28 October 2013
Beneath a sheltering sky

A 'meditation pagoda' has been created in Hillview Lodge
following work done by an amazingly diverse group of
people.
The idea was to create a calm spiritual space where service
users at Hillview Lodge in Bath could go to meditate and relax,
away from the ward space. The opening of the space followed a
year-long project during which the designs for the pagoda were
drawn-up by Evie Body from the Occupational Therapy (OT)
department, aided by staff and service users at the unit, and built
by master carpenter Pieter Van Diepen.
On the 16 October - the day of the grand opening - Bath awoke to
torrential downpours which looked set to continue all day. This
despite OT team manager Pete Aston having promised the previous day
that he'd do all he could to aim for good weather. However, at five
minutes before the ceremony was due to begin, the clouds parted
dramatically and the courtyard area housing the pagoda was bathed
in brilliant sunshine. We take it all back, Pete…
The venerable Jin Ho - a Taiwanese Buddhist nun who had played a
vital role in hosting some of the Mindfulness sessions which led to
this moment - had been invited to conduct the ceremony of
dedication, which took the form of a calm, contemplative and very
positive words and chants which brought staff - including
colleagues from the chaplaincy who brought their own dedication and
prayers to the event - service users and onlookers together.
"The presence of Jin Ho doesn't mean that this space is only for
people of faith," explained Pete, as the ceremony ended. "It's for
anyone and everyone, regardless of belief, religion or faith."
With a delicious array of home-baked snacks to look forward to,
everyone retired indoors to eat, chat and celebrate.We were also
delighted to welcome Laura and Lloyd from the Bath Chronicle who
interviewed and photographed some of the people involved in the
project. You can read Laura's feature
via this link
The mindfulness groups continue to be run by Jinho, Darren
Piercy and Evie Body at Hillview Lodge.