I did it again. I just fell into the stress and striving trap. Having read Heather’s recent blogs Mindfulness Meditation in the Face of Stress and Mindfulness at Christmas, it made me realise how vulnerable we are to the constant onslaught of life’s ‘stuff’ that can make us react. Since beginning the new role of Communications…
Following on from our blog Be Mindful of the Extraordinary, one of our members responded to the Weekly Challenge and contributed this blog. A Mindful Wish “WELL THE PHONE RANG JUST TOO OFTEN as I curled up for some me time, exhausted after decoration and getting the flat back to ‘normal’: moving bags, books, pictures…
After reading Heather Regan Addis’ blog post this week ‘Walk with Me’ which details the movie based on Thich Nhat Hanh’s Zen community of mindfulness practitioners, I was reminded of a wonderful gatha or the short verse that Thich Nhat Hanh uses to help us practice mindfulness in our daily activities: I have arrived, I…
Mindfulness, like all other human activities, occurs within a socio-historical cultural context. By this I mean that people’s attitudes towards mindfulness are informed by perspectives and traditions in their community, culture and society. The socio-historical cultural context for secular mindfulness in contemporary UK is, I believe, generally conducive. In the UK, contemplative and meditative practices…
I have been working a lot with acceptance lately. From a professional standpoint, the members at the weekly sit requested a session with the practice of RAIN, or the meditation on acceptance created by Tara Brach, then I modeled the RAIN practice when I was teaching on the MBLC Teaching Skills retreat and I will…
I am at Samye Ling in the middle of delivering the retreat for people training to teach the brand new Mindfulness Based Living Course for Young Adults (MBLC-YA). I am delivering it with the creator of the course, Heather Grace Bond (nee MacKenzie), a graduate of our MSc in Mindfulness (click here) who we are…
I woke this morning (Boxing Day) to the news that George Michael had died. As a teenager in the 80s I was a fan and even went to see Wham live. I’ve never been able listen to ‘Careless Whisper’ or the wonderful ‘Don’t Let the sun go down on me’ duet with Elton John without…
It’s that time of year again, the landscape is slowly turning, colours are changing and there is a chill in the air most mornings that sometimes lasts all day. The last cling of Summer is slowly giving way to a season of quiet rest. And it is in this transitional time of Autumn where we…