Join us for a day of deepening our presence and resting into the heart through meditation, reflection and movement to music. We’ll explore the themes of Compassion and Joy: how we can develop these ‘divine abodes’ in our lives through embodying them and letting them flow through us.

You’ll be invited to deepen into these heart practices through guided meditations, reflection and inquiry, and mindful movement to music.

Recognising and embodying the qualities of compassion and joy can change our experience of life and the world around us - an antidote to the harshness and conflict often emphasised in our culture. By changing our own embodied experience we change how we feel, and what we offer out into the world.

While your teachers come from the Buddhist tradition of Insight Meditation, no prior knowledge or experience of Buddhist meditation is required. All levels of experience will find fertile ground to explore at this workshop.

Enjoy the lush surrounds of the beautiful Narara Ecovillage. Lunch and tea will be provided and is included in your $40 registration fee.

Additional Cost 'Dana'

In keeping with a 2,500 year old tradition no fee has been charged for the teachings. At the end of the workshop, you are invited to give a donation (dana) to express your appreciation and to support the teachers to continue their work.

Low Income

If you cannot afford the registration fee & Dana, we have one place available for someone to volunteer in lieu of payment. Please email hello@suziebrown.au to enquire about this.

Where: Narara Ecovillage 33 Gugandi Rd, Narara (20 mins walk from Narara train station; 75 mins drive from Sydney)

Time: Arrive 9.45am for 10am start

Cost: $40 registration

Tickets cover cost of venue hire and lunch only, donations (dana) for the teacher will be invited at the end of the workshop.

Your teachers:

Suzie Brown
Suzie Brown offers Dharma teaching in the Insight tradition with a focus on embodied and nature-based practice, and the heart practices of joy, loving kindness, compassion and equanimity. She aims to bring the Buddha’s profound teachings alive and relevant to our current world challenges.

Suzie co-founded the Melbourne Insight Meditation Group in 2009 and has trained as an Insight Dharma Teacher both in Australia with the Insight Meditation Institute and in the USA with James Baraz. Her principal teachers are Subhana Barzaghi, Carol Perry and James Baraz.

In addition, Suzie has also worked as a climate and environmental activist for over two decades, founding the national group, Parents for Climate, and teaches Eco-dharma and mindful approaches to dealing with climate anxiety and grief.

Alan Bassal

Alan has been studying and practicing Buddha’s teachings for over 35 years beginning in the Vipassana meditation tradition and then developing in Eastern & Western Insight. He is also trained to teach Biodanza and brings this training to this workshop, combining movement to music with the Buddha Dharma.

For over 28 years he worked internationally in the field of management education and organisational change. He is a certified Hakomi therapist and for many years has integrated mindfulness and psychotherapy into leadership development.

Alan leads retreats in Wilton and Byron Bay, regularly teaches at the Golden Wattle Sangha in Sydney, is a founding director of the Insight Meditation Institute and chairman of Sydney Insight Meditators.

His Insight Meditation teaching is founded on the deep and timeless wisdom of the Buddha dharma, with an eclectic and contemporary perspective. He encourages people to awaken to each moment and realise the fulfilment they seek.