May 2017 NUI Galway Hosts A Weekend of Mindfulness with Plum Village Monastics

NUI Galway Mindful Way initiative in association with Mindfulness Ireland to host a weekend of mindfulness sessions and retreats with monastics from Plum Village

The Mindful Way initiative at NUI Galway is delighted to once again welcome monastics from Plum Village back to the campus for a weekend of Mindfulness sessions in association with Mindfulness Ireland. Exploring the practice of mindfulness, a number of free events will take place from the 5-7 May in Aras Moyola, the School of Nursing and Midwifery and are open to the public.

The mindfulness sessions will be presented by Teacher, Brother Phap Lai, and his colleagues from Plum Village in Bordeaux. Brother Phap Lai is a Senior Dharma Teacher within the Plum Village Mindfulness tradition and lives his daily life practicing mindfulness with his community and leading mindfulness retreats around the world.

On Friday 5 May Brother Phap Lai will lead a Mindfulness session from 6pm to 8.15pm and again on Saturday 6 May from 6pm to 8.15pm. On Saturday 6 May from 2pm to 4pm ‘Wake Up Ireland’, an exciting new addition to the Mindful Way programme of events this year, invites young people between the age of 18 and 35 years to attend a separate mindfulness event. And on Sunday 7 May there will be a day long retreat from 11am to 4.30pm and participants are also invited to share a mindful vegan lunch with the Plum Village Monastics.

These unique events are part of NUI Galway’s ongoing initiative towards integrating mindfulness into the University’s culture and the importance of mindfulness in higher educational institutions and the wider community. The event is open to all university staff and students, the general public, researchers, student counsellors and advisors, healthcare professionals, mindfulness practitioners, and anyone with an interest in mindfulness.

Professor Lokesh Joshi, Vice-President for Research at NUI Galway, and coordinator of the University’s Mindful Way initiative, said: “NUI Galway is on a journey to adopt a mindfulness culture to benefit both staff and students that is being shared with the wider Galway community. We are honoured to host Brother Phap Lai and his monastic colleagues from Plum Village and we hope that everyone who attends will enjoy this truly unique offering with such a globally revered group.”

Plum Village, near Bordeaux in southwest France, is the largest international practice centre in the Plum Village tradition, and the first monastic community founded by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, a global spiritual leader, poet and peace activist, revered around the world for his powerful teachings and bestselling writings on mindfulness and peace. His key teaching is that, through mindfulness, we can learn to live happily in the present moment - the only way to truly develop peace, both in one’s self and in the world.

For more information about events email mindfulway@nuigalway.ie.

All weekend sessions will take place in lecture hall MY243 in Aras Moyola, also known as the School of Nursing and Midwifery at NUI Galway and opposite the Alice Perry Engineering Building. For directions visit: http://www.nuigalway.ie/media/Aras-Moyola-map.pdf

Parking on campus is free on Saturday and Sunday and after 5.45pm on Friday, visit: http://www.nuigalway.ie/media/buildingsoffice/files/services/parking/M12122_050916_Parking_CampusMapWEB.pdf.

Those wishing to attend the Sunday Mindfulness retreat and lunch can register here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/day-of-mindfulness-practice-with-plum-village-monastics-tickets-34065283179.      

For more information about ‘Wake Up Ireland’ visit: http://www.wkupireland.org/.

The Plum Village Monastics are in Galway as part of Mindfulness Ireland's Annual Retreat Programme, which takes place every year over the May Bank Holiday weekend. For more information please visit www.mindfulnessireland.org/ www.plumvillage.org and       https://plumvillage.org/about/wake-up-young-practitioners/

-Ends-