False and True Security

“The truth is, most of us discover where we are headed when we arrive”

~Bill Watterson

Our ideas and beliefs act like stepping-stones marking our way forward. Each step we take feels promising with these sturdy surfaces underneath our feet, their advance into the horizon like an elemental assurance of security.

But often I think of these stones more as crumbs we leave behind us as we walk away from our story of abandonment, still hoping we could go back and be cradled by those who’ve left us to labor for rehabilitated trust.

Only we don’t know that we’re on our way to feed a witch in the woodland of false habitats. There, while the fire of all-consuming greed turns false ideas of stability and security into dust we are gifted with the strength of self-trust, our true north compass, and our abandonment healed.

Ironically, trust —whether in ourselves or others, is the gift of arrival. It allows the world to come into us and then open the windows of our heart to let our ideas and dreams fly towards their destiny.

Trust is the gift of arrival.

After everything we’ve tried,

all the efforts invested,

all the failures along the way

that twisted our hands and forced them to let go,

and all the time we think we’ve wasted —

we find trust wrapped in the embrace of the present moment.

Ideas reveal their fragility, confusion its mystical cleansing powers;

beliefs reveal their falseness, not-knowing its surprisingly stable ground.

And we drink from the source, that which we’ve always known and never understood — that everything you need is already available right here.

The pandemic has brought many of us to question even more deeply who and what we can trust, what in life is stable enough, where the truth of this story is.

We’re challenged to look at those beliefs and ideas made to play as mythological stepping stones so we can discover a potent trust that knows not how to lie.

That’s what prompted me to start the Deepening Meditation Group in September 2020. To have an on-going closed meditation group where we can nest in the hearth of Buddhist wisdom, bring our truest questions about our life as individual and collective and learn what this resilient teachings can offer us now.

If you’d like to enjoy that kind of undeniable self-trust while deepening your knowledge of the Insight meditation teachings; spend quality time in the company of other like-hearted people and drink from the clarity that arises within you as a true source for security — we’re opening our group to new members.

How this works

Deepening is an on-going practice and learning closed group.

Those who are interested in joining us are asked to have an intention to stay for at least 6 months. This is not a drop-in class.

In the meetings we learn from Buddhist texts in a practical, accessible and inspiring way. There’s a meditation practice, a group conversation and often pair work.

Where and when

Meetings take place every other week.

Zürich — Mondays 18.00-19.30 CET (currently still meeting online in compliance with COVID regulations). There are THREE SPOTS AVAILABLE

Online — A NEW GROUP starts on Tuesdays 18.00-19.30 CET

Participation is offered on a pay-from-the-heart basis. This allows mutual support where participants offer a payment straight from their heart, according to what life makes affordable for them.

Here’s what Andrina says about our group:

“Shelly's knowledge, care and approach in the Deepening Meditation Group has been so enriching for me. She is so full of knowledge and shares and teaches it in such a loving, down to earth and practical way. I am learning so much about Buddhism and love the thought provoking conversations we have.”

What we do

In the past eight months we’ve studied the teachings of the five powers — how trust, energy, mindfulness, calm and wisdom grow as superpowers in our life.

In the next months, we will deepen into the Eightfold Path to gain tools and guidance to reduce the pain we experience in life and discover what gives meaning to our life and how we can sustain it.

Many of you have written to me over the past few months asking when I will be renewing my drop-in classes. The pandemic has affected my teachings in many ways. Offering single drop-in classes at the moment is challenging for me as a one-woman band. If you’d like to enjoy my teachings and a lovely group of people who are like you keen on growing into love and wisdom, you are welcome to join

Here’s what Guro says:

“Taking part in these meditations is a breath of fresh air in a busy world. It is very powerful to sit together in quiet with a group of likeminded people, and to have someone to share and reflect with. After every session I am filled with new insights on some topic that I try to bring into my attention in my relationship to my family. Shelly brings warmth of wisdom to the meditations and her anecdotes beautifully exemplify the teachings.”

To join

Click here to write me an email that you’re interested and tell me a bit about your practice (if I don’t know you).

Let me know if you’re interested in joining the online group or the Zürich-based group