On Saturday September 16, 2017, twenty-five MSC teachers working in the UK met in London at the lovely Breast Cancer Haven and spent a wonderful day together sharing our hopes and fears and plans for MSC. We met with a shared vision of creating an MSC ‘sangha’ to nourish and support us as teachers and also a very real feeling of the importance of connection in this work which is so firmly rooted in our common humanity. We all appreciate how this sense of connection has been fostered throughout our training thanks in the beginning to the generosity of Chris and Kristin.
We spent time practicing together and sharing our experience of teaching MSC and the logistics of running courses. Teachers pooled ideas about marketing, funding and the use of social media and how to raise the profile of MSC in the UK. There were discussions keeping the practices alive through follow-up groups for graduates and a lunchtime session on research. In the afternoon we looked deeply at what might support us in our teaching including forming local groups, zoom meetings and supervision.
One teacher, who had recently had an accident, attended via Skype and was able to contribute to our dialogues from a laptop. We also watched a video kindly sent by Steve Hickman updating us on the progress of MSC and sharing a lovely poem.
There was so much energy and enthusiasm for teaching MSC and also a deep opening to both our delights and our vulnerabilities. It seems that MSC, in reconnecting us with our hearts, has such power to bring us together in this honest and supportive way.
Huge thanks to this year’s co-ordinating team: Vanessa Hope, Caroline Hoffman, Ali Lambie, Colette Power and Zoe Shobbrook-Fisher. We are planning to facilitate another Network meeting next year in the West Midlands over two days so that we can have more time to practice together and to include some work specifically on enquiry. Many of us are also looking forward to connecting with our bigger international sangha at the Teachers’ Festival in Amsterdam in July 2018.
