Articles and blog posts written by team members, tutors and supervisors of the Mindfulness Association about how they bring mindfulness into their lives.
Last weekend I was supporting my friend Barbara Reid in a Courage to Teach CPD weekend at London Samye Dzong. I felt nurtured and deeply heard during this weekend of open speaking and listening. My trust that my mindfulness meditation practice and living mindfully guided by my values is enough was reinforced. A spookily magic…
The only thing that is certain in life is that things will change. As human beings we tend to dislike change, even if the current situation is dysfunctional, because we would rather have certainty of something unpleasant, rather than any uncertainty, even if a pleasant outcome might result. Change inevitably brings uncertainty. I notice this…
I have just finished a week-long meditation retreat at Samye Ling with Drupon Rinpoche. In some ways it was quite hard work with four hours of teaching and 6 hours of practice per day. We began at 5.30am and ended at 8.30pm each day. So my right upper leg had a lot of aching to…
This week I am busy again, with year- end accounts, many meetings to prepare for and attend, including our annual Board Meeting, a weekend in Aberdeen with the third year MSc students, plus all the usual work that crosses my desk. A lot of this is because I am going on retreat next week and…
This past weekend I was working at Samye Ling with Choden and Alan from the Mindfulness Association and Colette from the University of Aberdeen on the first weekend of the Insight meditation course from our MSc in Studies in Mindfulness . I always enjoy this weekend as it involves reconnecting with the MSc students that we…
This last week my husband and I dropped our only daughter off at University. It has always been part of the plan. I am delighted for the opportunities she has, I am proud at how she is settling in, but I also feel sad. The day we took her I had a lot of anxiety…
This last weekend I have been working with Choden, Fay and Heather Grace Bond from the MA tutor team and Graeme Nixon and Collette Savage of the University of Aberdeen on weekend one of the MSc in Studies in Mindfulness course. We have a full cohort this year, with even some people on a waiting…
Sometimes I have to pinch myself, as it seems I have landed the best job in the world, teaching mindfulness meditation, but also training committed mindfulness practitioners to teach mindfulness so that we can all experience the benefits of mindfulness. I had one of those ‘pinch myself’ moments at the end of our introductory teaching…
Who are you as a teacher? Join us for ‘The Courage to Teach’ I’ve been a teacher for most of my working life. Although nowadays that teaching is all about introducing mindfulness to people and encouraging mindfulness practitioners into teaching themselves. Before this, it was variously about housing and social policy, urban and regional economics,…