Articles and blog posts written by team members, tutors and supervisors of the Mindfulness Association about how they bring mindfulness into their lives.
I have been questioned by some colleagues and criticised by some readers of my blog about promoting a vegan diet on the retreat I am leading this week and in my blog. When I was discussing this with colleagues last week, the view I arrived at was that within the Mindfulness Association ‘Compassion is at…
This weekend I have been off! I have been doing a lucid dreaming retreat with the amazing Charlie Morley. I am keen to develop my skills to become lucid in my dreams, which means to know I am dreaming while I am dreaming, so that I can continue my practice while I dream. Charlie teaches…
Next baby steps towards addressing unconscious racism Last week I found myself writing about the automatic denial and defensiveness I saw in myself when I was presented with an opportunity to work on discovering how racism might live in me. This response, I later discovered, is typical for a white person. Apparently, many of us…
This last week I have been working with Choden and Alan from the MA and Graeme and Liz from the University of Aberdeen on the Year 2 and 3 year end retreats. The Year 2s do a couple of days of teaching skills and then complete the insight module and the Year 3s do a…
After 7 months of legal activities and 10 weeks of being locked down in transit, I have finally landed in my new house by the sea in Yorkshire. I still haven’t been able to return to my previous house to collect my belongings and find myself here with one suitcase of Winter clothes, 2 pairs…
We are living in interesting times. There are a lot of challenges. However, it strikes me that as a country and as a human race there has never been more opportunity for positive transformation. This is the same in our practice, in our lives and in the world – challenge is the catalyst for positive…
People in cities in America – and other countries around the globe in solidarity – have taken to the streets to protest against the systemic inequalities that led to the death of George Floyd a few days ago. The unjust death of another black American, has brought the fault lines of deep tension around race…
Last week I was involved in delivering the members retreat, which continued on after the members weekend from Sunday afternoon to Wednesday, along with Jacky and Kristine. I had a very enjoyable week and very much enjoyed Jacky’s Qi Gong based movement practices. Jacky is doing a practice day around movement on 31st May, which…
Last weekend was our 10th anniversary celebration and I felt that the celebration manifested some key qualities of the Mindfulness Association: practice, presence, common humanity, compassionate messiness, kindness and joy. Qualities that Lana has captured beautifully in her documentary ‘Swimming Upstream: Ten Years of the Mindfulness Association’ that was premiered at the weekend. I am…