Once, I ran from fear so fear controlled me. Until I learned to hold fear like a newborn. Listen to it, but not give in. Honor it, but not worship it. Fear could not stop me anymore. I walked with courage into the storm. I still have fear, but it does not have me. Once,…
And a woman spoke, saying, Tell us of Pain. And he said: Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain. And could you keep your heart in wonder at…
Patient: Doctor! I feel like a pair of curtains Doctor: Pull yourself together! This week a blog appeared out of an insight I had after I sat mindfully unstitching and then stitching some curtains. I saw how the mind tried to steal my bliss by making up a story to make me feel bad. But…
‘How often do you sit in your practice feeling like it’s your fault and your responsibility to fix it – whatever ‘it’ is on a given day?’ Read this blog to find out why compassion in action can be key to lifting this feeling. Within our Engaged Mindfulness course, we will look with fresh and…
One of the areas of interest to the Mindfulness Association and the wider mindfulness fields is Engaged Mindfulness. By this we mean applying our mindfulness meditation practice to how we may feel about the state of the world on a social and environmental level and exploring ways of contributing positively through compassionate action. So, what does…
Come with me now, along the beckoning path, silvered in mist toward the glimmering lake, bring every grief you have not said and every tear you have not shed and every sorrow you’ve carried alone. ‘There is a door beneath everything we’ll walk right by if we don’t stop to look with our troubled hearts…
Awaken to the mystery of being here and enter the quiet immensity of your own presence. Have joy and peace in the temple of your senses. Receive encouragement when new frontiers beckon. Respond to the call of your gift and the courage to follow its path. Let the flame of anger free you of all…
Secular mindfulness began in the clinical realm with Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), which was developed in the early 1980s by John Kabat-Zinn in the US for people experiencing chronic health conditions. This inspired the development of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) in the mid-1990s by Mark Williams and others within the UK as an…
Here at the Mindfulness Association we offer a long term systematic training in meditation that moves through practices for cultivating mindfulness, compassion, insight and wisdom. As we do this we don’t leave the previous practices behind but they form a foundation for future practices and also provide a rich collection of practices to revisit whenever…