Articles and blog posts written by team members, tutors and supervisors of the Mindfulness Association about how they bring mindfulness into their lives.
The majority of mainstream mindfulness courses on offer today have their roots in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), which was developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn in 1979. It was initially developed to help people to manage stress and chronic health conditions. Jon Kabat-Zinn created MBSR to capture and embody key Buddhist teachings and to put the…
Eighteen months into this new Masters degree course I thought I would add some of my own reflections to those of our students on this course, after our second year retreat at Samye Ling. If you want a life changing course – go for this course. It’s been amazing – the sense of growth from…
Patient: Doctor! I feel like a pair of curtains Doctor: Pull yourself together! This week a blog appeared out of an insight I had after I sat mindfully unstitching and then stitching some curtains. I saw how the mind tried to steal my bliss by making up a story to make me feel bad. But…
‘How often do you sit in your practice feeling like it’s your fault and your responsibility to fix it – whatever ‘it’ is on a given day?’ Read this blog to find out why compassion in action can be key to lifting this feeling. Within our Engaged Mindfulness course, we will look with fresh and…
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few” ― Shunryu Suzuki My mind is full, and not always mindful. And I’ve been doing this a while. It’s not getting easier, but it is geting deeper, messier. What a joy! The deep path of mindfulness training as opposed to the…
Today it feels like the whole world is conspiring against me! Today I’m having a day! It’s such a shock to feel something not very nice stirring deep down somewhere, a surprise. I don’t like it. And yes, I do want it to go away. Everything. I want everything and everyone to go away. Well…
There is a ruined old farmhouse in Northumberland called Blawearie. The name, apparently, means “tired of the wind”. Living on the North Yorkshire coast, I understand the sentiment behind this name and use if frequently, when day after day there is a relentless wind that rattles my bones, frazzles my energy and is a real…
Once when the lawn was golden green And the marbled moonlit trees rose like fresh memorials In the scented air, and the whole countryside pulsed With the chirr and murmer of insects, I lay in the grass Feeling the great distances open above me, and wondered What I would become and where I would find…
Don’t recall / Let go of what has passed Don’t imagine / Let go of what may come Don’t think / Let go of what is happening now Don’t examine / Don’t try to figure anything out Don’t control / Don’t try to make anything happen Rest / Relax right now and rest “Six…