Happy New Year, Full Moon (Beth Upton)

Beth Upton (bethupton.com and Community in Spain); Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Happy New Year! Today is Beth Upton's first day back after a long break for rest and retreat over the past month. It has been a wonderful time for her -- a time to deepen her own practice, to reconnect with nature, and to spend some much needed time with friends and family.

She spent much of early December meditating at Bodh Gaya ("Enlightenment Grove" in Buddhist India) and the other Buddhist holy sites in India and Nepal. It was an incredible thing to be immersed in a space that is sacred to Buddhist traditions from around the world, each in their own way dedicating their lives to the Dharma.

Something about being there, in India, in the very same places where the historical Buddha lived and taught, made the Buddha's life and work seem all the more real to her and has filled her with inspiration for the year to come. And there is much to look forward to in 2023.

Having spent much of 2022 working hard on the preliminary bureaucracy for the new cave meditation community in Spain, she will be doing her best this year to actually buy the land and start transforming the space into a meditation home for all.

Also this year she looks forward to diving into some deeper aspects of calm and insight (samatha and vipassana) on her YouTube channel, taking part in some great interviews and podcasts, and perhaps even getting started on writing a book...

But above all, this year will be another year dedicated to leading meditation retreats. Having had the pleasure of practicing with many in person through 2022, she is happy to announce that she will be leading six more retreats through the first half of this year.

Indeed, her first retreat of the year starts this week, at Javorie in Slovakia. She looks forward to seeing the participants there. For more information about these retreats, take a look here.

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Full moon gathering

Today, Friday, January 6th, 2023 (8:00-10:00 pm UK), will be kicking off the new year with a full moon gathering. These gatherings are a great opportunity to come together to deepen our connections to the Dharma and to each other.

This month's gathering will be on the timely new year's topic of changing habits. Everyone is welcome! Book a place at the gathering here.

Appointments

Beth Upton will be restarting her one-on-one Zoom appointments next week. As some have noticed, as demand increases it is getting more difficult to book appointments with her. For this reason she encourages all, in the service of the community as a whole, to only book as much time as is really needed.

Also, a quick reminder that there is a two-week booking window on her calendar, meaning that one can book appointments up to two weeks in advance, and also meaning that new appointments are coming up most weekdays, so do check back regularly. Book appointments with her here.

On Tuesday January 10th, she will be holding the first group interview of the year. These weekly online sessions offer the chance not only to ask questions about one's own meditation, but also to listen and learn from the questions of others.

These group sessions are open to everyone and are also a good option if one is having difficulty booking a one-on-one Zoom appointment with her. Book a place at the group interviews up to a month in advance here.

As ever, all of her work is given on a donation basis. Please note, if making a donation via a bank transfer that her bank details have recently changed, and although the old ones do still work, it would be much more convenient to use the new ones posted on her website.

For information about all the ways in which her work can be supported, take a look here.

With much metta and gratitude!