Third Annual Empowerment Retreat, 2-4 July 2021

The Power of Mindfulness in a Time of Upheaval: Accessibility in Mindfulness 

Friday 2 July - Sunday 4 July, 2021

Please note that the timing of the event allows for those resident in the US to participate. 

We warmly invite you to join us as we create an inclusive community of practice for deepening our work ahead together. This event will be a closed, safe space, for People Of Colour to come together, heal, and be empowered. 

Together, through inquiry, talks and mindfulness practices, discussion, suitable for both advanced and beginners  & advanced practitioners. 

1. We explore heart-level intention to humanize personal and collective trauma.

2. We explore patterns around noticing, accepting, investigating and confronting bias and facing injustice - in our daily lives and the world. 

3. We examine how mindfulness supports all of us, inwardly and outwardly, to create a saner, more equitable world without compromising equanimity, compassion and our experience of common humanity.

4. To raise awareness of trauma imprints and to lend context to experiences often pathologized rather than understood within a broader ecology of relationships and events.

5. During this event you will be uplighted through power leaders of colour from around the world, share and explore the  value of being interconneted and embedded within ancestral lineages and histories; the traces of which (the trauma and resilience of which) remain an influence on how we inhabit out bodies, see the world and each other, and sense our connection and belonging.  

View link to retreat timetable: Empowerment Retreat Timetable-2021 | MNPC

International Presenters include: 

Day 1 : The Power of the Collective

Attendees will deepen their understanding of the power of the collective to heal, empower, and flourish their communities

Drew Sinclair and Nisha Halai will opeing the event with the libation ritual fusion. 

As multi-disciplinary artists, transpersonal art therapists and musicians, they intuitively create and share melodic sounds and songs - carrying reverence for natural Life. The invitation is for participants to embrace the musical alchemy, for healing and transformation

DAY 2: Applicable Strategies

Clinicians, community members, and educators alike will be able to apply a variety of healing tools and strategies that support BIPOC mental health in practice.

Dene Donalds 9am 

A Dharma teacher in the Zen tradition of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh offers Mindfulness Programmes to offenders and asylum seekers. He also works with people with learning disabilities, and autism, and leads retreats and Days of Mindfulness for people of all faiths and none.

William Fley  2pm 

William is the founder and director of the Mindfulness Network for People of Colour which focuses on accessibility to mindfulness-based training routes, and the development of workshops and retreat for people of colour. He is a BACP registered counsellor in private practice addressing the issues around adversity and absent fathers.  He is a speaker at this year's international conference in Denmark on mindfulness where he will be speaking about 'forgiveness'.  And he is curating an event in Parliament with Mindfulness Initiative.

Rhonda Magee  4pm 

Rhonda is Professor of Law at the University of San Francisco and an internationally-recognized thought and practice leader. Having studied with teachers including Jon Kabat Zinn, Rhonda teaches mindfulness-based interventions, awareness, and compassion practices from a range of traditions. Shey sees mindfulness meditation as key to personal, interpersonal, and collective transformation. In 2022 Rhonda will make a return visit to Parliament in an event hosted by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Mindfulness, and curated by Mindfulness Initiative and MNPC.

Day 3 New Connections

Participants engage in collaborative learning to aid in long-term solutions for healing communities through the leveraging of collective power.

Max Gillespie 9am 

"As a psychological therapist, with experience in post-trauma growth, and as a long-term practitioner of Vajrayana Buddhism and Shamanism,  Max combines the psychological and the spiritual towards healing, empowerment, and a ferocious joy"

Dawa Tarchin Phillips 2pm 

Dawa Tarchin Phillips - Dawa is a US visionary global leader, spiritual teacher, author, researcher and entrepreneur.  Founder/CEO of Empowerment Holdings, a mindful leadership training and consulting firm, co-founder of the University of California's Center for Mindfulness and Human Potential and President of the International Mindfulness Teachers Association (IMTA.org), as well as a leading voice in the global mindfulness movement. Dawa has been an advanced Dharma and meditation practitioner for over 25 years.

Eugene Ellis 4pm 

Eugene is the Director and Founder of the Black, African and Asian Therapist Network, the UK's largest independent organisation to specialise in working therapeutically with People Of Colour.  He is a psychotherapist, facilitating dialogue around race and mental wellbeing.  He has recently published "The Race Conversation".

Empowerment Healing Events will be presented by:

Melissa James

 Melissa James is a singer-songwriter and the founder of the charitable mental health and 'Big Sing' initiative Sing4Sane. This project was spearheaded by Melissa's song Live Again after she decided to organise a pop-up Big Sing in which she invited members of the public to sing and  create a Big Sing recording of Live Again at RAK Studios.  This work, and her subsequent projects, has furthered Melissa’s belief that music is a powerful tool for healing and connection with others.

Hà 

Member of the Plum Village tradition, founded by the Zen Master and Peace Activist Thích Nhất Hạnh. Hà owns a MSc. in Psychology in the U.K. Growing up in England, though born and raised in Vietnam 'till the age of 16, the idea of Deep Rest resonates with the napping culture of her home country. The practice reminds Hà of her carefree childhood on tranquil hot summer days when power outage was common in Hanoi. Hà is undertaking a  4 year training programme accredited by Vietnam’s Ministry of Health to become a registered psychotherapist and mindfulness teacher. - under the supervision of Zen Master Minh Niem

Muna Light and Usu’ra

Usu’ra is a Shamanic Energy Healer who helps develop and reignite energetic gateways; connecting you to your own innate wisdom and knowledge in order to live an embodied and integrated life full of healing, self-love and self-empowerment.

Muna is a sound healer who works organically with her voice. She incorporates crystal healing, sound baths, meditation and organic shamanism, integrating them to elevate; restore self-love and align you with your highest good. 

Hosts:-

William Fley

William is a clinician in private practice with a speciality in 'Absent Fathers' and trauma. A fully accredited member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy and Breathworks Mindfulness, he is the Founder of MNPC. William holds Masters Degrees from Birkbeck College, the University of London, and Roehampton University. Working within community organisations in marginalized communities, William aims to bring awareness of racialized trauma through mindfulness-based interventions. He continues to pursue his passion of eliminating cultural and other barriers to accessing mindfulness by encouraging cultural awareness and responsiveness.

Abi Osho

Founder of Soul Melanin

Author of "Natures medicine for the Soul"

Abi is a Holistic Empowerment Coach, Essential Oil Educator & Clinical Hypnotherapist, she has been practicing holistically for the past 30 years and is a keen advocate of introducing people of colour back to their ancestral roots, through grounding whilst out in semi ancient woodland.

This grounding experience helps individuals to connect with mother earth and begin to feel more empowered and at one with nature. Abi's mindful safe space approach to reconnecting with your inner self and has proven to be a highly effective modality that helps to release, limiting beliefs about oneself, past traumas and encourage a more mindful connection with the earth and the natural balance of mind, body, and soul that many of us strive to achieve.

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                                                                                   Cost 

To make MNPC financially accessible most events are donation-based (unless otherwise noted). The value is in each event description for your reference. We ask that you donate at a level that feels most comfortable for you if you are able.

For most people we suggest that the standard or concessionary rate of £50/£30 will be most appropriate.  However if your financial circumstances allow, we invite you to support us and our retreats - including providing additional free spaces - by sponsoring us.

We also have a limited number of free spaces available through our bursary scheme.  This is on a 'first come, first served basis' and requires just a simple request.

Tickets are for the 3-day online event and are priced as follows: 

£50 -  Standard 

£30 -  Students and concessions

£90 -  Support us through sponsorship of the retreat  (See below)

Free - Bursary application.  If you would like a free ticket to the Empowerment Retreat due to your financial or personal circumstances, please let us know, detailing your situation.  Subject to availability.

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  Sponsorship

Your sponsorship of this event would be invaluable in helping to make this and our other events possible and accessible.

This Empowerment Retreat requires the work of a team of volunteers who freely give their time over several months for the benefit of the POC community.  Costs include marketing, admin, supervision, web hosting, presenters' fees and technical support.

Sponsorship funding is also used to provide bursaries to enable People of Colour to attend, who would otherwise be unable to afford to do so.

Sponsorship tickets are priced from £90.  However if you would prefer to purchase a standard/concession ticket and donate an additional sum for sponsorship, please email us and we will be happy to take you through the process. Contributions of any amount would be much appreciated.  You may also specify whether you wish your sponsorship to be used specifically to provide free spaces for others. 

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Terms and conditions

Please note that we will make every effort to provide all elements of the event as advertised. However, MNPC will not be liable if any aspect of an event is not available due to circumstances beyond our control, such as significant signal disruption. MNPC will make all reasonable efforts to provide an alternative.  

Please note that we will record the whole retreat except for breakout rooms.

Cancellation

We operate on a not-for-profit basis, relying on the support of many volunteers. In the unlikely event the retreat does not run we will be unable to offer any refunds but, where possible, we will offer to book you onto an alternative MNPC event.