Common Ground – Meditation In Australia
An important online forum exploring the unique nature of meditation in Australia.
This event will gather First Nations Australian practitioners, thinkers and academics to explain and teach ancient Indigenous practices and stories representing the interconnected traditions of meditation, systems thinking and caring for Country deeply embedded in the original spirituality of Australia.
The program will also explore some of the more prominent cross-cultural meditation practices prevalent in this country since the 1960s, emerging from teachers in Indian and South East Asian traditions through to more recent psychologically-attuned approaches.
Saturday 29th May: All day forum, 10am – 6pm
Sunday 30th May: The Hangout, 11am – 12.30pm
Saturday forum featuring:
• Our honoured first speaker and Senior Australian of the Year, Miriam Rose Ungunmerr Baumann, will talk to us about, and offer us an experience of, dadirri – inner, deep listening and quiet, still awareness – which she says is “perhaps the greatest gift we can give to our fellow Australians”.
• An interview with, and guided meditation by, Tyson Yunkaporta, Senior Research Fellow at Deakin University, and author of the much-acclaimed book Sand Talk, an exploration of global systems from an Indigenous perspective.
• In her talk, Teaching meditation from Bodhgaya to Daylesford, Professor Zane Diamond from the Faculty of Education at Monash University will explore how Buddha Dhamma teachings have spread from India over the last 2500 years via the major traditions of Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana, first to near neighbours of the region, and more recently to the world.
• An explanation and guided practice of Wayapa Wuurk by co-founder Jamie Marloo Thomas. This Earth Mind Body Spirit modality is a combination of Earth mindfulness, narrative meditation, physical movements and actions to look after the planet.
• An interview with Zen roshi and Insight Meditation teacher Subhana Barzaghi, as she reflects on her 45 years of engagement with these two important meditation traditions in Australia.
• A talk from leading MBSR teacher, Director of Openground and Director of Training with the Mindfulness Training Institute-ANZ, Timothea Goddard, about the possibilities and pitfalls for the mindfulness movement.
• Eminent author and journalist Martin Flanagan in interview with leading Australian sportspeople and sports psychologists to explore Meditation, Mindset and Mental Health in Sport
Sunday – The Hangout
An online moderated salon for you to discuss and explore your responses and experiences of Saturday’s program, and engage with some of the presenters.
(And maybe network a little!)
Can’t watch all day? Don’t worry – after the event you will receive a viewing link to catch up on what you missed or rewatch your favourites.
This is an online event – you will receive an email from Eventbrite after purchasing your ticket containing your event links:
Saturday Forum
Sunday Hangout
If you haven’t received an email from Eventbrite with your event links within a day or two of making your booking, please check your spam folder. If it’s not there, then contact karen@meditationautralia.org.au to receive your event links.
This event has a CPD value of 8 points.
IMPORTANT: please make sure that you have updated your Zoom software to the latest version or you may not be able to access the event.
Members $150 (plus ticketing fees)
Non-members $180 (plus ticketing fees)
Tickets via Eventbrite
Learn more about our forum presenters
Miriam Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann
Miriam Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann is an Aboriginal elder from Naiuyu. An artist and educator, she became the Northern Territory’s first fully qualified Aboriginal teacher, with a deep commitment to ensuring that Aboriginal people had the opportunity to become qualified teachers and to manage their own schools.
In 1998, Miriam Rose was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia, for her services to Aboriginal education and art, and for services to the Nauiyu community. She was later awarded an honorary doctorate from Northern Territory University and on January 25, 2021 Miriam Rose was named Senior Australian of the Year.
Tyson Yunkaporta
Tyson Yunkaporta is an academic, an arts critic, and a researcher who belongs to the Apalech Clan in far north Queensland. He carves traditional tools and weapons and also works as a Senior Research Fellow at Deakin University in Melbourne. He is the author of Sand Talk, a book about Indigenous thinking and how it can save the world. As an Indigenous person, Tyson Yunkaporta looks at global systems from a unique perspective, one tied to the natural and spiritual world. In considering how contemporary life diverges from the pattern of creation, he raises important questions. How does this affect us? How can we do things differently?
Zane Diamond
Professor Zane Diamond works in the Faculty of Education at Monash University and is a recognised Dharma teacher in the Theravada tradition. She was a student of Venerable Ayya Khema Bhikkhuni, who was one of the founders of forest monastery Wat Buddha Dhamma in New South Wales. Professor Diamond’s research interests include an exploration of the relationship between Buddha-Dhamma and education.
Jamie Marloo Thomas
Jamie is the Co-Creator of Wayapa Wuurrk®, an internationally-accredited and trademarked Earth Mindfulness and Action modality. Jamie is passionate about helping people tap into their ancestral knowing to create purpose, belonging and intergenerational wellbeing for a healthier, more connected planet.
Martin Flanagan
Martin Flanagan writes about sport, Australian culture and the relationship between indigenous and non-indigenous Australia. He is the author of 20 books, and wrote for The Age newspaper from 1985 to 2017.
Subhana Barzaghi
A Buddhist practitioner for 45 years, Subhana Barzaghi is authorised to teach in two different Buddhist traditions. She is a Zen Buddhist Roshi in the Diamond Sangha and resident teacher of the Sydney Zen Centre and guiding teacher for the Melbourne Zen Group. Subhana is also an Insight Meditation teacher and founder of Kuan Yin Meditation Centre in Lismore and Blue Gum Sangha in Sydney. Subhana teaches intensive seven day Zen meditation sesshins and Insight Meditation retreats and dharma workshops throughout Australia and New Zealand. Subhana and Alan Bassal are the Directors of the two-year Mindfulness & Compassion Teacher training course and guiding teachers for the Insight Dharma Teachers’ Training & mentoring course under the Insight Meditation Institute.
Timothea Goddard
Timothea has broad experience as a psychotherapist, educator and mindfulness teacher, having trained in humanistic, psychodynamic, systemic and somatic psychotherapies as well as being grounded in a range of mindfulness-based approaches. She is Director of Openground and Director of Training with the Mindfulness Training Institute – ANZ. She is a long time student of yoga and insight meditation.
Fiona Fallo
Fiona Fallo is a registered meditation teacher and clinical psychologist: Consultant Psychologist at an Aboriginal community controlled health clinic for 11 years and in private practice since 2002. She has worked primarily with local Kaurna and Ngarrindgeri peoples as well as with Peramangk, Kokatha, Adnyamathanha and Narungga peoples. She has also worked with other Nations from across Australia including Yorta Yorta, Wiradjuri and Gamilaraay. Ms Fallo’s meditation journey has been shaped by First Nation peoples who have helped her to discern and develop practices that benefit daily life. She understands the importance of amplifying First Nation voices for the health and wellbeing of individuals, communities and Country.