he latest issues of Meditation News, the UK Community Newsletter, is now available to download and read here for free. If you have subscribed to the printed edition of the UK newsletter these are being printed and will be with you around the middle of September.
UPDATE 6 October: A new issue of the WCCM International Newsletter is now available on the Newsletter page.
Becoming Whole: UK Gathering 2026 led by Liz Watson
Booking is now open for next year’s National Gathering at Highgate House, Creaton, Northamptonshire during the weekend of 5-7 June. The cost is £295 per person.
Becoming Whole – Meditation and other Contemplative Practices, is a residential gathering hosted by WCCM in the UK and Meditatio and led by Liz Watson.
There is a longing in the human heart to become whole and a hope planted in us of a life beyond fragmentation and brokenness. Can a practice of meditation be a path to follow and a way to become more whole?
Liz will lead us in a weekend structured round meditation together, leisured conversations, complementary spiritual practices and reflections on the theme of Becoming Whole…
A phrase has been rattling around in my mind recently – it is ‘Sacred Oneness’. I don’t know where it comes from. Maybe one of you can tell me?
When I walked into our weekly meditation at The Well in Westbury on Trym recently the display in the hearth was as above, ‘We are all as ONE in love’ showing and resonating this Unity in Spirit.
I notice that a new awareness is arising, and this phrase keeps resonating. ‘Sacred Oneness’ announces what is already happening and we are giving expression to it in different ways, reflected in many of our events…
From the 2nd to the 4th of June, the tranquil setting of Ampleforth Abbey played host to a unique and moving event: The Joy of Encounter, a Meditatio and WCCM in the UK gathering. The retreat brought together members of the WCCM in the UK community and some of the most marginalised adults from Teesside, including the Saltburn Recovery Group and North East Opera (NEO).
Led by Terry Doyle, holistic wellbeing coach, Tai Chi teacher and long-time meditator, and Kate Middleton, director of Meditatio, the outreach for WCCM and a long-time meditator, the weekend offered a powerful space for healing, connection and shared humanity. …
In mid-July, the Bristol Centring Prayer group invited members of the WCCM to share an afternoon of meditation and Qi Gong. We met at the Frenchay Quaker Meeting House to explore the theme of Gravity, Grace, and Gratitude.
Whilst the specific method of meditation practice differs for each group, we prayed and sat together in shared silence. Between our sits we walked slowly and mindfully in a circle around the Meeting House’s beautiful garden, surrounded by trees and bird song. We then took part in a led practice of Qi Gong, the ancient Chinese art of working with life energy and cultivating stillness in motion…
The words of the great Persian Sufi poet Rumi speak to each of us – and to humanity as a whole – just as urgently as they did nearly 800 years ago.
We will gently explore what his arresting insight might mean for us, individually and collectively, as we open to Father John Main’s wise affirmation that “meditation creates community”.
What is it that brings people to a silent weekend such as this? What do they want from it? What do they experience? What do they take away?
If there is anything as conventional as an aim in play when we go on retreat, it is surely a preparedness to push away from the safe grab rails of language, the words we use to tame reality, the stories we tell ourselves in order to give shape to everything that keeps on threatening to be shapeless…
The ‘School’ is the name given to the Community’s foundational resources for learning to meditate. This suite of resources is developed internationally and designed to be adapted and delivered nationally and locally.
The resources are threefold:
- Introductory Courses;
- Essential Teaching Workshops (ETW)
- Silent Retreats:
All are available in both residential and online formats. School Silent Retreats have traditionally been full week events, but are now being offered in shorter formats.
The following national events are all currently open for bookings…
In January this year, everyone registered on the WCCM in the UK database with an email address which is about 1500 people were invited to take part in an online Community Outreach survey. The intention was to help determine how many people are currently involved in outreach activity, to see how many might like to be, to gather new ideas and to make connections with those interested.
There were 157 responses which we were encouraged and delighted with. While most people reported being aware of Outreach, primarily from reading the UK newsletter, the number already involved was small, just 15…
Our weekly meditation group in Monmouth is thriving with an average attendance of twelve. We are fortunate to be able to meet in the Priory, which used to be a Benedictine monastery.
We have no group leader as such as we take turns in opening and setting up, the timing and the reading. In this way we can each feel we are contributing to the group. There is the opportunity to stay on for tea and coffee downstairs afterwards – often to the delightful accompaniment of a piano – or in a nearby cafe…
To be still
to absorb silence
to hear without listening
to see without looking
to try without trying
to not even try
to not try
to be
just be
that…
is all you need know that…
is enough
that…
is the answer
Meditation creates community. Meditators who experience personal transformation through a daily practice seek to express this in ways suitable to their own path. Oblation is one of these.
The World Community is ecumenical and the Oblate community specially reflects this. However, the WCCM as a whole acknowledges a special relationship to the Benedictine tradition which was the first in the western Church to form a stable form of inclusive religious life and, in succeeding generations, has always adapted to the needs and circumstances of the age. Oblates live out their oblation in a spirit of obedience, stability and conversion and promise to share always in the life and work of our Community…
Meditation News and the International Newsletter are available free on our website from //wccm.uk/newsletters-page/ Distribution to most subscribers is online with notification of a new issue by email. If you wish to subscribe please sign up here: //wccm.uk/newsonline
If you would like to receive a printed copy of the UK newsletter please contact the office by email uk@wccm.org or phone 020 8095 4442. There is no charge but a donation of £20 is suggested which covers the cost of photocopying and postage for the four issues. The latest International newsletter is included.
Some articles are available as separate news items on the website listed on
//wccm.uk/category/newsletters/.
There are listings of UK events, key International events and selected offerings from Bonnevaux and the Meditatio Centre. The contacts list has been updated (the latest version is always available on the website).
The next issue will be available in mid-December. Please send articles to: uknewsletter@wccm.uk and events to: events@wccm.uk to reach us by 1 November.