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Dear friends,
This week we will enjoy a guest facilitator for our Monday evening meditation (June 7)!
Barabara Newell, a former monastic at Plum Village, spent twelve years as a Buddhist nun in the community learning directly from Thich Nhat Hanh. Her full bio is below.
On Monday night, after our meditation period, Barbara will offer a Question and Answer session about the practice and teachings.
We would love to hear some of your questions in advance (which will help Barbara plan her time), so please send questions for Barbara to info@openingheartmindfulness.org before Monday. There will also be time to receive questions "live" on Monday evening.
During a retreat in 2014, Thich Nhat Hanh invited people to ask him questions by saying:
"So don’t ask questions about Buddhism. Ask questions about your practice. A question that has to do with our suffering, our happiness, our experiences of the practice, our difficulties in the practice. We know that a good question can benefit many people. So we have to ask a real question, a question of the heart. The question that has been there in our heart for a long time. This is an opportunity."
We look forward to seeing you Monday! Please don't forget to send your questions.
xo
annie.
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Barbara's bio:
Mindfulness, meditation and compassion have been the primary focus of Barbara’s life. She trained and taught for twelve years as a nun with Venerable Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. During that time she served as his simultaneous interpreter, editor, and publishing coordinator, and received transmission of the lamp (recognition as a Dharma teacher) from the Zen Master.
Barbara trained and taught in Plum Village and on tour with Thich Nhat Hanh from 2002-2015. As a monastic her responsibilities included helping to offer retreats, mentoring newer nuns, editing and contracting for Thay’s books, and simultaneous interpreting between French and English. While working as an attorney in Washington DC from 1995-2002 she was active in the Washington Mindfulness Community, serving on its practice council, and Still Water Mindfulness Practice Center.
Barbara returned to lay life in the United States in 2016. She is a graduate of the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program taught by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach in partnership with the University of California at Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center. She previously received her JD from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and has worked with the Grove Emotional Health Collaborative, and other small and large businesses, law firms, and nonprofits. She offers mindfulness and meditation mentoring to individuals and online groups such as Cloud Sangha and the Power of Awareness course. Barbara is a member of the advisory council of the Ann Arbor Center for Mindfulness.
In her experience with thousands of students, Barbara has seen how applied mindfulness practices can improve any and every situation. She finds joy in helping people rediscover how to embody genuine presence, connect meaningfully with others, tap into fresh insight, and enliven the everyday.
To learn more, please check out Barbara’s free podcast and other offerings at barbaranewell.com.
To donate to Barbara and her work, click HERE.