Journey #80 – Slovakia
In 2018, I went to Slovakia for mindfulness and meditation sessions during 25-30 November by the invitation of Martina Trginova, a Peace Agent and then Peace Architect.
Right after landing, I traveled straight from Vienna International Airport to Istropolitana Ogilvy in Bratislava for a mindfulness and meditation workshop ‘stress management for better creativity’ for the staff of Ogilvy. The atmosphere during the meditation was awesome and participants could not really feel the time even though we meditated for almost 40 minutes.
A meditation workshop and a talk ‘healthy relationships’ at Karamulo Ateliér, Bratistavala Slovakia was conducted on 25 October. Participants enjoyed the session and learned the secret of having healthy relationships that one must begin by loving oneself first.
On 26 October, I went to a Tibetan center Čajovňa v Tibet-Parku in Nové Zámky, Slovakia to facilitate a session there under a topic ‘how to be happy with inner peace’. About 70 participants got a chance to find their own inner peace and learn how that will become an important tool to fight with their bad habits.
On October 27, I visited two yoga studios Jogovňa BB and Loca_Studio in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia and conducted mindfulness and meditation workshops ‘work-life balance’ and ‘healthy relationship’. Participants learned that our worrying mind is the source of unhappiness and once we are committed to change our habits, our life and our relationship will become more positive and appealing.
On October 28, I went to teach a mindfulness and meditation session in Zvolen, Slovakia with over 70 participants who came to meet a Buddhist monk for the first time. They learn the secret of developing a balance life by solving the biggest problems and meditating to maintain inner peace at the same time. Many were surprised about their meditation experiences. They felt peace and absolute freedom as if they were moving or falling into it.
The evening session in Kremnica took place on October 28 at a theater Akropola Kremnica with over 120 attendants from both Kremnica and nearby cities. I offered a mindfulness and meditation workshop together with a talk about developing life-balance. During the moment of silence, participants didn’t really feel the time was passing as they were feeling light and peaceful … almost falling asleep yet feeling awake at the same time.
On the evening of 29 October, I visited a co-working space HubHub in the center of Bratislava Slovakia and gave a mindfulness and meditation workshop on the topic ‘work-life balance’. It was nice to see people who attended the previous sessions to come again. The meditation was nice and peaceful. Many people didn’t feel the time. Some felt the power of visualizing the sun at the center of the body … warm, bright, peaceful and calm. Many said they didn’t want it to end.
The last session in Slovakia I went to guide a mindfulness and meditation session in a yoga studio KVET ŽIVOTA with the topic ‘the purpose of life’, which has become a question in the mind of many participants as they were very curious to find out about the answer. I guided the meditation for 40 minutes and the participants all felt very peaceful just by keeping their mind at the center resulting in deeper meditation experiences such as the body’s lightness, disappearance, inner light and a clear inner image when visualizing the sun … making them feel very peaceful without wanting the session to end.
All sessions surprised us in a very positive way as we did not expect that there is such a huge demand from the Slovakian society when it comes to meditation. People were keen to participate and wanted to know more what could be potentially the way to maintain inner peace in their life.