New Unity Meditation Team

Three years ago we started the Tuesday Mediation group for Unitarians. Now there is a new team for the Tuesday meditation group. They are the following: 

John Bradford has been meditating for 18 years. He started practising after early spontaneous meditative experiences. Other influences include his initial training with the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order, the Shambala Warror training and reading Capra’s ‘Tao of Physics’. 

Saul Deason has been meditating for 30 years. He was an anagarika monk with Ajuan Chah and the Thai Forest Monks, and he has been practising with the FWBO and others. He feels meditation “helps us redefine the basics of life and helps us cope with the unexpected in life.” 

Emmet Amryta Gomez has been meditating 25years. He was ordained with the Western Buddhist Order, spent a year in Thich Nhat Hanh’s Plum Village and he is a psychotherapist studying for his MSc in Physiology. A family man, he feels meditation is “calming, soothing; great therapeutic value. It eroticises the breath. Above all, meditation is enjoyable”. Emmet will be taking over the training of newcomers to meditation. 

Barbara Holliman has been meditating over ten years. Her early influences were Yoga and Buddhist doctrine. She feels meditation helps her focus. “Meditation puts you in touch with yourself then you can cope with life”. 

Astrid Jones has been meditating for 5 years. Her initial influences were Guenka’s Vipassana training and Sharon Salzburg at the Spirit Rock Meditation Centre in California. She feels meditation makes her feel “more presence in what she is doing”. 

Margie Manley has been meditating for 6 years or so. She was taught by Cal Courtney, our former Unitarian minister and identifies with liberal Christian meditation practice. She finds meditation “gave me more energy and I learnt to be patient. That’s my personal experience.” 

Elia Mertens has been meditating for 20 years or so. Elia is a Mexican curandera, a healer. She talks about Shamanism as an important influence. Recently she has been developing meditation on well being and universal love for her followers in Mexico. Her reason for meditating is the “feeling of well being”.