Join us and Pause for Peace at 9pm any evening for six weeks, from 10 November until 21 December 2025.
What is Pause for Peace at 9?
Pause for Peace is an event created by Heartfulness Ireland, in collaboration with Sussex Mindfulness Centre and other partners. The event:
Offers an experiential shared meditation using guided peace intentions
Is a nightly live event of from 10-15 minutes, via Zoom
Aims to harness solidarity and a collective feeling of peace in the world
When is it running?
For six weeks from 10/11/2025 to 21/12/2025 at 9pm each evening.
Who are running the sessions?
The collaborating organisations are running the sessions on the following weeks: Week 1, 10/11/25 to 16/11/25 is run by Heartfulness Ireland Week 2, 17/11/25 to 23/11/25 is run by Sussex Mindfulness Centre Week 3, 24/11/25 to 30/11/25 is run by Sussex Mindfulness Centre Week 4, 01/12/25 to 07/12/25 is run by Heartfulness Ireland Week 5, 08/12/25 to 14/12/25 is run by Brahma Kumaris Ireland Week 6, 15/12/25 to 21/12/25 is run by Heartfulness Ireland
How do you join a nightly session?
All the sessions are being offered via the following link. Copy and paste this link into your browser a few minutes before the session starts. https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84774514529?pwd=yEWhGpFaeoFvnX7UaeoaVjTrYXo3BM.1
Building on the basic principles of safe movement that we explored in Day 1, this workshop will help you to identify the intentions and specific needs of your clients and support you to create a safe, balanced, accessible and engaging programme.
What is covered?
This online day intends to offer a space to discuss and create a sequence of mindful movements that will suit your population, particularly if standard mindful movement does not feel appropriate for your groups. For example, if:
Your clinical participants have specific needs or movement limitations
You have a broad range of movement abilities in your group
Your participants don’t move easily/don’t move generally in their lives
We will identify the intentions and specific learning to meet your clients’ needs, and support you to create a safe, balanced, accessible and engaging programme.
While the teacher has some clinical experience, she may not have full knowledge of the issues affecting the people you may be working with. Your own understanding of their needs and challenges accessing mindful movement will be crucial in this process.
Who is this for?
This workshop is suitable for mindfulness teachers working in both clinical settings and with the general public.
Where?
The workshop will be online, and you will receive your link after you have booked.
The facilitator – Sarah Silverton
Sarah trained as an occupational therapist and has been working in mental health services in the NHS and in Social Services for more than twenty years. Sarah trained as a counsellor to Master’s level. Sarah has a long-standing passion for movement practices and runs mindful movement retreats three times each year, online and at the Trigonos Retreat in North Wales.
Sarah Silverton
In the mid 1990’s Sarah was trained by Mark Williams to teach mindfulness. Sarah also studied at the Center for Mindfulness, Massachusetts in 1999 with Melissa Blacker, Jon Kabat-Zinn and Florence Meleo-Meyer among others. Sarah was a member of the core teaching and training team at the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice (CMRP) at Bangor University since it was established in 2001 for 10 years.
Sarah has published The Mindfulness Breakthrough, Watkins, 2012 reprinted as The Mindfulness Key in 2016, and Mindfulness and the Transformation of Despair, Williams, Fennell, Barnhofer, Crane and Silverton, Guilford, 2015 printed in paperback in 2017, as Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy with People at Risk of Suicide.
Certificate
If you would like a certificate of attendance, you can request this after the event.
Booking
The cost of the workshop is £25. You can book here below.
In this day long workshop, we will join together in a spirit of connection and collaboration to explore the various ways in which our personal meditation practice can open to meet the challenges of the wider world, of which we are a part.
What is covered?
Foundations of mindful movement will include safety principles, intentions and offering guidance with graded movement. We will draw on the work of environmental activist and systems scholar Joanna Macy, as well as interpersonal and personal mindfulness practice. Building understanding, confidence and skills to bring awareness of moving mindfully to your specific population and setting.
Who is this for?
This workshop is suitable for mindfulness teachers working in clinical settings and with the general public.
Where?
The workshop will be online, and you will receive your link after you have booked.
The facilitator – Sarah Silverton
Sarah trained as an occupational therapist and has been working in mental health services in the NHS and in Social Services for more than 20 years. Sarah trained as a counsellor to master’s level.
Sarah Silverton
Sarah has a long-standing passion for movement practices and runs mindful movement retreats three times each year, online and at Trigonos, North Wales. She has practiced pilates and yoga for many years.
In the mid 1990’s Sarah was introduced to mindfulness and was trained by Mark Williams to teach mindfulness. Sarah also studied at the Centre for Mindfulness, Massachusetts in 1999 with Melissa Blacker, Jon Kabat-Zinn and Florence Meleo-Meyer amongst others. Sarah was a member of the core teaching and training team at the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice (CMRP) at Bangor University since it was established in 2001 for 10 years.
Sarah has published The Mindfulness Breakthrough, Watkins, 2012 reprinted as The Mindfulness Key in 2016 and Mindfulness and the Transformation of Despair, Williams, Fennell, Barnhofer, Crane and Silverton, Guilford, 2015 printed in paperback in 2017 as Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy with People at Risk of Suicide. She has contributed to a number of academic papers.
Certificate
If you would like a certificate of attendance, you can request this after the event.
Booking
The cost of the workshop is £25. You can book here below.
Bridgette O’Neill is preparing to lead the new eight-week course Deeper Mindfulness: Frame by Frame with colleague Taravajra. Here she writes about what she appreciates about this new course that was developed by Professor Mark Williams.
Have you ever felt that your mindfulness practice has plateaued? I know I have. Like brushing my teeth or exercising, formal mindfulness practice is part of my daily life and has been, and is, transformational for me. However, from experience I know that with familiarity I can move into a comfortable zone where my ability to see clearly can get foggy.
Of course, with time difficult life events will inevitably wake me up from this comfort zone and bring energy and new learning and unlearning into my relationship with practice. I’ve also learnt over the years that I don’t need to wait for life challenges to wake me up further; I can actively seek opportunities to deepen into a more compassionate aware way of being that we call mindfulness.
There are many opportunities for deepening and enlivening our practice. A good option is to engage in a structured course that focuses in more depth on a particular aspect of mindfulness and provides the support of a teacher and community of fellow participants. One structured course that I’ve appreciated in recent years is Deeper Mindfulness: Exploring Feeling Tone Frame by Frame which was developed by Mark Williams. I first took this course as a participant a couple of years ago and went on to do a weekend retreat and teacher training led by Mark Williams and Antonia Sumbundu.
The course has a particular focus on the second way of establishing mindfulness, that is the feel or feeling tone with which all our experience arrives, pleasant, unpleasant or somewhere in between. In both Buddhist and contemporary psychology, becoming aware of the feel of our experience moment by moment is considered the key to greater choice and freedom from habit. Before doing the course, I had experience of practices that focus on feeling tone and had done a retreat with this particular focus. Even so, I really valued this eight-week course. I loved the simplicity of its design and how each week adds one more element to practice and understanding, building on everything that has come before. The practices were guided in a very trauma-sensitive way and as a mindfulness teacher it was great to witness how this was done so clearly, and without too many words. Most practices had 10, 20 or 30 minute options which meant that I could combine them with other regular practices and I could easily choose to practice a couple of times a day to support greater integration and continuity of practice across the day.
Other aspects of the course that really help embed learning and awareness into everyday life are guided reflections for the end of the day, reflections on bringing mindfulness into speaking and listening and even a practice for times when you can’t sleep. Kindness is completely woven through the course with encouragement to bring appreciation rather than criticism to our amazingly active minds and to acknowledge that it’s ok to like or not like whatever is occurring without needing to jump into reacting. Another form of kindness within the course is that we are encouraged to deliberately turn towards aspects of experience that we appreciate and are grateful for.
I’ve been revisiting all the practices in preparation for teaching the course and I’m remembering all over again how helpful it is to foreground with fine-tuned awareness, the at times clear, and at other times more subtle feel with which my experience arrives. And how this can help me to notice with kindness when I’m acting out of habit in ways that deplete me, and can also enable me to savour moments of pleasure and nourishment.
I highly recommend the course as a way to refresh and deepen practice, to bring more understanding to how it is to be human and as a way to open to joy and greater ease in everyday life.
The cracks are how the light gets in: a day retreat drawing on your creativity
29 November
at
10:00
to
17:00
A one-day mindfulness retreat, including meditation practices, creative expression and journaling. Experience of creative expression is not necessary.
Background to the day
We are sometimes advised in retreat situations to not do anything, including not to draw, paint or write. Simplifying, and completely letting go of any kind of doing has so much value. However, it can also be very rich to be with and express what comes up creatively, allowing that to further enrich our practice. Creating can help us connect with less conscious, less rational parts of ourselves. It can also help us to trust and receive the unfolding of our experience through whatever medium we are using. This can help us come alive and connect with ourselves and the world, to express what emerges from our practice and to deepen it.
Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, a well-known and highly-respected meditation teacher says:
“Art can be the most supportive part of what one does in life with meditation practice. Art enriches the practice, and in the end, meditation practice and art become united. This is the goal of all practitioners: what we practice in meditation becomes our life…..there is no reason to see a conflict between art and meditation practice. Of course, you might want to spend more time doing one or the other but, please, never see them in conflict. See them as supportive of one another. Both have connections, passions, fulfilment and joy which, together, make us whole. This wholeness of being is the true accomplishment of a full life.”
Content of the day
This day will be held as a mostly silent retreat day with mindfulness practices interspersed with creativity, using clay, drawing/painting and journaling and poetry. Some meditation experience (such as having done an eight-week course) is required but no experience of artistic or creative work is needed. Materials will be supplied. The day will be held at the Sussex Education Centre in Hove.
Why a one-day retreat?
A one-day mindfulness retreat is an important part of the eight-week mindfulness course. It also offers an opportunity to extend your practice within a supportive environment. For people who meditate regularly the retreat offers a great way to deepen and refresh your practice. Read more about the benefits of a day long retreat.
This day retreat counts towards the requirement to attend silent retreats as part your BAMBA registration as a mindfulness teacher.
Who is it for?
This day is right for you if you have attended an eight-week Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy, Mindfulness for Life or Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course, or have an established mindfulness practice. No artistic experience is required. Please note, this is not a clinical intervention and it is not advisable to do this day in the heat of a crisis, when it would be important to access your GP or your designated mental health clinician.
Retreat leaders
Robert Marx
Robert Marx is Co-Lead for the Sussex Mindfulness Centre. He is a consultant clinical psychologist and Cognitive-Analytic psychotherapist, mindfulness (MBCT) and compassion-based (MSC) teacher. He has been co-running day retreats in Sussex Partnership twice a year for around 15 years and more recently, 5 day residential mindfulness retreats. Painting and writing have also been important to him and he has incorporated both into his own personal retreats.
Sarah Marx
Sarah Marx has been working therapeutically with adults, children and families for the past 20 years. Originally trained as an adult therapist and then as a Child and Adolescent psychotherapist, Sarah has worked in the NHS, university counselling services, schools, colleges and private practice. She has trained in multiple therapy modalities, including psychodynamic, Cognitive-Analytic and mindfulness (MBCT), Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP), EMDR and Theraplay. Wanting to incorporate the transformative nature of creativity into her clinical work, Sarah qualified at the Institute for Arts in Therapy and Education (IATE) where she went on to teach. She has worked as a trainer for Trauma Informed Schools UK and is part of the leadership team at Beacon House. She is also a ceramicist and has exhibited locally.
Certificate of attendance
Certificates of attendance can be supplied on completion of the day, if requested. Please note, you’ll need to attend for the whole day. It’s not possible to only come for a portion of the day. The retreats run from 10am to 5pm, and we ask people to join from 9.45am to ensure a prompt start.
Ticket price
The cost for the day is £30 to help us cover materials. If this is prohibitive let us know and we can make a few spaces free, or by a small donation. You can book here below.
Waiting list
The session is now full. If you would like to be added to the waiting list we can let you know if a space becomes available. Please drop us a line at spft.smc@nhs.net
Sussex Mindfulness Centre volunteer, Hannah Andrews, shares her experience of attending a retreat in Plum Village, and describes the impact it’s had for her.
Not long ago I was a total mindfulness novice. I was aware of its benefits: reduced stress, improved sleep, reduced anxiety etc. There are no side-effects, and it’s free! It seemed a no brainer.
I downloaded various apps and promised myself to meditate daily, but it never seemed to stick. I couldn’t get past meditating three days in a row before life would get in the way. I was well aware that I would need to meditate more than three times to notice a change in my stress levels, but it was hard to make this habit stick, especially as I was doing it alone.
This summer I went to the Buddhist monastery Plum Village with my family. Those five days in retreat provided me with so much insight and awareness that it has propelled me to start meditating every day… without it feeling like a chore.
I turned off my phone and immersed myself in the experience. Every day began with three chimes of a soft bell at 5am followed by and an hour of morning meditation in the main hall. And every day closed with half an hour of meditation at 9pm followed by more bell ringing, total silence, and lights out at 10:30pm. Mindfulness was not limited to sitting with legs crossed and eyes closed in the morning and evening, our days were infused with mindfulness. The sisters showed us how to eat mindfully at mealtimes, walk mindfully through the gardens, and speak and listen mindfully to each other.
The monastery was surrounded by rolling hills of sunflower fields, wild flower meadows, and orchards. The slow pace, peace, and beauty of the retreat made being mindful feel so easy, and by the end of the week I was moving through my day in practically a constant state of mindful awareness.
While I previously struggled to be mindful for even ten minutes a day, on retreat I felt I was being mindful for all but ten minutes a day. Finally, the benefits of mindfulness showed their pretty faces; I experienced dwelling in the present moment, free from worrying about the future and ruminating on the past.
One morning, while I was meditating in the hall, a spider the size of a golf ball descended from the ceiling and landed on my forehead, crawling its way down to my nose and mouth. I used to be seriously scared of spiders. However, thanks to the calm and mindful state I had been cultivating on retreat, I simply noticed the spider on my face, and gently placed it on the floor, before returning to the meditation.
I am also usually an anxious flyer and would always feel a huge sense of relief when the plane would finally land. However, on the flight back home from my week at Plum Village, I was totally anxiety-free, looking out of the windows the whole flight in awe of the breathtaking views from up high. For the first time in my life, I enjoyed a flight.
It’s been just over a month since my week on a mindful retreat, and I can say it’s completely changed my relationship to mindfulness. I have been meditating most days, and look forward to it. It has stopped feeling like one more thing on the to-do list, and is now the thing I’m most excited to do in the morning.
I have also found ways to bring mindfulness into my day, being truly present at mealtimes and savouring my food, or more present while walking in nature. Part of why I’ve found it easy to bring mindfulness back into the real world with me, is that I truly felt its benefits.
If you are struggling to make meditation or mindfulness stick, or have not yet experienced benefits, why not sign up for a mindfulness retreat. Retreats are not just a holiday, or an escape from the everyday as I had expected. Going on retreat kickstarted my mindfulness practice, for which I am so grateful.
Apart from going to Plum Village, in France, you can always find a range of retreats, from one-day to five, led by the Sussex Mindfulness Centre on this page.
