This weekend I had a day trip to London on the train from Lockerbie to visit the Mind Body Soul experience at Alexandra Palace. It was an interesting day, with the train filled with thoughtful, serious and at times jolly looking people on their way to London for the People’s Vote march. Many with children…
I am excited that we now have confirmation for our 10th anniversary celebration of the Mindfulness Association. Ten years seems like a long time but seems to have passed in an instant. I vividly remember my first retreat teaching with Rob Nairn and Choden on Holy Isle in June 2009. For me this was a…
It’s already a couple of weeks ago but it feels like yesterday, when finally, the Launch of the Mindful Nation Scotland took place in Holyrood. It took many months of preparations, as this was a collaboration between most of the Scottish mindfulness teacher training organisations. We came together to devise a curriculum especially tailored to the…
Our mindfulness training teaches us the importance of being in the moment and to be curious. This week I had an intense, unexpected lesson in curiosity. My 5 year old grandson teaches me many things – but most of all, he teaches me how to view the world with the curiosity of a child, and…
You know when words slip out of your mouth and cause chaos? They cause an argument or some disruption. The words are often spoken without thinking, without consideration. You seem to hear them as if someone else said them. Then afterwards, the turmoil it has caused to yourself and others subsides. And there are no…
On Monday I went for my routine hygienist and check-up appointments at the dentist. Having suffered trauma as a little girl from intense, sometimes unnecessary and sometimes brutal, dental treatment, going to the dental surgery for any type of treatment is not exactly fun. It became worse when a trusted dentist completely wrecked my teeth…
Yesterday I took my daughter back to University. Last night I experienced a scary and quite gruesome dream. This morning I woke up feeling sad. My body felt heavy, there was a pain in my heart and a heavy and pre-tear feeling in my eyes. So when I woke up, my inclination was to stay…
This last weekend, I was fortunate enough to be working on mindfulness weekend one of our Masters degree in mindfulness studies, which is a partnership between the MA and Aberdeen University. This was our tenth cohort of students beginning or continuing their journey of mindfulness, compassion and insight. They were a lovely group bound by…
I had another experience of impermanence this weekend. I was anticipating a weekend at home, but then I found out on Thursday afternoon that I might be needed to stand in for the first half of the Insight weekend three which was taking place at Samye Ling. This was confirmed after lunch on Friday, with…