Project Overview

This proposal is for the expansion, revitalisation and marketing of two existing mindfulness practice, yoga and meditation centres located in regions of outstanding natural beauty in Europe. Despite the high quality of service offered at both centres, there is a significant lack of resources and marketing, so our aim is to bridge this gap so that a much larger number of people can benefit. Highly experienced instructors guide participants using groundbreaking methods that have been developed over a 50-year period and are uniquely suited for the modern person who typically finds it difficult to find inner peace. In modern life, where people have increasingly lost their ability to focus, and have in general not been taught how to go inside, most people find mindfulness, meditation and even just sitting still to be a difficult task. A sense of inner peace has become elusive for many people. As a result, millions of people who would benefit from mindfulness practice, meditation or yoga and have a potential interest have not found a way to bring it into their lives. Meanwhile, millions of people around the world today are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, bereavement, childhood trauma, domestic abuse, divorce, marital strife, bankruptcy, job layoffs and other mental, emotional or spiritual states of crisis which have led to a loss of personal meaning and direction in their lives. Many of these people are urgently in need of inner peace, spiritual guidance and practical help through methods such as mindfulness, yoga and meditation, to help them rediscover their inner selves and a sense of purpose in life. So what is the solution? It has already been implemented at these two centres, and it constitutes a radical new form of mindfulness, yoga and meditation practice which is especially suited for restless modern people with a limited attention span. Two existing meditation centres will be expanded, revitalised and marketed in new ways to bring greater spiritual, mental and physical wellbeing to a wider global reach in a world that increasingly looks for and needs opportunities to go on a spiritual retreat more regularly, find new ways to connect in a community and cultivate a greater sense of inner peace and life purpose. As a part of the expansion, grants will be made available to bring people who are financially challenged, including people from economically impoverished areas, or who are struggling with mental health, to allow them to go on spiritual and wellbeing retreats. These centres already exist and are attended by people from over a dozen different countries, but only by small groups at present – we will massively expand the resources and their global reach. They are in locations of stunning beauty, one in the warmest and prettiest part of the south coast of England, in a place called the English Riviera, and the other in a beautiful mountain range in the Black Forest in the south of Germany, not far from the Swiss border.

Executive Summary

Two existing meditation centres in gorgeous locations have been identified as offering services of very high value to society, but lacking resources for expansion. At the two locations, a special type of meditation has already been taught for 20 years, but only to small groups due to lack of funding to develop the facilities, marketing and resources in new ways. With funding, the services will be expanded and be better connected to a wider network of those in need. One of the main approaches used at the two centres (but not the only one) is called Tibetan Pulsing Yoga. Despite the reference to Tibet in its name (which pays tribute to Padmasambhava, a 9th century monk who brought yoga to Tibet), it was founded in the USA in the 1970s, but is nowadays kept alive mainly in Europe. It is not a religious practice, but is a modern form of mindfulness, yoga or meditation practice developed over the last 50 years specifically in order to bring meditation into the modern world. People of many different religions – or of no religion at all – attend the centres and benefit from the methods used. New ways were found to help modern people to meditate through use of a variety of techniques including music, acupressure, sound, art, colour, symbolism, cinema, dance, counselling, drama and more. These highly effective methods can be partly likened to those used at mental health centres around the world, such as art therapy, music therapy and drama therapy. However, they go a lot further and a lot deeper, by also teaching participants to meditate and find their way to inner peace. As taught at these centres, the purpose of meditation, in a nutshell, can be seen as being for spiritual, mental and physical wellbeing, through the practice of mindfulness and specifically finding the still, inner centre of one's consciousness (developing the inner watcher), to help the mind let go of its negative attachments to the causes of suffering in our lives, and to help us develop more compassion for others and find a greater sense of higher purpose. By way of a simple example, suppose that 2 men fall on the road and each bangs his knee – one yelps briefly but is not very distressed about it and his mind is able to quickly move on, whereas the other experiences considerable distress which hangs over him for the rest of the day like a cloud. In psychology research, the difference between these two men has been termed “resilience”. This, in turn, is influenced by many factors, including genetics, nutrition, upbringing, character, mental habits and the individual trauma history of each person. However, the great discovery of mindfulness and meditation practice is that most people can – with guidance and regular practice – cultivate a strong sense of inner peace from which a far greater life resilience flows. This process, in turn, uplifts all of humanity. It helps communities by bringing personal meaning, spiritual purpose and compassion into our lives, as well as by helping people who are struggling with many different types of mental-emotional suffering. First of all, as an umbrella to the management of all activities and use of all funds, we will establish a new organisation in the UK within which to oversee the revitalisation and expansion project of the two existing meditation centres. As Director, I will then work closely with the staff at both centres, to coordinate with their needs and recruit a team to fill all the other positions needed for the project. The revitalisation process will include significant expansion of the premises and resources available at the centres themselves, so that they can better accommodate regular events for larger groups, and an extensive new marketing programme – including diverse measures such as: regular international tours by multiple instructors to give introductory talks and workshops at conferences, health centres, churches, monasteries and other locations around the world; a regular stream of articles, videos and advertising online and in many different magazines; a new series of practical meditation manuals and introductory books and videos both for the participants and the wider public; a series of documentaries and TV segments; further market research to identify other ways to open up new audiences globally; and more. In summary, I would like to extend this opportunity to them and the great work they are doing, which deserves to reach many more people, and which would then be of huge benefit to the world, given the excellent work already taking place at both centres. So the primary task is not of creation of something new, but of expansion of what already exists, and bridging it with new audiences and networks.

Funds Required