The Call of Anxiety: Developing a Fearless Compassionate Heart

Led by Singhashri and Balajit

Friday 13 to 15 June, 2025

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Many meditators come to practice in the hope of reducing or even getting rid of difficult feelings like stress and anxiety. Yet, to feel anxiety about our lives and especially the current state of our world is a completely understandable and even appropriate response. So how do we learn to listen deeply to our anxiety without allowing it to overwhelm us?

Anxiety can have a debilitating effect on our lives. Popular techniques that emphasise trying to calm or relax, whilst having a place, on their own provide surface and temporary relief. Buddhism teaches that contracted mental states are driven by deeper underlying causes and conditions that through practice can be seen through and released.

Anxiety is also sending us an important message: that we are struggling to tolerate our current bodily experience. It is a messenger of information. On this practical and experiential weekend retreat, guided by the core teachings of the Buddha, we will be exploring effective and creative ways of responding to this.

How in relationship with others, can we resource ourselves to stay present to our body of experience that includes others and the world? How do we build emotional resilience and therefore be less vulnerable to overwhelm? How can we show up in the world with a more fearless compassionate heart?

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First daily session (2 hrs): USA & Canada PT 2:00 am | México CST 3:00 am | USA & Canada ET 5:00 am | IE & UK BST 10:00 am | Europe CEST 11:00 am | India IST 2:30 pm | Australia AEST 7:00 pm | New Zealand NZST 9:00 pm

Second daily session (2 hrs): USA & Canada PT 8:00 am | México CST 9:00 am | USA & Canada ET 11:00 am | IE & UK BST 4:00 pm | Europe CEST 5:00 pm | India IST 8:30 pm | Australia AEST 1:00 am (next day) | New Zealand NZST 3:00 am (next day)

Third daily session (1.5 hrs): USA & Canada PT 11:30 am | México CST 12:30 pm | USA & Canada ET 2:30 pm | IE & UK BST 7:30 pm | Europe CEST 8:30 pm | India IST 12:00 midn (next day) | Australia AEST 4:30 am (next day) | New Zealand NZST 6:30 am (next day)

Suggested donation:
£90-50 | $120-65 | €105-60

N.B. This retreat is for peole with at least six months' meditation experience. Please get in touch if you have any questioins about attending: support@thebuddhistcentre.com

Like all our events, this retreat is offered by donation rather than charging a compulsory ticket price. We want to do this because we never want money to be an obstacle to taking part in a supportive community, and we know many people are struggling financially in the wake of the pandemic and cost of living crisis. The amount we suggest reflects the huge amount of work and love that goes into putting on events we hope will benefit everyone attending. If you can, please donate today to help us continue with our work and support others to attend who cannot afford to pay. Thank you!

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Attend any or all conversations in Zoom.

This event will be recorded and may be published online for others to access. Only the leader's video will be used except where users consent to appear spotlighted in a public conversation. Private conversations in breakout rooms will not be recorded.

Balajit

Balajit (he/him) has been leading retreats and events across the UK for around 15 years. For several years he lived and worked at Vajraloka Retreat Centre in North Wales.

He is currently based in Birmingham, where he mixes Buddhist teaching responsibilities with work as a trauma therapist. He has studied the newly emerging psycho-biological approaches to trauma work- and is qualified in Somatic Experiencing, NARM therapy and SHEN Therapy.

In the past few years, Balajit has been exploring correspondences between these emerging approaches and the canonical Dharma, as aids to becoming more embodied and the arising of the bodhicitta.

Singhashri

Singhashri (she/her or they/them) is a queer, Latinx-American dharma teacher and writer. They teach mindfulness and compassion as means to awakening to love, beauty and truth and have committed their life to supporting collective liberation for all and the joy and freedom found there. They teach at various retreat and urban centres across the UK, Europe and the USA, and support a number of projects aimed at creating greater diversity and inclusion within Buddhist sanghas and the secular mindfulness field. They currently live in London with their partner.