Did you know that we can celebrate the new year twice? That’s exactly what we did! One and a half months into 2021, more than 120 MSC Teachers in Asia and Oceania gathered together to mark the beginning of the year of Ox with Chris and Kristin. (If you would like to read about Lunar New Year, this will be a good place to start.
The CMSC Lunar New Year Meet & Greet was organized as our first attempt to facilitate communication and network building among MSC Teachers in the Australasia Region. It holds 13 countries and regions including Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
The celebration started off with warm greetings from Yuka Ebihara, CMSC Regional Coordinator for Australasia, and Tina Gibson, a member of the Professional Training Committee overseeing MSC Teacher Trainings in the region. Chris’s encouraging message that followed helped us reflect on what matters the most in our lives and what we want to bring to this world together as a global family. Kristin shared how touching it was to see so many MSC Teachers carrying the important message of self-compassion, delivering it to almost all parts of the world.
A short breakout session made it possible for everyone to be acquainted in a smaller group setting, introduce their own languages and wish each other safety in the coming year. We also had each country/region representative give a brief overview of the MSC-related development in their respective area. It was inspiring to learn each team’s progress and good practices.
The event ended with a beautiful short practice, “Giving and Receiving Goodwill”, guided by Kristin, which was a blissful adaptation of one of the MSC Core meditation, “Giving and Receiving Compassion.” We all sent goodwill to ourselves and to the world as we enjoyed each other’s loving connected presence, breathing and wishing together for a more compassionate world. (If you want to use the recording to practice it, watch the recording from 40’00”!)
For those of you who missed it, please join us next year. In the meantime, enjoy the recording below!
