Niamh Barrett 

I’m a mindfulness teacher and teacher-trainer with the Mindfulness Centre in Dublin, charity worker and mother. In a previous work life I was a documentary producer. 

showing up comes out of my own lived experience, faciliation of mindfulness (MBSR) groups over the past ten years and socially-engaged forms of mindfulness practice that I have experienced. 

In 2019 a group of us piloted showing up:Housing and Home,which invited us to creatively engage with this critical issue in our society, to express solidarity, and to practice with the support of a community. We will continue to engage with this theme and others in 2020. showing up will also soon offer mindfulness courses and workshops as support to activists, organisers and social entrepreneurs. 

My mindfulness and social engagement offerings have been inspired by the retreats, teachings and example of Roshi Bernie Glassman and Zen Peacemakers among others. I'm a member of Zen Peacemakers International and I'm currently studying the Zen Peacemaker Precepts with Roshi Frank De Waele. 

The longer version . . . 

After fourteen years working in the independent film and TV sector, I left Celtic-Tiger Dublin for Kilkenny and began meditation practice there with Buddhist teachers Gar Freaney and Ber Cody in 2005. Soon I began to regularly participate in silent retreats led by other wonderful Zen and Vipassana Buddhist teachers such as Thich Nhat Hanh, Roshi Robert Kennedy SJ, Frits Koster, Marjo Oosterhoff, Roshis Melissa Blacker and David Rynick, Sharon Salzberg and Roshi Frank De Waele. Daily meditation practice and annual long retreats  became an essential part of my life. They gave me the time, space and guidance to be present to both the joy and suffering within me and around me. Mindfulness meditation allowed me to experience and to respond to my life as it was. In 2010 I completed MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction) teacher training with the Institute of Mindfulness-Based Approaches (IMA) and began teaching this programme. In my years of facilitating this course I've experienced that mindfully bearing witness to the ups and downs of life, together, is resilience-building and life-affirming. 

My daughter was born in 2009. Watching her grow was a great source of joy. However during this same time period I was witnessing a deepening disregard for human dignity and well-being being played out on the global and national political stage.  I became drawn to exploring the connection between reflective practice and responding to social injustice. This drew me to Zen Peacemakers and their socially-engaged retreats. On their retreats I experience the possibility and power of entering into difficult places with an open heart and mind, supported by mindfulness and by community. Their retreats have greatly strengthened my resolve to stay engaged and to show up for the long haul. 

A core practice of Zen Peacemakers' retreats is council circle, in which we 'listen and speak from the heart' to our own and others' experiences. This is also a core practice of showing up. For me, in this beautiful practice there is an echo  from my documentary-producing days. That is, they each tap into our ability to witness each other and to respond to each others' lived stories  and experiences. I believe that mindfulness-based community practices, such as council circle, can be a wellspring for compassionate social action.