Week Ending Sunday 30th July 2023
I’ve been holding my monthly Mindfulness-Joy Silk-Painting Workshops since the lockdown eased in the summer of 2021. They are 4-hour ‘mini-retreats’ into which I weave as many powerful strategies for reducing stress and building resilience as I can and they are very empowering as well as a lot of fun. The thread running through all the activities is mindfulness, but the highpoint for most people is the silk-painting – and the silk scarf that we make acts as an anchor for the learning.
War, Stress and Refugees
In February 2022 when the war started in Ukraine I felt intense stress myself. I know that when we feel helpless it amplifies stress and takes it almost off the scale and that was how I was feeling. This was caused partly by the horrific situation on the ground in Ukraine and the fact that such a war could erupt at all – but also because the response to the refugees was so hypocritical.
For years Europe has been turning its back on refugees fleeing from conflict. In particular Poland was building a wall to prevent refugees entering from Belarus. I know a young Iraqi refugee. I will call him Olan. (I looked up Kurdish names and Olan means ‘long lasting, resilient, not easily destroyed.’) I’ll share what I know of his story at the end of this blog… but he suffered from the brutality of the Polish border guards first hand.
My family is mixed-race. We have faced racism so this is an issue which I feel very strongly about. My parents worked with refugees after WW2 and often welcomed them into our house while I was growing up… so this is an issue I feel very strongly about.
To have a war break out like this in Ukraine was madness. The refugee crisis was heartbreaking – but also so hypocritical.
The Polish policy for years has been to drive out refugees from Belarus and build a wall to prevent them entering – but now suddenly Poland was welcoming refugees from Ukraine – its neighbour – with great warmth and compassion – but only if they were white. Non-white Ukrainians were being beaten and refused entry.
I wanted to jump in my car and go and rescue people but I had neither the time nor the money to do anything. My monthly workshops took up my entire focus. Each month I had to prepare all the materials, recruit people to come and raise the funds required if I didn’t have enough people paying to come. I felt I was doing what I should be doing, but I could not help bring peace to Ukraine or help refugees of any kind.
I suffered many of the symptoms of stress that as an expert in mental health and stress-reduction I knew only too well in theory. In particular I could not sleep at night. It was as if my brain was on fire. Then I had a moment of inspiration. I could dedicate my workshops themselves to Ukraine, to refugees worldwide. And from that month on I made the workshops completely free to register. I simply invited participants to make a donation to one of the refugee charities.
In May I welcomed two lovely ladies, refugees from Ukraine, to my home. They came and helped at the next workshop and shared the information with their community. In June 2022 the majority of participants were Ukrainian refugees and I no longer had an uphill struggle to fill the places on my workshops. Also, rather than inviting any non-refugees to give a donation to an established refugee charity, I could invite them to give a donation towards the costs of my workshops because these were directly improving the quality of life for the refugees who came.
I am very happy giving my workshops. True they only touch the lives of a very few people – but they do make a difference to those who come. And that is a million times better than doing nothing. I feel I am living my purpose.
I fund my workshops by playing my Pipe and Tabor in the street. That in itself is quite a demanding task as i need between 5 and 600 pounds a month. I love to play Pipe and Tabor and feel that the music in itself is ‘making a difference’ and lifting the world in a small way. But playing under pressure to raise the funds, knowing that I am responsible for ten to fifteen vulnerable people in my workshop at the end of the month, can be quite intense pressure. But I am happy because I genuinely feel that I am ‘Living my Purpose.’ I feel that I am serving the divine in the hearts of all who come.
The workshops themselves are pure meditation, pure worship if you like. But so is the time when I am in the street playing my music, or standing at the sink in my kitchen washing up all the dishes from our Vegetarian Feast as I have been for many hours this week, washing, rinsing, drying and packing away all the dishes and utensils ready for the next workshop. Then there are the table-cloths and aprons, the cloths and casserole dishes required for steaming the silk, the mats on which we work on painting the silk, the droppers and cups used for the dyes – all needing washing, drying and organising ready for the next event. My dear friend Violet – who has been my Assistant since the first workshop in September 2021 irons all the table-cloths and aprons completely free. She feels the same way about devoted service being a form of worship.
The July Workshop was especially significant because last month, while I was playing my music outside Putney Station I met Dr G who is on a Speaking Tour from the USA. He liked my music and stopped to chat. The upshot was that, in exchange for an opportunity to share his message of courage and resilience, he came to the workshop with his videographer and will make a complete record of the event. Unfortunately his party and some other participants had left before the above photo was taken, but at least it gives you a flavour of the event.
I believe that we can’t make any enduring positive change in our lives or in the wider world unless we go to the heart or root which I call ‘consciousness.’ This is similar to what some people call ‘Vibrational Energy.’ When we are in a ‘high consciousness’ we feel happy and at peace. We feel the emotions of love, oneness, compassion, kindness, generosity and gratitude when we are in a high consciousness – and since we are all part of each other and part of the wider world, if we are happy, if we are in a good consciousness, then we raise the standard of the entire world. In this way I feel that my little workshops are making the entire world just a little bit more peaceful – just a little more happy. And the strategies I am teaching will help the participants to be stronger and happier in their lives. We all face challenges. We all find ‘waves of stress’ constantly ‘rolling in’ on our lives. My workshops are effective at empowering participants to ‘surf the stress’ rather than being swamped by it.
Everyone knows that stress and depression are on the rise, but not many people can offer a solution. In Ultimate Stress Solutions I focus on three things which are powerful and effective: Mindfulness itself (I am and experienced and accredited Mindfulness-Teacher) Silk-Painting (creative activity of any kind tends to reduce stress and depression but Silk-Painting is particularly effective in this and I have been a Silk-Paint artist for many years. The third strategy I use is Forest Bathing – which means spending time in nature, around trees. (Japanese research in the 1980’s found this to be the most powerful way of reducing stress and promoting both physical and mental wellbeing.)
I weave all these into my workshops and add an exploration of the sources of strength to balance body, mind, emotion and spirit (there is a shrine with symbols of all the great religions plus a stone to represent non-theistic approaches. If anyone doesn’t feel connection with these, then they can draw something that they do feel close to. Then there is a reflection on values and goals where we use posters with inspiring quotations (which I used to use on the walls of my Religious Education Classroom) a reflection on the inner meaning and significance of colour. While outside doing the ‘Forest Bathing Taster’ I invite participants to look for something that ‘catches their eye’ – which is particularly beautiful or interesting. They can respond with Observational Drawing or write about it – perhaps just a few words – some people write a poem. Another response can simply be to look at the item in a deep way, meditating on it or noticing it in more detail than they might ordinarily do. We conclude the Forest Bathing with Dance- when I play my Pipe and Tabor.
This is followed by some reflection and sharing which concludes with some Breath-Work, with special focus on rhythmic breathing which actually ‘turns down the volume of stress.
Then we do the Silk-Painting which takes over an hour. This is followed by Relaxation with beautiful live cello music by our Maestro ANgel Tarpov. In addition to beautiful pieces of relaxing music he often shares one of his own compositions. Meanwhile my Team is clearing away the silk-painting materials and setting out a Vegetarian Feast.
A healthy diet is one which has minimal added sugar, avoids processed food and includes a wide range of vegetables. This is essential for physical health and increasingly science is recognising that a wide range of vegetables promotes the growth of a healthy gut – which impacts our mental health and can, on its own, reduce depression.
Positive Social Contact is important in reducing stress and all the activities in the workshop reinforce this. By the time we sit down for the meal together there is a great atmosphere and a real family feeling. We conclude with a visualisation on Light, Oneness and Gratitude.
During our July Workshop we had to cut the work on values and colour, to make time for Dr G’s talk. It was truly inspirational. We couldn’t go our for the Forest Bathing and Dance because it was pouring with rain – but with the entire end wall of the hall being glass, we were able to stand and look out of the window to connect with nature.
Towards the end of the workshop ANgel played again, quite spontaneously. The workshop was drawing to a close and some people had already set out for home – so I recorded some of the music to send them. I will share the videos here with you.
The following is a little video my son recorded during the workshop in May. And the concluding one is a little testimonial from one of the Ukrainians who is fluent in English.
Now, a poem….
Since I am in a visual mood I will share a favourite one that I mounted on a photograph. The tree-painting is one of my own creations.
I want to do much more to support refugees and vulnerable people, but for that I need to improve my income. In January I changed my business to a Community Interest Company and I have recently completed my first application for a grant. I am also keen to expand the coaching work I do in Mindfulness and Happiness. Do share the following poster with your friends and on Social Media.
I wish you all the best for the week ahead.
Love and Peace
DurgaMata
PS. Here is a bit more about Olan – and an update on the position for refugees and those seeking asylum here.
Olan was a teacher in Iraq and specialised in working with children with disability, but a few years ago the Iraqi government decided that it was a waste of money to educate disabled children. Olan was out of work. He is also Kurdish and as you may know, the Kurdish population are suffering a lot of persecution in Iraq. Olan increasingly saw some of his people murdered. One friend lived close by. Someone broke into his house in the night and shot him in his bed, as he slept next to his wife. Olan decided he no longer had a future in that country. He felt sure that it was only a matter of time before he would be next, so he sold everything he had and borrowed money and managed to get out of Iraq.
After months of struggle he reached Belarus. He crossed through the forests to the border with Poland, aiming to come to England as he had both friends and relatives living here. He was with a group of refugees, three of whom were also Iraqi and they had become friends during their journey, so they were travelling together. Repeatedly they crossed into Poland only to be driven back to Belarus. They were beaten. Dogs were set on them. His legs bare the scars to tell that story. The guards in Belarus were as bad as the Polish ones and beat them up more. They were in a desperate situation.
Olan and his friends kept trying to get into Poland, to avoid the guards and somehow reach Germany. They kept being driven back. He saw people die. A woman driven into a freezing lake and not permitted to come out, eventually collapsed and was seen no more. There was no shelter and next to no food. One by one, his three friends all froze to death in the forest.
Somehow he eventually was able to get into Poland and avoid the Guards. Perhaps he met some sympathetic Polish people who managed to smuggle him into Germany. I know there are some. Many Polish people have good hearts and oppose their government policy. I’ve never asked him for details of how he managed but he did eventually reach Germany – and the Germans were much more supportive. He could have settled there but he knew no German and didn’t know anyone there. He did know some English and he was still desperate to come and join his family here, so after months of more struggle he managed to get onto one of the small boats and cross the channel to England.
Olan has spent more than two years in limbo, not permitted to work, confined to a ‘reception centre’ which is not much better than a prison. For a while he was on suicide-watch (which is when a friend got to know him and I met him.) I can only imagine what hell all the refugees and seekers of asylum have been through. Now he has at last been assessed and given leave to stay but it will take years to get over the nightmare. He is training as a barber because to use his training and experience and go into teaching would require years of study as his qualifications are not recognised. But at least he is now able to begin to rebuild his life. And he is just one young man, who I happen to know.
I also know a young Syrian man who is also highly educated, a very gentle and cultured violinist who I met through ANgel my cellist. He has suffered unspeakable ‘hell’ in Syria for past ten years which has left him with trauma and physical injuries including concussion-related migraines. His landlord sold the property so he is desperate to find secure accommodation – and everyone knows that accommodation in London is very expensive and difficult to find. He could be homeless and on the street any day. I have a bag of his things in my house as he is currently ‘sofa-surfing.’ Refugees and those who come here seeking asylum are real people, all with their own story, their own history. They have much to offer but they can’t even begin to contribute to our society until they have a secure roof over their head and the right to work.
Nobody chooses to leave their home, family and friends, to travel to another land, risking their very lives. We can’t even imagine what traumas they have suffered in their home country and on their journeys here. And when they do arrive, what further physical emotional and mental trauma they suffer on our shores. They have skills and experience which can contribute to our economy. History shows how hard-working immigrants are and our whole nation is build on wave after wave of immigrants who have come here to rebuild their lives and offer their children a better future. It is in our interest – especially with our own falling birthrate – to welcome them and make settling in here as smooth and trouble-free as possible. But what are we doing? Our government has made it completely illegal to come to seek asylum in this country. There is no legal route, so desperate people will continue to use the boats and the lorries. It’s disingenuous to blame the ‘people smugglers.’ In my view we need to create a legal route so that the people smugglers have no business.
The latest ‘government scheme’ is to use massive barges as ‘hotels’ – reports are that – The first group of asylum seekers to be accommodated on a barge will move onto a vessel in Portland Port in the next few weeks, rising to a total of 500 migrants over time.‘ This barge was designed to house 200 people
A report (from 18th July) says –
Portland Labour councillor Paul Kimber continued to sympathise with the men who will be arriving. “Our objections are that having the barge here it is going to be like a prison for them. We are not against refugees, we welcome them here,” he said.
Nick Clarke, the rural dean of Weymouth and Portland, said: “We can do so much better in terms of making refugees more welcome than just putting them on a barge, it just looks like an incarceration. They are in need.”
Chris Loder, the Conservative MP for West Dorset, said he remained firmly opposed and had written to the Home Office to ask if a risk and safety assessment of the barge had been carried out. “This is a last-ditch attempt from me to stop it,” he said. “The Dorset coast is the wrong place to do such a thing.”
Downing Street was unmoved, insisting the barge was a cheaper alternative to housing asylum seekers in hotels. The prime minister’s official spokesperson said: “It’s undergoing final inspections upon arrival. That’s the last part of the process ahead of the first group of asylum seekers moving into the vessel later this month.”
Another report states – Bibby Stockholm: Migrant barge with less living space than an average parking bay arrives in Dorset
The Independent understands the vessel must be connected to the Portland Port’s fresh water, mains sewage network and other services, after this it will undergo more tests.
Asylum seekers will then be brought on board gradually, starting with around 50, and scaled up amid ongoing concerns over the Home Office’s decision to increase the barge’s capacity from 222 to 506 people.
Richard Drax, the Conservative MP for South Dorset, likened the barge to a “quasi-prison” and has voiced concern about its impact on both asylum seekers and the tourist-dependent local economy.
“I remain very disappointed that this barge is being located in Portland Port, which is highly restricted and is the wrong place and solution to this issue,” he told The Independent.
Dorset Live – on 2nd August reports –
…The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) said it is planning to write to the Home Office about overcrowding and access to fire exits on the vessel. Ben Selby, the FBU’s assistant general secretary told Sky News how the union’s main concern is the number of people due to live on the barge, which was initially designed to accommodate around 200 but could now house 500.
“That then raises significant fire safety concerns for us, and also concerns that, if a fire was to break out on the Bibby, could firefighters make the adequate rescues and access where necessary,” he said.
“By increasing that occupancy, then we would expect certain measures and assessments to be made to ensure that those that were being accommodated there were safe, and that firefighters – if and when they were needed to make access to the Bibby – they were also safe, or as safe as they could be in doing so when attempting to rescue people.”
…Groups supporting the asylum seekers, some of whom are staying at hotels in Bournemouth while they wait to be moved, have called on the government to scrap the barge plan altogether.
Steve Smith, the CEO of Care4Calais, also expressed his fear that the barge being prepared to accommodate more than 500 refugees is an “accident waiting to happen” because of insufficient fire safety on board with the Government putting money as a “higher priority than people’s lives”.
He added “Amongst those we are supporting are the survivors of torture, people with disabilities and people who have experienced trauma at sea. Housing any human on a ‘floating prison’ like the Bibby Stockholm is unacceptable. Doing so to people like this is completely inhumane.”
I am an expert in mindfulness and I work in the field of health and wellbeing. It absolutely appals me that anyone would be confined to this kind of ‘accommodation’ and especially those who are traumatised and vulnerable. I am praying that those who are opposing the use of this barges and others like it, will succeed in blocking their use. I can only imagine the harm it would cause to the mental and emotional health of anyone locked up here. True it is a challenging situation but we can and must do better.
Some background information about Refugees and those seeking Asylum.
Here is some information about refugees from The Refugee Council Did you know that there are more than 100 million refugees in our world at this time – more than ever before in history. And with Climate Change ‘flexing its muscles’ there will be more.
In my view, the only way to solve this is for all the countries in the world to work together – with the United Nations which came into existence to bring greater peace, health and happiness for everyone. It is not perfect – of course it’s not perfect. Human beings are not perfect – but it is the best we have. As you will see here, the UK is not yet pulling its weight and most common beliefs people hold about refugees are pure mythology.
1. People seeking asylum and refugees – who’s who?
Refugee
The definition of a refugee according to The 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees is:
“A person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.”
In the UK, a person becomes a refugee when government agrees that an individual who has applied for asylum meets the definition in the Refugee Convention they will ‘recognise’ that person as a refugee and issue them with refugee status documentation. Usually refugees in the UK are given five years’ leave to remain as a refugee. They must then must apply for further leave, although their status as a refugee is not limited to five years.
Person seeking asylum
A person who has left their country of origin and formally applied for asylum in another country but whose application has not yet been concluded. Wherever possible, we prefer to describe someone as a person seeking asylum as we feel that the term asylum seeker is dehumanising.
Refused asylum applicant
A person whose asylum application has been unsuccessful and who has no other claim for protection awaiting a decision. Some people who have their case refused voluntarily return home, others are forcibly returned. For some, it is not safe or practical to return until conditions in their country change.
Migrant
Someone who has moved to another country for other reasons, such as to find work.
2. Developing countries – not the UK – look after most of the world’s refugees
72%
of refugees live in countries neighbouring their country of origin
- At the end of 2021 around 89.3 million people were forcibly displaced across the world. Of these, 27.1 million were refugees, whilst 53.2 million were internally displaced within their country of origin.
- 72% of the world’s refugees are living in countries neighbouring their country of origin, often in developing countries.
- Over 6.8 million people have fled conflict in Syria, and many more are displaced inside the country. Türkiye is the biggest refugee hosting country in the world. At the end of 2022 Türkiye was providing safety to 3.7 million Syrian refugees. By the end of February 2021 the UK had resettled 20,319 refugees from Syria under the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme (VPRS). This includes 239 refugees who were resettled prior to the target of 20,000 being set.
1%
The UK is home to approx. 1% of the 27.1 million refugees who were forcibly displaced across the world.
3. People seeking asylum are looking for a place of safety
41%
of displaced people across the world are children
- The top ten refugee producing countries in 2021 all have poor human rights records or on-going conflict. People seeking asylum are fleeing from these conflicts and abuses, looking for safety
- In 2021, more than two-thirds of the refugees across the world came from just five countries: Syria (6.8 million), Venezuela (4.6 million), Afghanistan (2.7 million), South Sudan (2.4 million) and Myanmar (1.2 million).
- There is no such thing as an ‘illegal’ or ‘bogus’ asylum seeker. Under international law, anyone has the right to apply for asylum in any country that has signed the 1951 Convention and to remain there until the authorities have assessed their claim
- It is recognised in the 1951 Convention that people fleeing persecution may have to use irregular means in order to escape and claim asylum in another country – there is no legal way to travel to the UK for the specific purpose of seeking asylum
- The 1951 Refugee Convention guarantees everybody the right to apply for asylum. It has saved millions of lives. No country has ever withdrawn from it
There is nothing in international law to say that refugees must claim asylum in the first country they reach. A European regulation allows countries in the EU to return an adult asylum applicant to the first European country they reached. This means that countries on the edge of Europe have responsibility for a lot more people seeking asylum than others. Some of the countries through which people travel to get to Europe are unsafe for some. Many have not signed the Refugee Convention, meaning that people who remain there will not get international protection and be able to rebuild their lives
4. Refugees make a huge contribution to the UK
- About 1,200 medically qualified refugees are recorded on the British Medical Association’s database. It is estimated that it costs around £25,000 to support a refugee doctor to practise in the UK. Training a new doctor is estimated to cost between £200,000 and £250,000
- Children in the UK asylum system contribute very positively to schools across the country. This in turn enables more successful integration of families into local communities
5. The majority of asylum claims are successful
75%
of initial decisions made in 2022 resulted in a grant of asylum or other form of protection
- The UK asylum system is strictly controlled and complex. It is very difficult for people seeking asylum to provide the evidence required to be granted protection. Despite these challenges, the majority of asylum claims are successful. In the year ending June 2022, 76% of initial decisions resulted in a grant of asylum or other form of protection.
- The Home Office can take months or even years to make a decision on asylum case, and there is a growing backlog of cases. At the end of June 2022, there were over 117,000 people awaiting an initial decision on their asylum case.
- Since 2005 most people recognised as refugees are only given permission to stay in the UK for five years. This makes it difficult for them to make decisions about their future, to find work and make definite plans for their life in the UK
6. People seeking asylum do not get large handouts from the state
£7
People seeking asylum are often living on Home Office support equivalent to under £7 per day
- People seeking asylum do not come to the UK to claim benefits. Most know nothing about welfare benefits before they arrive and had no expectation that they would receive financial support
- Most people seeking asylum are living in poverty and experience poor health and hunger. Many families are not able to pay for the basics such as clothing, powdered milk and nappies
- Almost all people seeking asylum are not allowed to work and are forced to rely on state support – this is as little as £6.43 a day to live on
And finally – here’s a little medley where I am playing Pipe and Tabor. I use it to time jobs like washing up – it’s 18 minutes and quite sparkly and energising – while the ending is reflective and brings me back to my work with refugees.