In January we are launching a 31-day Mindfulness Practice challenge, as a way of supporting the wonderful work for The Everyone Project (it is also way to refresh your mindfulness practice for the new year to come!!).

The Everyone Project is a charity that was set up as an offshoot of the Mindfulness Association.  It had become increasingly clear to us that despite our aim to make mindfulness accessible to all, many people were struggling to access courses and missing out on the benefits and support it can bring.

The Everyone Project was set up with the purpose to make mindfulness accessible to those who need it most. We know that the benefits of mindfulness can be life-changing, yet many people face barriers, be they financial pressures, social issues, or personal realities, that prevent them from accessing the courses and training that could so benefit them.

And so the idea was born of offering our Mindfulness Based Living Course (MBLC) at no cost to allow as many people as possible to engage in practicing mindfulness.  The idea is to help disadvantaged and isolated groups, and those living with multiple stressors, to connect with mindfulness and to help them flourish and achieve their true potential.

The Mission

At the Everyone Project, we set ourselves the goal of giving the gift of mindfulness so that everyone in society has the opportunity to flourish.  This might seem like a tall order, but it is something we commit to, one person at a time, echoing how mindfulness deals with each moment at a time!

The work we offer is guided by two core aims:

• • Advancing education and health by making mindfulness and related skills available in line with the Mindfulness Association Approach.
  • Advancing scientific understanding by researching the impact of mindfulness interventions to inform future developments.

The Future of the Project

The Everyone Project works because of the selfless commitment of our teachers, organisers and wider team, who offer their skills for free.  This approach is imbued with the attitudes of kindness and compassion that are at the heart of the Mindfulness Association and the work has brought the benefit of mindfulness to many. If you would like to know more about the Everyone Project and its work, click here (link)

However, the work of the Everyone Project is far from over and it will require support from others if it is to continue to help people access mindfulness courses and flourish. If you would like to support the work, why not sign up for our 31-Day Charity Mindfulness Challenge here and help those who really need the support access this wonderful practice?

The initial title and remit for my PhD was “Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in Mindfulness” to look across the 9 protected characteristics listed under The Equality Act 2010 (race and ethnicity, religion or belief, sex, disability, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, gender reassignment, age, marriage and civil partnership) [1]. However, having worked on the literature review, seen the lack of research on race and trans inclusion (Smith, Munt et al., 2016; Crane, Callen-Davies et al., 2023; Karelse, 2023), and being a Black and nonbinary mindfulness practitioner and EDI trainer, I have narrowed my focus to race and trans and nonbinary identities in mindfulness. Further, the challenging global and national events and discourses fuel the need to address these identities and attempt to increase awareness, understanding and ways of addressing race and trans-based inequity and injustice. Therefore, using a critical theory approach (Delgado and Stefancic, 2007; Warmington, 2020) [2] and mixed methods research (Cohen, Manion et al., 2017). I will be asking mindfulness practitioners questions to discover what these groups experience in mindfulness spaces, what influences attendance, what the barriers are, and what we can do to make mindfulness a more inclusive space. I am also interested in exploring creative research methods which may appeal to some people, such as audio and video diaries, and I’ll link my own experiences to the research with autoethnographic pieces (Muncy, 2010).  

We’re likely familiar with the mental and physical health benefits of practicing mindfulness ranging from improving focus, resilience, calm, pain management, anxiety, connection to others and managing discrimination (Grossman, Niemann et al., 2004; Ferguson, 2016; Rowe, 2016; Crane, Callen-Davies et al., 2023; Callen-Davies, Bristow et al., 2023). These could be better accessed by Black and People of Colour (BPOC) and trans and nonbinary (TNB) people who experience minority stress and have higher rates of socio-economic inequity, mental and physical health issues (Watson-Singleton, Black et al., 2019) [3; 4] and neurodivergence in TNB people (Warrier, Greenberg et al., 2020) [5].

I am loving my PhD journey; the learning, (reading, research and attending workshops, conferences and seminars), sense of purpose and community. I’ve also just been tremendously buoyed up by a confidence boosting First Progress Review, which was not only successfully passed but promoted the narrowing of scope. So, now I begin my 3^rd year of doctoral studies with my application to the ethics committee for approval to launch an online survey, followed by focus groups and interviews with current and potential mindfulness practitioners and tutors who are from BPOC and/or TNB communities. This ethical application process has been great for thinking about wellbeing and respect for my research participants, who may have experienced discrimination, and I appreciate anyone willing and able to participate. I will use my mental health background and group facilitation skills to create a safer space and offer sources of support to all who give their valuable time and energy to this much needed project. The benefits of taking part are to contribute to increasing diversity and inclusion in mindfulness and I will share links and info about free mindfulness resources and classes. And you might enjoy talking about your experiences.

Please email me if you have any questions or would like to take part in this study: j.malcolm.22@abdn.ac.uk.

I give gratitude to my wonderful first supervisor and (unofficial) mentor, Dr Graeme Nixon whose sad loss was a blow to all of us who were privileged to know and work with him; I send my love and condolences to his family, colleagues, students and friends. He is deeply missed and will always be an inspiration, joyful guide and motivating presence in our work.

Josetta (they/them), October 2024.

References

CALLEN-DAVIES, R.J., BRISTOW, J., GAZDER, T., GRIFFITH, G.M., NOORANI, Y. and CRANE, R.S., (2023). Mindfulness-based programmes and ‘bigger than self ‘issues: protocol for a scoping review. BMJ Open, 13(3), pp.1-8.

FERGUSON, M., (2016). Symposium: Mindfulness and Politics. 38(2), pp.201-205.

GROSSMAN, P., NIEMANN, L., SCHMIDT, S. and WALACH, H., (2004). Mindfulness-based stress reduction and health benefits: A meta-analysis. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 57(1), pp.35-43.

COHEN, L., MANION, L. and MORRISON, K., (2017). Research methods in education. 8^th ed. London: Routledge.

CRANE, R., CALLEN-DAVIES, R., FRANCIS, A., FRANCIS, D., GIBBS, P., MULLIGAN, B., O’NEILL, B., PIERCE WILLIAMS, N.K., WAUPOOSE, M. and VALLEJO, Z., (2023). Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Our Time: A Curriculum that is up to the Task. Global Advances in Integrative Medicine and Health, 12.

DELGADO, R. and STEFANCIC, J., (2007). Critical race theory and criminal justice. Humanity & Society, 31(2-3), pp.133-145.

THE EQUALITY ACT, (2010). Equality Act 2010. UK General Public Acts. United Kingdom.

KARELSE, C. (2023). Disrupting white mindfulness: Race and racism in the wellbeing industry. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

MUNCY, T. (2010). What is Autoethnography? Making Sense of Individual Experience. In: Muncey, T., Creating Autoethnographies. London: Sage. pp.26-53.

MURRAY, R. (2022). Acting on the evidence: ensuring the NHS meets the needs of trans people. The Kings Fund. Available: https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/insight-and-analysis/blogs/ensuring-nhs-meets-needs-trans-people [Date Accessed 14 October 2024].

SMITH, S., MUNT, S. and YIP, A., (2016). Cosmopolitan dharma: race, sexuality, and gender in British Buddhism. Boston: Brill.

RALEIGH, V. (2023). The health of people from ethnic minority groups in England.  

The Kings Fund. Available: https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/insight-and-analysis/long-reads/health-people-ethnic-minority-groups-england#:~:text=Most%20ethnic%20minority%20groups%20are,the%20impact%20of%20these%20strategies. [Date Accessed 14 October 2024].

ROWE, J., (2016). Micropolitics and Collective Liberation: Mind/Body Practice and Left Social Movements. New Political Science, 38(2), pp. 206-225.

WARMINGTON, P., (2020). Critical race theory in England: Impact and opposition. Identities, 27(1), pp.20-37.

WARRIER, V., GREENBERG, D.M., WEIR, E., BUCKINGHAM, C., SMITH, P., LAI, M.C., ALLISON, C. AND BARON-COHEN, S., (2020). Elevated rates of autism, other neurodevelopmental and psychiatric diagnoses, and autistic traits in transgender and gender-diverse individuals. Nature communications, 11(1), pp.1-10, Available: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-17794-1#:~:text=In%20two%20datasets%2C%20transgender%20and,schizophrenia%20compared%20to%20cisgender%20individuals. [Date Accessed 25 October 2024].

WATSON-SINGLETON, N., BLACK, A. and SPIVEY, B., (2019). Recommendations for a culturally-responsive mindfulness-based intervention for African Americans. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, 34, pp.132-138.

Josetta’s PhD is sponsored by The Everyone Project.

Normally I just sit here and the birds tweet and I watch them with my coffee (this morning, it appears we have 4 baby collared doves, and two big fat ones.. nesting) and not much untoward happens. I am blessed, Mindfulness has also played a major part in my equanimity. But with all three children now left home… when something does happen that shakes my tree, wow – do I notice it. Excellent for practice! The obstacles are the path and all that.. (I can hear my tutor Heather…)

But sometimes something unexpected comes to bite my… behind…and remind me, yeah – you still have work to do here. But this feels urgh! It’s a situation. Can I describe it without insinuating anyone? The thing is with mindfulness, I am the centre of the story, always. Even if someone else is really truly being difficult ( like today) then there is always something to work with within myself  in a mindful way. What a gift! And what a gift to see that my own anger can be a gift?

After our Teachers’ Retreat on projection… I hope (for myself) to maintain a transparency of attention as events unfold, see the mind grasping and rejecting, creating subterfuge. Projecting.

I listen to the storyline that I have in the Difficult Situation. The script. I am indignant, disappointed, frustrated and –  ooh now there’s cross –  only last week I was basking in the idea that anger wasn’t something that manifested much for me, if ever! and how nice that was. Now here it is fresh, boiling, quietly seething.. I’m really MAD! But I can’t do anything about it and make them do the right thing! I feel it – it’s like I’ve just looked into a furnace…

and there’s a lid on it – and this suppressed feeling is accompanied by a feeling of thinking I am somehow a failure for feeling this at all! Anger is bad therefore you are bad too says the voice.

I catch myself with that thought – pin it – there’s thinking – I let it go and move on through to the next wave of whatever it might be. My guest house door is flung ajar. (From the poem by Rumi you can read here). I have learned through insight training to aspire to open to and begn to notice deeper attitudes and drives beneath the thinking. It can be surprising, I find RAIN practice can be very insightful about what is going on just beneath the surface. We cover the RAIN practice on our Level One Mindfulness Training. 

Some of it is because I feel others’ actions have affected me and there is frustration there about that. I feel it like a brick wall in front of me that I want to break through. I want them to take conciliatory action and they just won’t. This affects me because I am the messenger. I am stuck in the middle of two people and their points of view. Well, and according to me, their stubbornness.

Someone is annoyed with someone else. They refrain from taking the ‘right’ action (in my opinion) however, the action, they are not taking but easily could, is causing ME frustration and anxiety, my pulse is raised, I feel adrenaline, I don’t get cross often, but today, ooooooh I’m feeling it. Their stubbornness is affecting me – not the intended other!

Ok I let the anger in. I don’t know what to do with it. But it’s there. It’s very energetic and the adrenaline is calling for some action. My threat drive is triggered I feel it pulsing. I am sooo cross. I move around quickly and become extremely efficient at tidying up! One thing I have learned from having historical chronic anxiety is that movement really helps to shift and soothe it. When I’m in a bit of a state my laundry gets folded really neatly and quickly!

The thoughts are swirling round – the same thoughts. I don’t know whether not-thinking them is suppressing them or letting them go. I guess if I am still feeling cross I need to just go there, dive in, really feel into it. The resistance to doing this makes it even more uncomfortable and the mind rejects the approach. My mindfulness inner guru (remarkable perseverer) whispers Soften! Soothe! Allow! I sink into the feeling and the storyline seems to soften a little and I realise I cannot control others, but I can quietly speak this pain. I decide that this is a Good Thing to Do. Not from the angry place but from this open-to-the-pain place. The place that is soft, soothed and accepting.

I am met with defensiveness, rolling eyes, and I can feel that they have anger too, not at me but at the ‘other’. Their resistance to their pain, and their (stubborn non-)action (to perhaps annoy the other person) has created a situation where the other person knows nothing about it, yet it is me experiencing the suffering. I have heard a Buddhist analogy of holding your anger or resentment is like holding a hot coal. You get burned, and the other person has no idea about it.

I am standing here having been handed someone else’s hot coal! I hand it back by softly speaking how I feel. This feels so good! I am Mindfully communicating! I want peace! Mindful of the potential flashpoint and knowing what defensiveness looks like I remain gentle in my voice.

What I observe about this situation is that when we are angry, the action we take, can actually hurt people around us without really realizing what we are doing.

Later in the day, as I pour the tea into the teapot and quietly ask tea? Coffee? (having resolved not to say any more about it all) I am told that the action to reconcile the situation has been taken. All is well in the world. Thank you Mindfulness Association for that particular surfboard to surf that wave. Might it be that this surfing might become enjoyable?

This week in the Mindfulness challenge I invite you to open up to those around you, noticing who might be affected by your speech, your actions.

As we practice and dedicate any good we may have gained from our practice and share it in ever widening circles, when others behave in a way we find challenging it can be good to take a look at our own speech and actions and bring mindfulness to the wider ripples we create in even the smallest gestures.

Just after this episode and before writing this blog, I happened to read the deeply reassuring poem that Fay has posted up – Vajaya – Victor adapted by Matty Weingast which soothed me and gave me permission to be not OK. “If this circling is all you have, why not make this circling your home?”

Wishing you well this week, and that you may find your door flung wide to whichever guest may arrive for you, and know it is Ok to feel not OK. Soften, soothe and allow whatever is here for you this week.

Warmly,

Lisa Hellier.

To keep up your practice or even start at the beginning with Mindfulness you can join our daily guided meditations online, at 10.30am and 7pm Monday to Friday. Join our growing online community of Mindfulness practitioners! We’d love to see you there.

THIS LINK will take you to read more and to the button to join the practice.

How can a humble raisin possibly be a portal not only to the world of Mindfulness, but to the subtle thinking and emotional realm that goes on just beneath consciousness and then further down into the root of compassionate energy and a sense of connection with everyone and everything?

Even though the egoic part of me tells me I have ‘been there’ and ‘done that’ with the raisin exercise – I have learned with Mindfulness there is never enough ‘being’ and ‘doing’ of the simple foundational practices. If the raisin exercise was the only exercise I ever did –  this would be enough for me, as I learned this week.

This simple yet profound exercise is worth revisiting. Regularly. Like going to the gym.

I can tell myself I am eating mindfully “Mmmm this cake is gooooooood”, but my mind has eaten it already and is looking for the next slice before I’ve finished munching and I have missed out on most of what the cake had to offer me. I seem to be on a mission to just get the cake inside me! The intense focus of Mindfulness with the raisin seems to train the part of my mind that ‘wants’ – it has the power to intercept this (really strong) urge to feed my face and I am taken into slow motion… taking in every exquisite moment… of the ritual… of nourishing my body with this miraculous tiny object. With this raisin I become aware of ‘what’s happening while it’s happening’ whilst noticing any notions of preference that may arise. (Mindful eating is such a great place to explore this noticing preference.) Rob Nairn’s quote uses ‘without preference’ but let’s just see if we can just notice preference in the beginning! Is your raisin too small? Too big? Not a very ‘good’ raisin? Has someone else got a better one?

The mindful raisin exercise is much more than an exercise in simply Mindful eating, which perhaps we might think in the beginning. However it does imbue dinner time with a new-found sense of presence – but not always. It needs practice. If I make a special effort, I can be entirely present with my meal, but this is can be tricky under normal circumstances at the dinner table with all the chat that goes on around the table in my house. That’s why retreats are so good for me to hone and embed the skills, where I can really observe and savour the moment-to-moment experience of eating, which allows some space through which my subtle urges and desires can make themselves known to me.

With the raisin exercise each time my experience has been different. This week it was the experience of leading this practice that opened further doors and took me through a portal. I am grateful to my teacher training peer group for the experience of working together. We came together through our teacher training this year, and we continue to practice, learn and discover and it is like a never ending unfurling of lotus petals as we go deeper into the practices each time we do them. Inquiring into each others’ experience with gentle curiosity is ‘like watching a beautiful sunset’ (Fay Adams on the incredible Inquiry course), which fills me up with an unspeakable joy.

We all had a break after our July course and last week came together for the first time in a while and as I really am aiming to start an 8-week online course soon– I decided I would start at the beginning and deliver the raisin exercise to get me in the mood 🙂

In the West we have been taught and believe we have 5 senses, while in the East there are 6. How can this be? When people in the West talk about a 6^th sense, there is a subtle belief that this is the ‘woo-woo’ sense. The Eastern 6 senses relate to our sensory receptors that begin with the mind as a first sensor and is not related to the ‘woo-woo’ 6^th sense we talk about in the West.

Tibetan Buddhism’s understanding of the senses begin with Mind/Brain itself which is seen as a sensory organ which picks up thought as its percept (as the ears pick up sound.) This makes sense to me, but it was only after my delivery of the raisin exercise that I explored this concept further; and I feel it has a lot to offer us. It explains a lot about how we in the West believe our thoughts to be facts which we identify with, rather than ‘mind objects’ which pass though us.

Exploring the surface detail of the raisin in detail, combined with a mindful curiosity, allowed me to notice certain knowledge and facts as I perused the tiny wrinkled object. I became curious also about what I don’t know about the raisin, which appeared to me to be a much larger entity! Thoughts come to mind immediately about this raisin – I know it’s a raisin but the essence of this raisin, that was once a grape – there’s a lot I don’t know about this particular raisin. I had a vision of the raisin which took me to its place of origin. Where did it come from? On which sunny slope did it fatten and grow? In which country? Which birds around it didn’t eat it? Which creatures lived nearby? Who tended to it? Who picked it or was it a machine? I was taken into the raisin’s world as it spent its last moments in mine. I had a felt sense that many people, causes and conditions had worked together to bring me this raisin. Zoom back into the world and I have a raisin here alone in my kitchen and it is easy to think that nobody has anything to do with me and this raisin in my kitchen.

These could be considered thoughts. And in one sense they are – but the experience was one of insightful contemplation which expanded my world and broke through some kind of mental limitation I had around my knowledge and how thinking I know something can be a barrier to actually knowing something! Or feeling something.

When I look at the raisin, a new way of seeing opened up for me. My eyes are relaying information to my brain, which is responding with all prior experiences of raisins. I cut through this by really allowing the eyes to explore the surface and textures of the raisin. The texture I notice, just by looking I know how it will feel. The light and shadow suggest it is crumpled, waxy I can guess at the texture. Such a variety of colour. It begins to look like a shrivelled brain. A black walnut. A dead fly (school dinners – there was a cake we used to call a flies graveyard) memories of swimming in Cornwall at a pool with a bag of black raisins instead of sweets. Childhood picnics, memories come flooding back about raisins in general and I can see that just looking is enough to trigger many conditioned responses and emotions. You will have different memories. We can all look at this raisin and it will take is all to different places.

I am interested in how I look at and understand the raisin. I am currently studying on the Studies in Mindfulness Masters course with the University of Aberdeen. My professional context as a graphic designer is visual communication & imagery (what we see) with Mindfulness which takes me into the realm of image as a contemplative practice. I’m interested in how we look, and what comes to mind when we do. My research tells me that most of what we think we see is the mind’s projection. Just starting with the raisin is a great place to start with contemplation of seeing. We bring beginner’s mind to the raisin. What if this was the first time I have ever seen this item?

As we move through the senses, each sense can be a portal to a new spacious mindful awareness. After looking, touching, listening (yes! It is possible to listen to a raisin – “notice the urge to laugh”…we can hear that the raisin might be juicy!), we notice the urge now to ‘just eat it’ – just get on with it! And taste and sensations around the eating…

We might also detect a growing impatience? (We normally eat so fast!) Can you just place it in your mouth – notice the urges – the skill of the tongue, the urge to bite? To swallow? The immediate urge for more? More what? What do you want? More taste? More biting? More what exactly? What do you feel?

Try this Mindful Eating (15 mins) from our 31 Day Mindfulness Challenge with Karen Lerpinier. (which we are doing again in January!)

In the raisin session we all had different food objects. During the inquiry a participant in my group feels emotional.  Simply looking at their food object took them back to childhood and they feel a real sadness; of a time lost…time with grandparents growing grapes… of degradation of the environment. Another acknowledges having never really looked at the chocolate they eat regularly, admitting to a mindlessness around consumption which we all nod and relate to. The bag of chocolate buttons almost gone.

At the end of the session we are all contemplating the vastness of this tiny raisin and what it can bring us when we choose to bring mindfulness awareness to this everyday activity. We consider how what we see can trigger reactions in us, how memories arise and transport the mind away from the present moment. Coming back to simple presence with our sensations open up this moment and we can live it much more fully, in our daily lives….we can begin to see how we project our stories onto the things around us. Mindfulness shows us the potential of each moment to crack open our world-we-think-we-know and take us into a much vaster space of curiosity and wonderment of not-knowing.

As we closed the practice, I was moved by the strength of our session. I was moved to find that delivering the raisin exercise and hearing how it moved people and gave such a variety of insights that my fears around delivering Mindfulness are fleeting. My motivation to share Mindfulness with others is driven by something profound, which is powered by compassion to share this gift with others. Practicing with others adds strength and depth to my experience and I am grateful to my group.

“Imagine if we gave the people around us this much attention” was a profound parting thought from one member.

Lisa Hellier.

Weekly Challenge

A simple (!?) challenge this week – Imagine if we had nothing to give but our attention this week, how wonderful that would be?

Choose where you would like to apply your full and undivided attention this week. Perhaps set an intention for a set amount of time, or during a phone conversation, or simply with breakfast.

Try it with those you come into contact with this week. How does that make you feel?

My grandchildren came this weekend and I remembered the parting words above as I gazed into their eyes as they told me their stories and we played and made things together. I had set the intention to (as much as possible! I am human!) when engaging with them to give them my full attention. I noticed how much they look at me for attention. I might not have noticed this. I felt so good to already be looking at them when they looked up to see if I was looking. Wonderful! That really gave me a felt sense of deep connection with those young curious minds – as my granddaughter left for home, clutching the wonky bear we had made together she said ‘thank you nanan for giving me the time to help me make my teddy’.

To benefit and learn from practising with others you can join our Free Daily Guided Practice online each day from 10.30am (Mondays to Fridays) and every day at 7pm. These daily practice sessions will be continuing right through the Christmas period. You can join by clicking on the Daily Meditation button on our HOMEPAGE