AREA-members already work collectively and cooperatively to create programmes and systems for autonomous development with an emphasis on rural communities and areas. We recognise that a metro centric version of “arts and culture” inhibits the sustainability of the living practice of art and its power to develop actual culture. Therefore, we each bring long term cultural commitment embedded in rural societies rather than for them.

 What is Meditation?

To ensure we are all at the same starting point, I want to start by offering definitions of meditation and mindfulness.  We'll unpack these definitions in more detail before taking a look at the various forms of meditation, as well as meditation's "active" and "receptive" characteristics.  I will also share with you the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (body, emotions, mind, and experiences), as this will be a framework for our exploration of mindfulness.  We will close with a sharing of what I feel the essence and purpose of meditation and mindfulness really are.

As I speak about meditation I would also like you to reflect when people ask you, "Oh, you're a meditation teacher" or whatever it is that you do, does it help you and others flourish in life? Because that’s what I consider is the real purpose of what I do as a Mindfulness Meditation Teacher.

Sometimes when people ask what I do, I say I'm A Writer, but then they want to know what I’ve written and I feel I have to defend myself when I say I write and yet don’t publish or share much even on the website. Other times, I might say I'm in theatre, when I feel like all the world’s a stage and I’m performing. But to begin to quiet oneself and pay attention inwardly is really one of the most radical acts a human can do nowadays and though not easy, necessary. Kabir, the Indian Poet and mystic said, "I felt in need of a great pilgrimage. So I sat still for three days. And that becomes a great pilgrimage." And in many ways mindfulness meditation is like going on a journey to discover the meaning of life for oneself.  

Join us on Culture Night Friday 18 @ 7pm to learn more about the different types of meditation practices, which you're probably already doing in some form or another.

Follow the Zoom Link below if you have the App installed on your computer, tablet or mobile phone.

John Farragher is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Culture Night: WHAT IS MEDITATION?
Time: Sep 18, 2020 07:00 PM Dublin

Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/4303914344

I love my cast almost as much as I love Shakespeare for having created A Midsummer Night's Dream.

I don't think I've ever had so much fun directing a play and it's fair to say we truly are hempen homespun amateurs de theatre - lovers of theatre.  When we pull together rather than against each other it makes it all worthwhile and after some doubts as to whether we'd ever get this show on the road here we are again on the road to Kiltimagh. 

It is kind of funny how things work our because I've wanted the Non Prophet Organisation's performances to tour in a community context just like this, using our public spaces and creating site specific performances.

I hope there'll be more to come. I've been busy filling out funding applications after receiving invitations to participate in a creative Europe project about trees and landscape, which concerns our performance footprint and our socio-ecological environment. The other invitation is to the EFA's Festival Manager's Atelier in Poznan in October 2014 and with no money I can only hope funds will come from our representative bodies.

Once we paid off what I owe from our last production that we ran for free we can start thinking of other ways of earning enough to boraden our horizons. Italy beckons next year.

Andiamo!

Kind Wishes,

John Farragher

Artistic Direction:  http://www.nonprophetorganisation.eu/

Tel: +353 (0)85 7506104

Brevity is the soul of wit but when it comes to thanking people the list is long and we'd rather include everybody than leave anybody out, which we inevitably will if we start naming individuals or organisations that helped us in our run up to the first edition of the Non Prophet Organisation's Claremorris community festival. It's about creating a sense of community and we believe whether or not you participated you played a part in what we set out to address with the non prophet festivals: We can flourish and grow if we work and play together as a community.

We'd rather you acknowledge your own participation in any way you see fit and if we haven't thanked you personally already it's simply because we haven't had time to get round to you as of yet. It may seem like we've more time than sense on our hands but believe us when we say working for the leisure industry is a labour of love.

Our Saturday evening entertainment in the square began with brazilian reggae beat that brought those gathered to their feet. Followed by trad music and dance from Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Claremorris courtesy of the Feeneys. We went from Sean Nos to line dancing thanks to Keiran Kenny and Co. Our scenes from A Midsummer Night's Dream would not have been complete without a wedding dress and the Straw Boys who helped us set the stage for what was a wonderful performance picnic on Sunday. Our guests from Galway, Ala, provided carrot cake as well as their forum theatre piece on Fracking: Divide and Conquer that got us talking about community and our Shakespeare in the park "A Midsummer Night's Dream" with masks provided for the fairies by our lovely Lisa from Studio C and more music from the Feeneys  brought our entertainment to an end just as the evening was setting in.

We're glad to say that we had a lovely couple of sunny days for our community to come together and judging by the reaction and positive comments from all present who participated long may we continue to entertain ourselves in our community.

We'd like to thank everybody in our global community who helped make the festival happpen and we hope to entertain you again soon with another outdoor performance of Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' Let the moon shine for us at Lughnasa as the sun did for the summer solstice, to help celebrate our seasons and our flourishing festivals that celebrate and show our gratitude for life!

Our Saturday evening entertainment in the square began with brazilian reggae beat that brought those gathered to their feet. Followed by more music and dance from the Feeneys. We went from Sean Nos to line dancing courtesy of Keiran Kenny and Co. Scenes from A Midsummer Night's Dream would not have been complete with the Straw Boys who helped us set the scence for what was a wonderful performance picnic the following day with our guests from Galway Ala's. Their forum theatre piece on Fracking got us talking about community and our Shakespeare in the park "A Midsummer Night's Dream" with masks provided for the fairies by our lovely Lisa from Studio C and music by the Feeneys with Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Claremorris brought our entertainment to an end just as the evening was setting in.

We're glad to say that we had a lovely couple of sunny days for our first non prophet festival with Claremorris Community and judging by the reaction and positive comments from all present and who participated long may we continue to entertain our community.

We'd like to thank everybody in our global community who helped make the festival happpen and we hope to entertain you again soon with another outdoor performance of Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' Let the moon shine for us at Lughnasa as the sun did for the summer solstice, to help celebrate our seasons and our flourishing festivals that celebrate and show our gratitude for life!

Kind Wishes,

John Farragher

Artistic Direction:  http://www.nonprophetorganisation.eu/

Tel: +353 (0)85 7506104