a workshop where you will learn about how we use our posture in everyday life. Are we working with gravity? Or are we letting it pull us out of shape?
  
  This hour will explore simple truths about the human body and how we use it. There will be a helpful tips in how to move. Your questions about posture will be answered.

17.05 - 18.00 | Reiki - How Does it Work? Demonstration and Q&A with Kelley Bermingham - Reiki Federation Ireland

17.10 - 18.00 | A Life of Joy: Practical Understand of the Law of Attraction with Maya Ben-Harosh

There are also private therapies including massage | reiki | shiatsu | Indian head massage | reflexology | Thai massage | acupuncture and spiritual healing.

Govindas will be supplying the food on the day. All in all, it's a day that's sure to give you something to think about and maybe even help change your life, even a little.

For €20 that's not a bad way to spend the summer solstice! You can buy tickets here or call Dublin 01 674 5773 or 01 674 6396.

Maybe I should get my head shaved...

What Sri Chimnoy, Seth Godin, Boo.com and Colin Hetherington have taught me about working on the interweb.

Apparently over at the new Boo.com "the countdown has started". The story interests me from the whole idea of taking time.

In Gruel on Dame Street the other day, Giovanni picked up a leaflet offering a Free Meditation Course. On a whim we decided to go, just to see what it was all about.

The meditation class was due to be held at the Irish Sri Chimnoy Centre on Wicklow Street. I hadn't heard of it, but we went and I'm glad I did.

There's a certain manic nature to the web, a rush to get things done, get results, get that short term offer. We don't have patience. We want the information there as quick as possible. And for those who work online, there's the same pressure to deliver.


So it was nice to step away from all this for a couple of hours and enjoy some quiet time. There were a lot more people than I expected and yet despite my hesitance to do things like this, I did and I enjoyed it.

During the class, one of the things that really stood out for me (and I'm getting to my point soon, I promise) was a photo of this Sri Chimnoy person himself at the centre of the room.

I couldn't find it online but in it the man is just staring into the distance with a wonderful warm - but knowing - smile on his face. He looks chilled. Like at the end of a web project when everything has worked out.

Sri Chimnoy is a contemporary meditation teacher, poet, composer and athlete. He leads the meditation centre at the United Nations HQ in New York. Very well respected internationally is possibly an understatement.

Taking the time out to try this meditation technique I had a couple of things running through my mind. Foremost was how nice it was to take a couple of minutes out and focus. That's what the meditation was for me - a focussing.

In that line, I've been thinking about the nature of web projects and getting things done online.

I read Seth Godin's blog religiously every morning. I've read all the books available in Ireland, and the constant theme running through Seth's posts is about distinguishing yourself by doing things right.

This morning he posted about how "showing up on time with a smile on your face being the most important part of business". Dead right, but things like that take preparation, planning and all that stuff. It's the whole swan over and under the water thing.

In everything I do online, I make the effort to do it right, because maybe I'll become a Purple Cow. Better I suppose than being this guy.


I was lucky enough to work with Colin Hetherington, now managing director of Agency.com Dublin for a couple of years from 2003.

Colin hated mistakes. Even more of a perfectionist than I was he taught me how to get the job done and get it right. Not take ages doing it but to keep an eye out for what could go wrong and avoid it. Something I still do (thanks Colin!)

And then there's this book. As I've already posted I'm reading about the collapse of Boo.com, and now that it's coming back it's even more relevant.

Reading it all I want to do is advise Ernst Malmsten to slow down, take it easy and look at what they're doing.

Of course it's easier knowing the end to advise at this stage but still, I've seen some great examples of rushing things and not taking enough care.

I think this photo is possibly the best example in the offline world. It's called Not my job, but it could as easily be Not taking the time to do it right.

With the pressures of modern business, targets, budgets and closing dates there's a lot more of a need to get it live and done rather than getting it right.

Personally I'd prefer to use a site that was right than just done. I don't know if Sri Chimnoy uses the internet but I'd imagine he'd advise taking time to reach perfection. He says satisfaction is perfection. I like that idea.

And he's gone for that less hair look. As have Colin and Seth. With the summer coming in I'm thinking of it...