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Open List is designed to cover public events not covered elsewhere In themegezine. We welcome submissions, which will be Included subject to space, to reach our Edinburgh office not later than seven days before publication.
TALKS & WORKSHOPS Friday 5
I Puppet-Making Workshop Maryhill Arts Centre. Maryhill Burgh Hall. Gairbraid Avenue. Glasgow. 945 3995. 10.45am-1pm. £2 (£1 ). The first ofthrec workshops on successive Fridays. during which participants can design and construct their own puppet.
Saturday 6
I Men: Conflict and Cooperation S.H.E.G. . Cannan Lane. Morningside. Edinburgh. Info: David 554 7876/Steve 229 3005. 10am—5pm. Cost £1 per £1000 income in advance. cheques to ‘Men Together'. Booking: David Boag. 26. Noble Place. Edinburgh. E1168AX. The new men‘s movement reaches Central Scotland: workshops and dichssions. all men welcome. bring lunch to share.
I Introduction to Zen Meditation The International Flat. 20 Glasgow Street. Hillhead, Glasgow. Info: John 339 3888. 3pm. Free. Followed by a half day of meditation on Sunday.
I Nine Open Circle Peels Research Club. Glasgow University. University Gardens. Info: Ken Palmer 334 7327. 7.30pm-Iate. An evening of poetry. paintings and music (with a late bar) organised by the Glasgow Arts Society.
Tuesday 9
I William Leiper— Master of Eclecticism Meeting Room. Kelvinside-I Iillhead Church. Observatory Road. Glasgow. Info: Emma Crawford 031 225 9724. 7pm. A1 188 members £1, non-members £2. John Hume will examine the style ofthis masterly Edwardian architect. Organised by the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland.
I Tropical Orchids Botanic Gardens. Great Western Road. Glasgow. Info: Geoffrey Ilancock 357 3929. 7.30pm. Free. A talk and demonstration by David Menzies. organised by the Glasgow Natural History society.
Saturday 13
I Robert Altman- Hollywood's History Lesson Filmhouse. Lothian Road. Edinburgh. Info: Mr]. McKenzie 228 6382. 9.30am—(r30pm. £4.50 EFG members/£5.50 non-members. A one-day Edinburgh Film Guild course on the director of Vincenfund 'l'ltr’o . focusingon the key works Hie Long Goodbye. Buffalo Bill and the Indians and .N'asltviI/e.
Tim Both in Robert Altmans Vincentand Theo
62'1'he List 5— 18 April 1991
MEDITATING FOR PEACE
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Promulgating world peace is a tantalising and inspiring vision. Yogis and mystics through the violent ages have each had their own remedy to proselytize. Now, Edinburgh is to be invited to become the European Capital of World Peace, if only the District Council will instigate a standing group of 7000 transcendental meditators within the city boundaries.
The latest prescription, according to a recent press conference at Edinburgh‘s Transcendental Meditation (TM) centre, is simple: take the square root of one per cent of the world’s population (quite how this formulae is arrived at was never actually explained) and get them to all perform the powerful TM-Sidhi programme for one-and-a-half hours, morning and afternoon. This will unleash the Maharishi Effect on an unsuspecting war-torn world.
Like a ripple running across the surface of a mill pond, a nourishing influence of coherence and positivity will then impinge upon the world‘s consciousness, according to Duncan Paterson, a Scottish teacher of TM.
The beneficial effects of basic TM are not in dispute. That it relieves stress and can help Iowerthe incidence of heart disease is demonstrated in numerous scientific studies. A Dutch life insurance company has even cut its premiums by 40 per cent for anyone practising TM daily.
Dorry and Nigel Kahn recently returned from teaching TM in Armenia to people traumatised by the effects of the 1988 earthquake. In the calm,
eucalyptus-laden atmosphere of the
. TM centre they attested to the powers
of the technique.
In one orphanage where she was invited to teach TM, Dorry says that a girl who had had a beautiful singing voice before the earthquake was so effected by the experience that she was unable to sing. ‘First of all she began to smile again, which she had not been able to do either,‘ according to Dorry, ‘then, within a week, she started singing again. Herwhole physiology seemed to be able to relax and let in the ability to sing.’
Solar, so believable: sitting in a chair with your eyes closed and reflecting quietly fortwenty minutes every morning and evening could have such a result. But could the large number of people practising TM really have, as Dorry claimed, increased the coherence of the community in the whole of Armenia so much that they changed over to a non-communist government?
And what of the TM-Sidhi programme, which takes a two-week residential course costing £1200 to perfect and in which practitioners reach a state of such internal equilibrium that they start “yogic flying’? Did a meeting of the requisite 7000 in 1983 really cause a worldwide decrease in infectious diseases, outbreaks of conciliatory gestures by heads of state and reductions in road accidents?
Perhaps it did. Certainly the area near the TM residential centre in Skelmersdale, where large numbers regularly practise yogic flying, has a surprisingly low crime rate. Maybe someone should advise the District Council to take up the offer so that we too could experience the benefits of a change in government.(Thom Dibdin)
TM Centres: 21 Clouston Street, Glasgow (041 946 4663); 4 West Newington Place, Edinburgh (031 668 1649). Both centres hold evening courses for basic TM, costing £165 (£85 unwaged). Edinburgh has a tree introductory talk every Wednesday at 7.30pm. The next free introductory talk in Glasgow is on Monday 8 April at 8pm.
From Saturday 13
I Salisbury Centre SummerProgramme Salisbury Centre. 2 Salisbury Road. Edinburgh. («)7 5-138. Weekly classesthis term include a SelloLed Women‘s Group Mondays. 7.30pm. £1 .50 £1 '. Yoga-
Iyengar Style several classes. various times; Beginners' Meditation with Rod Burstall. Thursdays. 7.30pm. £15/£7.50 for five weeks and a Gestalt Group with Helen Kennedy, Wednesdays from 24 April. 8pm. £60 for ten weeks. All
welcome. For details on all classes and weekend workshops contact the centre or pick up a programme. A11 weekly classes must be booked in advance with adeposit; usually the full term's fees must be paid in the first week.
Wednesday 17
I Free Car Maintenance Class ForWomen AA Transport Depot. 10 South Gyle Crescent. South Gyle Industrial Estate. Edinburgh. 7— 10pm. To book a place call Ann McCaffrey 848 8611. Information on general maintenance and road safety. including some hands-on practice. Not the easiest place to get to if your car‘s broken down. though.
Thursday 18
I The Romans in Southern Scotland -Future Discoveries Boyd Orr Building. Glasgow University. 7.30pm. Free. A clairvoyant-sounding talk from Dr Lawrence Kelpie, organised by Glasgow Archeological Society.
OPENEXTRA SundayT
I Charity Fun Run Strathclyde Country Park. start 11am. Info: 552 0507. Entry £3/under-los £1 .50/families £8. Organised by the Scottish Motor Neurone Disease Association. this year marking its tenth anniversary. Open to everyone who can run. jog. walk or otherwise make it round a four or six-mile course; all those who finish will be awarded a medal and there will be prizes for class winners.
Saturday 13
I Twist and Shout- Over-60$ Disco Maryhill Arts Centre. Maryhill Burgh Hall. Gairbraid Avenue. Glasgow. 945 3995. £3 (£1.50) Last admission 1 1 . 15pm. Bringa bottle.
Saturday 13/Sunday 14
I The Bike Bus Leaves Waverley Bridge. Edinburgh at 8am. Info: Harry chniker on 229 6274. Tickets from Edinburgh Bicycle. 5 Alvanley Terrace. Edinburgh. £7 single; £9 day return. A new service for cyclists. with a specially-designed trailer for sixteen bikes. towed by a minibus. travelling each weekend to Perthshire. the Borders. Pitlochry. etc (detailed programme issued monthly). Saturday and Sunday destinations will be within cycling distance ofeach other. allowing for day or weekend expeditions. Destinations this weekend are: Saturday. Killin and Loch Tay; Sunday. Aberfeldy and Pitlochry.
Sunday14
I Princes Parade Grand Gala Princes Square. Glasgow. Info and booking: Midnight Sun 332 3575. Tickets £20—£45. start 7.30pm (with dinner). 9. 15pm (promenade tickets). An evening hosted by celebrities,incorporating a fashion show by Princes Square shops and music from That Swing Thang in aid ofthe British Red Cross.