In this course we’ll be hovering at the crossover between mindfulness practice and spiritual or contemplative practice and we’ll see what the words of mystics of the past and present can teach us.

Poetry has a special power to reach the heart, and mindfulness can clear a space to enable us to receive and digest the wisdom in a poem. What a marvellous combination! Letting the words of the world’s mystics into our practice may offer comfort, open the mind/heart, inspire insight or touch us where we need to feel. Mystical poetry can reach within us to ignite a flame that connects us to the universal and the divine.

Though these poems may sometimes use religious terminology or ideas, we will be taking their teachings as wisdom that we can each relate to in our own way.

The course will be exploratory, with everyone relating to the poetry from the context of their own practice, whether they would consider it spiritual or secular. As such we will hold an attitude of ‘no right or wrong’ when it comes to interpreting or understanding a poem. We will also experiment with taking the poems as meditation instructions and there will be guidance on how to do this at home between meetings. We use the word ‘mystical’ in a loose way, to include all poetry that opens us to perspectives that take us beyond the personal and towards a universal wisdom – whether we call this by the name of a deity or whether we refer to it in another way.

Each week we will listen to poems and practise being present for a while, allowing the teachings in a poem to ferment and find their truth within us. After this we will have space either for journaling (or writing our own poem) in silence or for mindful sharing in small groups, followed by inquiry and discussion in the larger group. There will be opportunities for those who want to, to volunteer to read a poem (written or chosen by themselves) to the group at the end of the session.

Expect poetry from Sufi, Hindu, Buddhist and Christian mystics and from others that don’t identify with a particular tradition. We’ll draw from the likes of Hafiz, Rumi, St. Francis of Assisi, Saigyo, Mary Oliver, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, Jeff Foster and many more.

This course is open to all. We welcome those with mindfulness experience or without, and those who haven’t done a Mindfulness meets Mystical Poetry course before, as well as those who have (for the latter there will be new poems).

I am making a home inside myself. A shelter

of kindness where everything

is forgiven, everything allowed—a quiet patch

of sunlight to stretch out without hurry,

where all that has been banished

and buried is welcomed, spoken, listened to—released.

I whisper hallelujah to the friendly

sky. Watch now as I burst into blossom.

Excerpt from The Most Important Thing – Julia Fehrenbacher