The Global Retreat Centre in Nuneham Courtenay, Oxfordshire, opened its doors to the public once again over the weekend after five years’ closure for essential renovation. Over 1,750 people attended the grand opening event ‘Feeling Peace – The Meditation Experience’.
Uplifting and vibrant, the event was a rich mix of stage performances, music and dance and the sharing of wisdom and insights, personal experiences and good wishes from senior meditators from around the world, local community leaders and friends.
People were invited to come earlier in the afternoon to explore the beautiful gardens and the state rooms, soak up the peaceful atmosphere and experience the informal meditation activities set up around the grounds. There were movement meditations, affirmation meditations, grounding meditations and even tea meditations – all offering a taster of the meditation that is studied, practised and taught there. There were also informal sitar and violin performances, a meditation tent and tea and snacks for all. Many visitors remembered the Peace in the Park festivals that took place every summer for many years and attracted thousands of people, while a lot were discovering the place for the first time.
Senior meditators of the Brahma Kumaris from around the world spoke about different elements that enable us to feel peace and how meditation and a spiritual awareness is essential for our wellbeing.
Sister Mohini, Additional Administrative Head of the Brahma Kumaris from USA, talked about Feeling Grounded: “For each one of us, our eternal, natural nature is peace. We have to cultivate it], starting with our thoughts. Take this gift from here: “Om Shanti – I am peaceful” and then I look at you and you are also peaceful.”
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Sister Sudesh, European Director of Brahma Kumaris talked about Feeling Safe: “When there is purity, security and positivity in the self, you feel peace.”
Brother Brij Mohan, Additional Secretary-General of the Brahma Kumaris from their headquarters in India, shared his thoughts about Feeling Connected: “We have got disconnected from the whole world and the Creator because of an identity crisis – considering ‘my’ to be ‘I’. “There is a common denominator which can unite us all, and that is: I am a soul.”
Sister Jayanti, who is Additional Administrative Head of the Brahma Kumaris and CEO of Brahma Kumaris UK – and very much behind the renovation project – completed the picture with Feeling Peaceful. She brought the evening to a close by leading the audience into a beautiful guided meditation for the self, for the world and for nature, ending with several minutes of powerful, ‘pin drop’ silence.
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She concluded by saying: “We would like you to carry away the peace that you have felt - even for a few fleeting moments or perhaps longer than that away with yourselves so that you can be instruments for peace wherever you may be and that peace becomes available for you at any moment, at every moment you choose.”
The Global Retreat Centre has been offering meditation and self-development courses, sessions and retreats along with festivals and other events – all free as a service to the community – since it opened in 1993. It serves people across Oxfordshire and from all continents, faiths and backgrounds. A beacon of hope and a place of peace for young and old, it has welcomed many professional groups including leaders, educationalists, social workers, prison staff, health workers, from the local area and from around the world.
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*Info: Global Retreat Centre
