Teachings and Workshops for Nuns and Laywomen PDF Print E-mail
Recognizing and honouring the many vital roles of women in Ladakhi society, LNA not only prioritizes Buddhist education, but also works to create opportunities for trainings and education in valuable life skills for the nuns and laywomen. Usually organized as participatory workshops which encourage women to share and learn from one another, these trainings provide the time and a platform to build a community and mutual
understanding among themselves.

Leadership and Community-building

The first course, “Leadership and Community-building,” was organized for the nuns and women from local NGOs in 1999. Since then, The Association has organized several other leadership and community building trainings to encourage better understanding and support among the nunneries and nuns’ hostels. Short courses have also been offered on conflict transformation and trust building.

Two nuns who attended a Buddhism and Peace-building course in Thailand in 2005 offered a short course on mindfulness practices to the nuns.

LNA was fortunate enough to have two highly experienced women of the International Women for Peace and Justice (IWP), who led a workshop on Leadership building and Engaged Buddhism for five days.  
Twenty students attended the three days of leadership training. The two-days training on Engaged Buddhism was attended by nine
laywomen and eleven nuns. For most of the women it was their first chane to attend such training. The course combined daily mindfulness practices, learning the core Buddhist teachings, and their use in social analysis and community activism. Our nuns who participated, led their own peace building retreat for 20 nuns, which included mindfulness practices, walking meditation, deep listening activities and basic conflict resolution skills.

Organizational Capacity Building Courses

To build organizational capacity within LNA, a 30-days training course was held in December 2002 for the staff and nuns from various nunneries on computer skills, office management, accounting, public relations, conflict resolution and leadership skills. Upon completion of the course, a study tour was organized to visit remote nunneries in order to understand the hardships experienced by the resident nuns in a better way.

Many of the workshops are facilitated by volunteer resource people who come to Ladakh and donate their time and skills to the nuns. Volunteers had led workshops in art and participatory games, which the LNA staff have used as pedagogy for the young nuns at the hostel. Many volunteers have also supported the organization as English teachers at different nunneries.
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