I have had the great good fortune this week to be teaching at Samye Ling with Choden on the new Access to Insight retreat. During the retreat, it was a great chance for me to practice along with the participants. We practiced acceptance, self-compassion, the four immeasurable qualities of loving kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity…
We had our annual Board meeting for the Mindfulness Association in Edinburgh yesterday. I travelled over there with Choden from Lockerbie and Norton travelled down from Aberdeen for the day. Kristine, who lives locally, and who is going to be taking on half of my management role in the new year joined us in the…
We have 2 NEW opportunities to join our Online Mindfulness Retreat Days! Midwinter Practice In the lull between Christmas and New Year, there is the opportunity to rest and replenish with mindful practice days, to return to our internal heart space that is always ready to welcome us home with open arms. Together, in these…
The last few months have felt like living in a kaleidoscope. With each new possible outcome, my mind has imagined a future in full colour. Then as the causes and conditions changed again, another potential future was imagined, also in full colour. While this has been fascinating to observe, it has taken up a lot…
This last weekend I was teaching weekend one of the Level 1: Being present course at Samye Ling with Graeme Armstrong and Anna Kane – a fabulous team. There were a lot of people on the course who were pretty much new to mindfulness. Many had the motivation to find a calmer state of mind…
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…
I’ve been asking myself that question recently. Who am I? It’s a complicated thing it seems. Last week I caused myself and others to suffer. Why? Because I forgot my practice and I forgot who I was. For a moment, I got caught up in lots of stressful human stuff and it completely took over…
The mindfulness conspiracy. It condemns all mindfulness practitioners/teachers as being obsessed with happiness and acquiescence to the causes of inequality, environmental degradation and oppression. In essence the article is all conjecture – it is based on opinion and without evidence. So, I invite you to consider a few points that I think may cause more…
As I was driving to the station this morning mulling on my blog, Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody started to play on my playlist, with the starting lyrics: “Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide. No escape from reality”. This resonated with an experience I had this weekend. I was walking…