Dialoguing with Nature

Mandala created during a team-building exercise

Mandala created during a team-building exercise

The Oasis Programme at St. Luke’s has been going strong for over 12 years now. It is offered to anyone who is searching for the meaning of life, very often prompted by illness or a life crisis that makes us stop and take stock. An Oasis group can be tremendously supportive during such times, through the compassionate and mutual sharing of wisdom over a period of nine months.

30 therapists took part on the course

30 therapists took part on the course

Meetings take place on a weekly basis for 3 hours. Increasingly there are requests to teach the facilitation skills required for running such groups, also from abroad. Over the last eight years I have been invited to teach such courses in Spain so that therapists can start their own groups, two of which are now active in Madrid and Barcelona.

My most recent teaching assignment for a group of 30 therapists took place in a beautiful country property near to Montserrat, a 90 minute drive from Barcelona.

Mandalas created during the course

Mandala created during the course

We began the day with a silent meditative walk, each time taking a different focus – sprouting, budding and new growth; or leafing, spreading and abundance; dying, seeding and receding. As part of a team building exercise we split up into 3 groups of 10 people. Their task was to work with nature and together create a mandala with the materials found in the surroundings.

On the first day each group chose and marked out their very different locations, one very intimate and hidden, one exposed with breath taking views and one near the studios. The mandalas were developed over the next three days, beginning with the structure, then focussing on enlivening and lastly on ensouling them, all the while working as a whole group. Not surprisingly, there were challenges and potential conflicts to overcome – an essential learning process to find creative ways of resolving them. There was above all, much joy and laughter, singing, chanting and dancing!

Mandalas created during the course

Mandala created during the course

To conclude and celebrate our art work we visited each place in turn and were showered with flower petals and greeted with the description of intense group processes that had been experienced, but also saw how the intricate dialogue with nature in its varied manifestations was being mirrored in our own souls.

The outdoor work was complemented in the studios with art work, paintings and sculpture as well as study and reports from the budding Oasis groups in Spain!

Mandala created during the course

Mandala created during the course

It was wonderful to witness the growing heart warmth, enthusiasm and new ideas that were being discovered to then take home and work with.

Karin Jarman, July 2016

The Oasis Group is run by Karin Jarman and Pauline Marksteiner at St Luke’s Medical Centre. Please Contact us for more information

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