A Centre: why?
The roots of the
Project
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GROWING NUMBERS OF PEOPLE in Italy and around the world are discovering the practice of mindfulness as a powerful tool for personal transformation and healing. It offers a path of personal growth that can heal deep wounds, resolve apparently irreparable situations of conflict, reduce stress, bring peace and help to give sense to one’s life.
Evidence of its effectiveness is the growing interest it arouses among the most modern schools of Western psychology, which have assimilated its principles and methods into their therapeutic paths.
Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Zen monk, is today recognised as one of the leading masters of this practice. Through his books – which have been translated into many languages – his message of non-violence and peace has created a means for millions of individuals to become reconciled with themselves, their families and their society.
In Italy too, over the last years, the opportunities to experience the benefits brought by his teachings have been constantly increasing , thanks to a mushrooming of local and nationwide events, such as retreats, mindfulness days and weekly group meetings.
A clear signal of this growing interest is given by the numbers of people who attended the events during Thich Nhat Hanh’s visit to Italy in spring 2005: more than 800 people attended the 5-day retreat held by the Master near Rome; several thousands joined in the walking meditation held at the end of the retreat through the streets of the capital, which wound from the Colosseum to the Campidoglio; and more than two thousand people attended the conference held the same evening at the new Music Park Auditorium organised with the support of Rome Municipality.
It is from such encouragement that the desire arises for Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings to become more deeply rooted in Italy through the founding of a dedicated Centre: it would be a place where the teachers and a small community of practitioners would live permanently, and which could welcome all those who come to experience the benefits offered by the practice of mindfulness.