In my weekly blog, Heather’s Musings, I write about what has been happening in my life and how I am applying my mindfulness, compassion and insight practice to it. The process of writing the blog is often an opportunity for me to gain more clarity and recognise what is happening and I find it highly beneficial. My wish is that it is also helps other meditation practitioners who are on a similar journey.
The opinions and beliefs that I express in this blog are my own and do not represent the opinion of the Mindfulness Association.
This week I am on Holy Isle with the Year 2 and 3 MSc students (For more information: click here). It is idyllic here. I have just been walking on the foreshore, sun shining, birds singing, wild ponies with a foal and a guy playing the mandolin – it was quite a surreal experience and…
I was very happy to meet my colleague Heather MacKenzie to prepare to deliver a teacher training retreat for an adaptation she has developed of our Mindfulness Based Living Course for young adults (13 to 18 years old), called MBLC-YA. We hope people that complete this retreat will then work in schools and with youth…
After writing the blog below, we have had the news of the Manchester bomb. In response, we can all send kind wishes or do Tonglen for all of those involved wishing to relieve their suffering, in particular at the end of our practice when we share the benefit. I know what has happened and don’t…
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…
So this last week I have been on Holy Isle off the Isle of Arran in Scotland – surely one of the best places on the planet! The birds were in full song, providing an astonishingly beautiful support for our Mindfulness practice. The Iron Age Tsoay sheep had tiny new lambs, that shake their tails…
This last weekend I have been at Londesborough Lodge in Scarborough teaching on the Level 4 Mindfulness for Life course with Ian Rigg. It was a lovely weekend re-connecting with many people who I have practiced and learnt with over several years on the Aberdeen MSc training and on our non-MSc trainings. I also connected…
I have just been out to walk my dogs. I was hearing on the radio this morning how walking was one of the best things we can do for our mental and physical health. They were saying how our pace of thinking is programmed to match our pace of walking. I was walking slow and…
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…
I am still in India this week, although I have to admit I haven’t been exploring the local sites, but instead enjoying the delights of this five star hotel. My excuse is how ill I was last year after my India trip. This year I am hermetically sealed in this mosquito and stomach bug free…