Create space to come home and release during Winter, and move into Spring with refreshed awareness.
Welcome to winterlight.
This is a space for you.
The aim of winterlight is to offer you a space to come home to yourself.
The gift is simple: you give yourself one season.
One season to listen, to let go, to deepen understanding, to nourish joy.
One season to grow closer to yourself.
The course offers a three-part exploration:
1. befriending the darkness
We establish our presence and create a space of reflection, where we can recognise what we want to release in our life. We practice letting go.
When we can offer our body and mind the nourishment of a safe, spacious environment, we come deeply into our presence.
We come home to ourselves.
In the clarity of that space, it is possible to discern the thoughts, beliefs and habits that no longer serve us. We practice to release ourselves from old habits; those energies that are stale and weighing us down.
2. listening to your heart
In authentic stillness, we take time to nourish our hearts, warming them with inspiration, beauty and wisdom. We listen inwardly.
Newly-released, we offer ourselves deep care and attention. Without the lure of having 'something to fix', we practice to be present with our whole selves; truly awake to what is alive in us in this moment.
In this space of trust, we can listen deeply.
And we discover what our heart wants to taste as we move towards the New Year.
3. growing towards the light
We examine what it is we wish to cultivate in the coming year. We allow ourself to move in the direction of growth.
As the Spring approaches, we take care of the tender seeds that we are encouraging to grow.
We establish a practice of nourishing our joy and of caring for our own pain, holding it in wide, strong, boundlessly-kind awareness.
With clarity of intention, we create patterns to support and strengthen our wellbeing.
As Spring emerges, we move forward with grace - with a kind, refreshed heart, and a focused, clear mind.
I hope you can join me on this caring journey.
Your Instructor
Exploring how to live mindfully, creatively and joyfully. I have practiced mindfulness for 20 years, and bring passion and deep experience to my teaching. I practice in the tradition of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, which emphasizes a practical approach with immediate effect. I am an ordained lay member of Thich Nhat Hanh's Order of Interbeing.
I am based in Dublin, Ireland, and am founder of two Dublin City sanghas (mindfulness practice groups) - one for adults and one for families. I mentor and teach mindfulness widely, including in the corporate environment, schools, not-for-profits and community groups.
My name is pronounced 'Orla', just so your internal monologue is correct :-)
Course Curriculum
Frequently Asked Questions
Creating intention
An online course has its advantages. Connection and access are easy; we get to choose when we participate, and there's no travel time! We can revisit core teachings that resonated with us, and if life catches us by surprise, that's okay - the course is there for us when we're ready.
But there's also a challenge to participating online: we are in charge of managing our engagement. And we are easily distracted!
So the invitation for this course is to set a deliberate intention to practice. The same way that you schedule time to attend a class, plan to take time for winterlight - whether you have 20 minutes at a time or a full hour, consciously set aside the space for participating.
You can also show your intention, when you're ready to practice:
It may take a physical form, like:
- preparing a cup of tea to warm you
- slowly closing a door to secure your space
- lighting a candle
You might start before you even log on: taking a moment to come home to your body in this moment, feeling your living breath nourishing every cell. Below, there's a Settling Meditation to support you in grounding yourself with ease.
Your intention might have the form of a kind wish:
- may I be open
- may I be truly present
- may this be a space of deep listening
- may I know how to take good care of myself
Intention to engage - on your own terms - will strengthen connection and volition. It will bring life and energy to your practice and the pathway of this course.
I hope that we can walk this path together!