Kin is an organisation offering a range of mindful and creative workshops and activities to encourage feelings of inner calm, spiritual connection, fulfillment and belonging. Kin is devoted to helping you deepen your appreciation of living and being with yourself, in nature and with others through meditation, wild writing, mindful creativity retreats and workshops.
‘Learning how to live deeply each moment of our daily life is our true practice.’ Thich Nhat Hanh
Why Kin? Connection; alliance; affinity and common descent. The kindred family that includes all beings regardless of perceived differences.
‘All living organisms store genetic information using the same molecules — DNA and RNA. Written in the genetic code of these molecules is compelling evidence of the shared ancestry of all living things. From the mightiest blue whale to the most miniscule paramecium, life as we know it takes dramatically different forms. Nonetheless, all organisms are built from the same six essential elemental ingredients: carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur.’
We will thrive as humans when we embrace the fact of our connectivity. About Tara
Meditation
In 2019 I studied a meditation and mindfulness teacher training diploma at The British School of Meditation and qualified with a distinction. I’d been practicing meditation for many years and I wanted to be able to pass this amazing tool on to others because I know from personal experience how much it enriches one’s life and can provides a tranquil port of call in the stormiest of seas. I first learned Transcendental Meditation at the age of 19. Since then I have practiced many different secular and Buddhist types and techniques, settling on what are for me the most effective and pure traditional forms, Mindfulness of Breathing and Metta Bhavana (loving kindness meditation). I want to be the best meditation practitioner I can be and to this end I am committed to developing my personal and professional practice through ongoing reading, learning and exploration, a daily practice of at least two 30 minutes meditations and a bi-annual meditation retreat. Mindful Writing and Creativity
Following a degree in Art and Performance I completed a Masters at Sussex in Art, Education and Creative writing. After many years of teaching creative writing to adults for the third sector I segued into copy writing. But creating words for the corporate sector after a time didn’t sit well with me. I had witnessed how in my own writing life there were two kinds of writing. One where I was writing to produce, writing to a specified goal, either to finish some content for marketing purposes or completing a piece of fiction to try to get it published. And the other where I was writing to express, to connect with my deepest thoughts and feelings in order to understand my stories and place in the world. This process oriented creative expression, where the stress was on reflection, free writing, truth telling and wild creativity and not on product was the form that was by far the richer and more rewarding and also as a consequence frequently more compelling and original. The process at the heart of a meditation journey shares much with the creative journey. By extension, one practice informs and deepens the other. And both enliven and clarify our relationship with everyday life giving access to a more authentic and rewarding engagement with self, community and environment. Realign and free natural creativity away from expectation and judgement
I have learned over the years that the best way to teach creative writing and creativity is to focus on process not product, where value is placed on the enjoyment of being in creative flow and the insights that we gain from it more than the approval or admiration of others. I weave mindfulness, meditation and nature walking into my creative and writing workshops. The aim is to cultivate inner stillness and a way of deep listening to the authentic voice again, as we were able to do effortlessly as children, before we started quality controlling our creative expression.
