This last weekend, I have been teaching with Choden on the insight module of the Masters in Mindfulness. The material we presented was a bit different from usual, as the two of us are half way through writing a book with Rob Nairn on this subject. We covered the same themes: the key insight practices…
One of the best teachings I received from Rob Nairn was on self-acceptance. He would say ‘If we accepted ourselves wholly and unconditionally would it matter what others think of us?’ He would also say that ‘We might as well accept this version of ourself as we don’t have a spare in the cupboard!’ That…
I am not feeling my usual self at the moment. I am more reactive, impulsive and my resistance to choosing to practice or to follow the options to promote well-being is through the ceiling. I am moving house, but surely that couldn’t be the problem? So, I googled this morning what the most stressful life…
There seem to be many obstacles around that are preventing things from moving forward. I notice this within three major projects in the MA, in my daily life and in my practice at the moment. So what to do? I am doing a lot of practice recently, in order to meet the commitment required for…
I am now on my flight home from India to Manchester and looking forward to spending time with my family, including the dogs over the Easter break, before getting back to work on Tuesday. I used the time last week in India, after the training ended, to do take some retreat time to practice and…
I have just returned from teaching Compassion Module 3 at Samye Ling Buddhist Monastery and in this module we are approaching compassion for others, in weekend 2 we focused on self compassion. It has been many years since my compassion training with Rob Nairn and I remember it clearly and especially this weekend with Tonglen…
The Mindfulness Association’s Level 4 training was developed to support and inspire people following on from Mindfulness, Compassion and Insight Trainings. Even though we may have experienced positive personal changes arising from our practice and even though we may have seen our life situations and relationships with others become not perfect but certainly a bit…
This last week I have been delivering the Compassion Based Living Course (CBLC) teaching skills retreat at Samye Ling with my colleague and good friend Choden. He is a great person to be delivering the retreat with as he is an expert in this field, drawing on his extensive experience as a Buddhist practitioner and…
Those of you who read this blog regularly (thank you!) will know that I use the lojong cards from the Pema Chodron compassion box. Unfortunately, they are no longer available. However, her book ‘Start where you are’ which forms the basis of the compassion box is still available and contains a list of the lojong…