The Learning Lounge

The Learning Lounge hasn't had a physical location since 2022. But much of what the Learning Lounge was doing is happening on a bigger and better scale here at Cherish. For the last 6 months we have been working alongside the Cherish team to offer a sanctuary of sanity in the midst of turbulent times.
Check out the new website and come on in and see what it's all about.

Home - Cherish Cherish is a beautiful home right in the heart of Christchurch. It is an all inclusive, interspiritual space with friendly caring loving people.

A few people have inquired about the Wednesday evening meditations.
We will start again tomorrow from 6pm.
Usually we have two sits together, one shorter and guided to settle and arrive, and one longer unguided sit. In between is space for questions and/or rambles. Sometimes we explore a particular text or theme, depending on what is alive in the group.
We finish at 7:30, but you're welcome to stick around for some food and chats afterwards.

What we explore is responsive to the questions and angles of inquiry of whoever shows up. We've been largely working with awareness of breathing and following the stages of anapanasati, but lately have been exploring Bodhicitta, Tonglen, Chenrezi, and other practices. What we explore in the new year is still an open question, depending on who is committing to come and what questions they bring.

New location of Admatha.
If you'd like to come and join, just send me a message and I'll send you the address.

This December we offer a one week meditation retreat at the Wangapeka Study and Retreat Centre.

this is a subsidised retreat, which makes it very affordable for whoever wants to participate.

Young Adults Retreat 2023 - The Wangapeka Study and Meditation Retreat Centre Wednesday 13th to Wednesday 20th December The Young Adults Retreat (YAR) provides the opportunity for young adults (18-35) to come together to learn and deepen the craft of meditation. YAR offers a friendly introduction to a universal meditation retreat at an affordable price. 
There will be perio...

Phenomenal Inner Sound Healing Journey
Evening & Full Day
Quartz Crystal Bowls sessions

Friday July 28th
Evening - 6.30 to 8:00 pm
$33.00 pp
Bring a mat, pillow and blanket

Saturday July 29th
Full Day – 9:30 am to 4:30pm
$111.00 pp

Morning & Afternoon Tea provided.
Bring lunch, a mat, pillow And blanket.
A full kitchen is available for use.

Join for Friday & Saturday sessions $122.00 per person.

Tickets available from Eventfinda at this link:

https://www.eventfinda.co.nz/2023/phenomenal-quartz-crystal-bowls-sound-healing-journey/christchurch

*if the requested energy exchange is beyond your means please contact us to discuss
Joan - 021 119 1493

The Learning Lounge currently has a space at the Opawa Zendo on Thursday Evenings from 6-7:15pm.

Over the last few years, this has been used to teach meditation classes, but these have now shifted to a Wednesday night at the new Learning Lounge.

At this stage, the Thursday night booking will come to an end in two weeks. But if there is someone in the community who wants an opportunity to run something that aligns with the values of the Zendo, then The Learning Lounge will continue to hold this booking to support that.

Message me directly if you are interested in taking this conversation further. It is a beautiful and supportive space, and a great asset for supporting the community in their growth and unfolding.

The Learning Lounge is back and ready to begin offerings again for 2023.

Last year we saw more than 1000 uses of our space in Cathedral Junction, and this lead to a pathway for council funding to take the lounge further.

It was beautiful to be able to offer a space to relax and LOUNGE in the central city when these places are so scarce yet so needed.
It was exciting to be able to offer a space to question deeply and LEARN when clarity of question and intent can feel so unclear.
But at the same time we struggled to feel thoroughly enriched in a space absent of natural light or life.

It is clear that rest and inquiry are needed in our culture right now. Unfortunately we often feel short of space and time in order to do this. We are committed to addressing this.

For now we will not reopen a lounge in the city. We have a new Learning Lounge at a private address in Cashmere, and continue to offer events at other venues around the city.

Right now we have two offerings:

Meditation as a contemplative science: https://fb.me/e/TI8FM3Xg

Wednesday Dharma: https://fb.me/e/2R6Wegfpd

Stay tuned for what’s to come.

Goodbye for 2022 Learning Lounge!
Stay tuned for 2023!

Don't forget to support us by providing some feedback here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScPNhppmjblZzT3x4VwRVxJ7lGZknwReng9qnyeNSWN_P9w0g/viewform?usp=sf_link

Join us next Monday for a final evening to wrap-up our time at this venue. We will provide some snicks and snacks, and share a bit about what’s coming next.

As we wrap up, it is incredibly valuable to hear from everybody who has been a part of The Learning Lounge over this time. Whether you’ve been in once, or whether you were in every day, please help us best support the community by sharing your feedback with us.

Links to the event and the feedback form are in the comments ❤️‍🔥

A big thank you to everybody who has shared their gifts with the community at The Learning Lounge. Here’s a reminder of some of the things that have been offered, and links to make sure you can stay in touch with these facilitators to find out what else they are offering in the future 🧚🏼‍♀️

What’s next for The Learning Lounge?

Our time at Cathedral Junction is wrapping up. It has been a beautifully cosy venue for the winter and we are so grateful for the funding that allowed us to make the space feel like a second home and share it with the community. Our time at the lounge has evidenced the deep need for a space to connect, explore, collaborate and create within the community, and this has opened doors for new funding pathways, so expect more Learning Lounge in the near future!

In the meantime, the community will continue to support each other in our growth and inquiry while we’re between venues. There will be fewer physical events during this time, however we are excited about the opportunity the warmer seasons provide for gathering outdoors in the sunlight and fresh air - something that was a little lacking in our current venue! We will continue to create space for explorations and experiences that are valued by each of us in the community: there will be a focus on gathering for meaningful conversations, as well as creating and sharing online content, so stay connected with our social media channels!

Understanding how the Learning Lounge can best serve the community is an open, ongoing exploration that we’d love you to be a part of. Our doors are always open to connect and collaborate. We all share this aspiration to support our community to live well and thrive. Let’s have these conversations together and ensure that this opportunity that we have to create a space for shared explorations is the best offering that it can be for us all 🤗🌿

We are slimming down our library.
Free to a good home!

Come on down and grab some books. Message us to sort out a time because we will be in-and-out over the next few days.

Many hands and countless contributions have gone into making The Learning Lounge a reality. This is by no means an extensive list, but here are a few things we are grateful for.

Thank you to Chris Graham from Kowai Classic Furniture for making and donating us a coat rack and a beautiful round table!

A big thank you to Mackenzie for being a superstar and taking the reins on social media.

Thank you to everybody who’s hosted an event in the space and has shared their gifts with the community.

Thank you to Mark Hamilton for the masterful posters and flyers.

Thank you to everybody who contributed to our furnishings, to the amazing art on the walls, the mugs and jugs and bits and bobs.

Thank you to Sol and Luke for letting us use their vehicles and trailers to load everything into the space.

Thank you to Saralena for her beautiful photography.

And a huge thank you to everybody who has been in the space and made this experience what it was. We can’t wait to share our final week in this space with you all, and share our journey wherever we go next ✨🌞❤️‍🔥🥳

Today we would like to introduce Em, another member of our team who you’ve probably seen around the Lounge at some stage being her grounded, warm and welcoming self ✨

“Kia ora, I’m Em. My journey over the last 3 years has been a love story back to my heart. I am passionate about supporting and empowering others on their heart’s journey. You may have experienced this with the various integration spaces I’ve held at the Learning Lounge such as the Mindgym, Jammin’ in the Lounge, or the Integration Sharing Circles. I always look to cultivate community through holding space and facilitating group events wherever I go. It’s been such an honour to be part of Learning Lounge to do offer these spaces.

I quit my career as an Outdoor Ed, PE, and Health teacher to follow what my true nature was calling me to, what my heart desired most. That is to create safe spaces for others to discover the spaciousness within themselves to feel a sense of ease, joy, and lightness on the path back to the heart. That’s my hearty mission in this world and I am currently developing my next business. Although I’m on the go with many exciting ventures the things I love to do include: outdoor adventures, natural crafting, presently listening to other’s stories and experiences, heart connections, singing and playing music, learning about foraging, play and having fun, and creating ceremony spaces for my daily rituals.

I enjoy a deep chat over a cuppa cacao to cultivate hearty connections, I look forward to chatting with you soon.”

We have just over a week left at our venue here at Cathedral Junction before we move on to our next form.

In these 3 months we have had:
16 groups that ran sessions over 100 times.
31 different workshops and events.
1000+ uses of the space in total.

It’s great to look at these numbers and see how much engagement there has been in the space, but what really matters is the quality of those engagements.

We’d love to hear from you about your experience of The Learning Lounge. Please take a few minutes to give us some feedback. Everything that you share will help the next iteration of The Learning Lounge be the best offering that it can be for the community. Survey link can be found in the comments 🤍

Tomorrow we have Alana Culic and Cristina Camargo running a masterclass on Theta Healing. Learn all about the art of manifestation, the complexities of the mind and how to make your dreams a reality. Read more about the event and grab your tickets today! Will leave a comment with the link below ✨

Kia ora koutou. It is time for our current venue in Cathedral Junction is coming close to completion. We have 2 more weeks of events, study groups, and meditations, and then from 10-14th October we will slowly be packing down and celebrating all the wonderful things that have taken place over the last 3 months.

We would love to have you join us on Monday October 10th for a final get together, dedicated to honouring the community we have created. It doesn't matter if you’ve been in once, or you’ve been in once a week, you’re welcome to join us for this reflection and celebration.

It is clear that the community wants more Learning Lounge! Amongst all the connections, collaborations, and creations, we have been seeing 100+ weekly uses, a range of different community groups and offerings, and a beautiful community flowering.This want from the community is so evident that we now have funding pathways to carry the lounge on in 2023.

For now, we are not sure where that will be, so from October 14th until next year things will move from a physical venue to an online space. We are all so thankful to everyone that has been involved during our time here. Everyone who ran events, attended workshops, gave feedback or supported us in any other way. You have all been an imperative part of our time here. As we move to a more online space, we can include our community further afar that have been unable to make it in person. We will still offer events, and share with you all of the wonderful things happening around the city in different places. We will make sure that there’s opportunities to connect, share and explore together even without a venue.

We believe The Learning Lounge is much more than a physical space itself. It is a hub for enquiry, a shared passion, a community and a safe space, in every essence of the term.

Please come on down in the next few weeks to enjoy the space whilst we are still here, and be a part of the conversation about how exactly we evolve as we go forward 🌞

Calling all women looking for a dance party this Friday night 💃 🪩

This New Moon party is the final moon circle for the year but Lauren and Em have more exciting offerings through Shine upcoming ✨

Come tonight at 7pm for
🌙 cacao
🌙 intimate connection to self and sisters
🌙 learning emotional releases
🌙 presence practices

Come settle into the change of winds with the spring season to recharge with the new moon energy and celebrate with dance to shift and shine together 👯‍♀️💞

See you tonight witch sis😘

Writer, poet, artist, traveller and inspiring teacher, Tarchin has at times described himself as a ‘yogi of the natural world’. He has a great passion for blending the insights and understandings of science and ecology with buddhadharma, and in particular, the teachings of Mahamudra and Dzogchen. Tarchin is continuously exploring ways to present the teaching (Dharma) so that it is immediately relevant and useful to the people he meets, in the circumstances in which they are living.

This coming Sunday, Sept 25, Tarchin with us, will explore the heart of dharma from a universal perspective, with particular focus on samadhi, mind and knowing. Join us at the lounge as we tune into this session via zoom 🌞

SUNDAY 25/9 10am