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…
“we are exploring together. We are cultivating a garden together with our backs to the sun. […] we are digging beneath the hard and crusty surface to the rich humus of our lives” -Parker Palmer Let Your Life Speak This year (2017) marks the fifth year that I have been co-delivering mindfulness courses for the…
After the conference the MAHQ seems quiet, as we get back into the usual routine of sending out course timetables and manuals, organising room hire, answering e-mails on everything you could imagine to do with mindfulness, and a host of other little jobs that generally keep us busy. Writing this blog for example! Overall, I…
Thank you to all of you who attended the MA’s conference at Samye Ling this last weekend. My experience of it was overwhelmingly wonderful, with many old friends and new sharing practice and experience and supporting the vision of the MA to spread the benefits of Mindfulness and Compassion around the world. We started with…
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…
We now have a limited number of day places available for the 2017 Samye Ling conference: Mindfulness in Society, exclusive to MA Members only for £70.00 per day! Please book as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. Each day will begin with an hour of guided meditation from 8-9am and the first keynote speech will…
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…