The Foundation’s First Residential Event – Success!

Friday 13th November saw the arrival of another anniversary of the great Kendo Nagasaki’s first appearance on the British Professional Wrestling scene – to the very day – that fateful day in 1964 was also a Friday 13th!

To celebrate Kendo’s 51st anniversary, as well as conduct the monthly Distance Healing Ceremony, a combined Event was staged, which included both the Ceremony, two sessions of Kendo’s Kyu Shin Do Singing Bowl Healing (an exquisite experience!), as well as a new version of the Empowerment Meditation held in the Meditation Suite, a Healing Aspiration Stick-Burning Ceremony in the Anniversary Orchard after dark, and, of course, the traditional ‘Pie, Mash, and Peas’ Anniversary meal that evening for all 14 guests.

This Event had long been mentioned as being the first one where guests could come and stay overnight at The Retreat, and seven of our regular visitors were lightning-fast in getting their names down for the stay-over places – they were all booked more than six months ahead of the Event!

Saturday 14th saw our overnight guests emerge, professing an excellent night’s sleep and feeling great, and as that day’s other guests arrived, it was into another Event.

Saturday included the new Zen Kyu Shin Do guided meditation in the Meditation Suite, as well as 2 options of our ‘Shakyo’ mindfulness exercise, and a tour of the grounds on a rainy and very November-kind of day, but with plenty of places to shelter and enjoy them, the grounds feel so alive in the rain.

After a warming lunch, Kendo gave a beautiful Singing Bowl Performance, the haunting sounds of the bowls speaking of energies deep in the universe and also at the very heart of our selves, and there was then an activity which Kendo has been practising for decades but was new to our Retreat guests – a Kyu Shin Do seated meditation. Kendo had defined the guidance very carefully, so everyone was relaxed and knew what to do as soon as he entered and struck a singing bowl to commence the meditation, and the deep peace of Zen engulfed us all. The time just vanished, and when Kendo concluded the meditation, everyone said they wanted to return to The Retreat and do it again!

There then followed sittings of the Japanese Tea Ceremony for those who hadn’t experienced it before, an Affirmation Stick-Burning Ceremony in The Hidden Garden, and even though most of our guests had been here before, a lengthy autograph and photo session with Kendo.

This was the last formal Event of 2015, and we were delighted that everyone enjoyed it so much. We were also pleased to be able to welcome Scott and Steve of the North Staffs Veterans Organisation on both days, and it was great to hear that they were able to chill-out and benefitted from joining in – we hope to be working more with them and those they help in the future.

So, with our Events becoming increasingly-popular and well-received, we look forward to welcoming more people to The Retreat more frequently in 2016 and beyond – just keep an eye on the Blog and Events Pages for announcements!

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