Haiku and Mindfulness Workshop from Carousel Creates Dublin writing center.

The Haiku and Mindfulness workshop took place over two days in the beautiful surrounds of the Carousel Creates Writing Centre in Rathfarnham.  I arrived fresh and slightly nervous at eight o clock in the morning but I was reassured by the warmth of the welcome. Author Carolann Copland is the founder of Carousel Creates and was our lovely host for the weekend.

Leading Haiku Poets Maeve O’Sullivan and Kim Richardson led the workshop. The object was to “Hone your writing skills by combining the discipline of Haiku with mindfulness practices and the outstanding beauty and tranquility of Carousel Creates Writers’ Centre, Dublin.”

The practice of Mindfulness and Haiku complement each other fantastically and the beautiful surroundings layer inspiration after inspiration on you.

At the very spooky hell fire club

The weather was amazing, blue blue skies and warm sun.  We trekked up through the woods behind carousel creates and then up to the beautiful views at the Hell Fire Club ruins.  We took time to explore and to sit or stand alone composing a haiku that we would workshop later. The other participants in the workshops were friendly and supportive and at no stage did I feel inferior or shy about speaking up.  We went through all the poems and discussed how they could be improved  and then learned about all the different kinds of Haiku and the rules of writing them.

Carousel Creates

The food was AMAZING! I am writing this a week later and I’m still craving the homemade pâté and bread that Carolann made! Everything was wholesome, fresh and delicious and a wonderful sight to see after so much exercise outdoors:)

Find Carousel Creates here  where you can find details of upcoming classes and workshops.

Write from Within can be found on twitter @writefromwithin and Maeve O’ Sullivan can be found @maeveos on twitter.

I would like to thank everyone for such a wonderful weekend! Thank you to Maeve and Kim and especially Carolann for being such a kind and thoughtful host!

Thank you very much!

Nettles and buttercups

line the roadway –

stone remains stone

…

Rocks in the stream

bearded with moss –

a gnarled redwood.

…

Warm breeze

soft on freckled skin-

The Hell Fire Club behind.

Haiku and Mindfulness