Miracle of Mindfulness Tour Kicks Off Teaching Mindfulness Practices by Thich Nhat Hanh

By Alison Lesley --
10 Sep 2015 --

The Miracle of Mindfulness Tour stops in New York, Mississippi, and California, teaching Thich Nhat Hanh’s mindfulness techniques and even developing an app.

The Miracle of Mindfulness Tour is a series of events held in the United States that promotes the principles taught by Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh and other members of the monastic community. These events include retreats, lectures, discussions, and more, and will bring together people from all walks of life. The tour is being held to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of Hahn’s pioneering book, The Miracle of Mindfulness. This book was one of the first to introduce concepts of mindfulness and meditation to a wide audience, especially in the western world.

“In mindfulness one is not only restful and happy, but alert and awake. Meditation is not evasion; it is a serene encounter with reality.” -Thich Nhat Hanh

The tour started with the six day Miracle of Mindfulness retreat, held at Blue Cliff Monastery in Pine Bush, New York. This event was hosted by 75 different monks and nuns from several different monasteries, The retreat celebrated the beauty of practicing mindfulness together as a large group, and all were welcome, from experienced mindfulness practitioners to beginners who had never practiced before. There were also separate practices geared towards teens and children. Overall, the retreat aimed to promote the healing, peace, and happiness that comes from being mindful. There was also a shorter day long event, Together We Are One: Day of Mindfulness, that offered similar group practice activities, such as meditation, relaxation, and a question and answer session with the monks.

Friday, September 11, there will be a retreat for the students and faculty of Columbia University, which will offer meditation, relaxation, a Dharma talk, and a mindful picnic. There will also be a concert held that night held at St. Mark’s Church, featuring an eclectic mix of artists and genres. All of the proceeds from the concert will go to the monastery.

Saturday, September 12, there will be a mediation event at ABC Home on Broadway. This event is focused on showing city dwellers that there is peace and calm everywhere, even in the bustling city. That night, there will also be a talk with two senior monastics, Jina and Dharma Embrace, who will share their knowledge and wisdom at The Town Hall. Finally, there will be a book talk with Jo Confino of the Huffington Post and monastics Dang Nghiem and Phap Hai to celebrate their new books. There will also be a calligraphy exhibit at ABC Home.

The tour will close out September in Mississippi with two retreats and a one day event at the Magnolia Grove Monastery, titled “Day of Mindfulness.”

In October, the tour will travel down the California coast, beginning in San Francisco on October 10 with a public talk at The Nourse. A retreat for software developers will be held next with one of the end goals of creating a mindfulness app. A stop will be made in Los Angeles for a public talk, and then will close up in Escondido with two retreats and two Days of Mindfulness. Both events will be held in both English and Vietnamese.