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A Morning of Mindfulness in Dunalley – by Josef!

Last weekend we gathered at the Dunalley Community Hall for our three-hour “Refresh Yourself” mindfulness retreat. The space was bright and welcoming, and with the sun streaming in across the water, it set the perfect tone for slowing down and reconnecting.

Across the morning, we moved through a series of different practices. We begun the first half of the day with mindful movement, settled into a guided body scan, and then into sitting practice, before finishing with mindful walking in the grounds outside the hall, surrounded by the beautiful views of Dunalley. We paused halfway through for tea and coffee, giving everyone a chance to stretch, sip, and settle into the simple pleasure of slowing down and being present. The second half of the day followed much in the same way, before closing with a gratitude practice, which began with the body, and expanded gradually to different areas of our lives. Each practice throughout the day offered its own way of softening tension, settling attention, and arriving more fully in the moment. At the end, we closed with a group discussion about what we had noticed, what shifted, and what we wanted to carry back into daily life.

Thank you to everyone who joined, it was a real pleasure to practice with you, and I greatly look forward to the next opportunity to refresh ourselves together.”  – Josef

PS: a little pic of Neal the Seal not noticing, not shifting, but very much appreciating a relaxed state of being at Dunalley…

Christine and Tracy had the opportunity to present the MPA story at the National Rural Mental Health Conference this week. It’s a great story: a tiny business started in NW Tassie, when two incredible women had a great idea, and got backing by Primary Health Tasmania back in 2017.

Then 2000 Tasmanians gave the time and made the effort to participate in the courses, and let us know how significantly the skills of mindfulness made positive changes in their lives.

This is the story we told the conference; and between the lines we were saying: if this has been so helpful for so many over the last 9 years across the population, then maybe, just maybe, it might be a good idea to continue here, and wherever in Australia the evidence-based mindfulness courses can be taught, so that even more people can learn the skills that enable us to meet the challenges of modern life with skill and confidence. 

We told them about the Research we are undertaking, with the hope to add to the evidence base for Mindfulness skills journeying with us for the long term – maybe for life. So if you haven’t had a chance to complete the survey, don’t forget to jump online here and help us out. We hope to be able to present the initial results at another conference next year!

We also heard many presentations that affirmed the importance of delivering mental health services in the places people live, like we have been doing for 9 years , driving around this beautiful state of ours. While mindfulness gets a lot of mentions in other presentations for its effectiveness, we were the only organisation actually teaching mindfulness courses, and doing so for free, for all Tasmanians. So if you’re here in Tassie, sign up for a course if you havent already and tell your friends as well! 

Just saying’….find a Mindfulness course in Tasmania to suit you! We currently have courses coming up in Bicheno, Cygnet, Wynyard and online. Check out the Find a Course page to register and if we haven’t got what you’re after, please sign up for the waitlist and send us an email to let us know where we should run our next courses.

What a day we had in Campbell Town for our Spring Muster! The weather cleared for the morning, and we were welcomed by a representative Elder, Meredith Lockheed, with ochres from several areas of Tasmania, including the Midlands, reflecting the diversity in the group that had gathered.

We explored the diversity in our practices, forming our ‘families’ of common practice, and sharing wisdom about ways of nurturing our practices: respecting our own boundaries, being kind to ourselves so we can be kind to others, Gentle Reminders to stay in the present with our senses open and going at our own pace, not being disappointed in or impatient with ourselves, practicing gratitude for what already brings joy in the natural world from the first moment we look out the window in the morning, having fun, and starting anew each new day. Our family tree looks something like this!

We explored new practices in the workshops, using mud (clay) mindfully to express stories from our lives, meeting the pantukina layapinta/Elizabeth River, and moving with our breath around our window of tolerance. If you are interested in knowing more about these, send us an email and we can work out how to offer more mindful experiences of these kinds. We all got to take home a small clay container made mindfully by Miranda, to remind us how our practices and our MPA community ‘hold’ us safe and valued. Check out some photos of the event below.

We launched the MPA/UTAS research project Water Under The Bridge, which seeks to learn what happens down stream for those of us who have completed a mindfulness course over the past 9 years…if you are one of these, please check out the Research information and link here. We plan to have updates on our website, as well as initial themes that we can present at our next Muster in Autumn! Stay tuned for details next year…and if you missed out on your MPA Beanie this time, make sure you’re there for the Autumn version! 

BetterTogther@7 met online on the 1st October at 7am, with 22 of the MPA community! The practice this time was an eyes open exploration of focussed, and broad gaze, choosing an object that you could keep at the centre of your visual field. My object was a piece of wattle I had found on my morning walk. This open eyes practice is one that you can use as you  go about your day to help with both focus, and with the relaxation of focus and capacity to see the bigger picture in any moment. Its also a great practice to take on your walk, if you’re joining The Big Tassie Walk this October, raising money and awareness to support Tasmanian’s Migrant Resource Centre and their participants from the 180 nationalities represented in the Tasmanian community to be welcome, and able to thrive in our communities. If you’d like, you can join MPA as a registered organisation on the Walk, or you can simply post on our Facebook page the things you mindfully notice with your eyes open on your walks. After all, walking is great for your mental health any month of the year! In fact the ‘prescription’ is a daily 20-30 minute walk each day, so that you get a little bit puffy and breathing deeply. Give it a go, Mindfully!

Signing up for The Big Tassie Walk:

Here’s how to get started:

1. Click the link → Add your walking challenge → Then complete your individual details to create your profile.

Alternative options:

• You can go to the homepage and sign up as an individual – https://bigtassiewalk.org.au/
  • When asked, “Are you fundraising as part of an organisation?” select yes and type your organisation’s name.
• Or, sign up individually first, and then join your organisation from the dashboard (scroll down on the left side).

Joining BetterTogether@7: just click here to join the zoom link

Next one is Saturday 1st November!