After two years of planning FIODRA was launched in July and is currently on the Kennet and Avon Canal. My long held dream of combining a canal life with my mindfulness teaching is close to realisation. I have always felt that the peace and pace of canal dwelling goes hand-in-hand with mindfulness. The slow pace…
Nifty bit of research that involved actually talking to managers who have a mindfulness practice. I can certainly identify with the outcome. Indeed much of my practice took place in busy organisations and teams. Not always succeeding but sometimes managing to achieve seemingly effortless calm in the midst of deadlines and expanding to do lists…..
Lucy came along to our Spring MBSR course 2017. We try and read a relevant poem at the end of each of our classes. Now we have an original one to read from a participant. Thank you so much Lucy! Learning to Float As I step in the water it feels fresh on my skin,…
This came up on the radio this morning. Fascinating new evidence that we can influence our grey matter through changes in thinking. Bob A new study from King’s College London and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust has shown for the first time that cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) strengthens specific connections in the brains…
This is an excerpt from a fascinating live discussion I was able to contribute to (May 9th 2016) on the Guardian Healthcare Network.
I’m lucky enough to live within cycling distance of the Realm of the Deathless! Well actually it’s a Theravadin Monastery in Great Gaddesden, just outside Hemel Hempstead, called Amaravati which, in Pali I believe, means The Realm of The Deathless. I’ve biked up the hill today, Easter Sunday, and I’m writing this is the delightful…
“We speak not only to tell other people what we think, but to tell ourselves what we think. Speech is a part of thought.” Oliver Sacks. And images of course.. jiggling around our mind in the most alarming way most of the time. Sitting helps to bring it into view and test the validity of…
“No man (or woman) is lonely eating spaghetti; it requires to much attention” Christopher Morley. I love this quote. I saw it first on the wall of a cook shop in Islington. I don’t know if Mr Morley was a meditator but his little riff nicely illustrates the point we can only attend to one…
Last Wednesday I joined a bouyant crowd Camden Town Hall to hear Chade – Meng Tan explain about how he got the coolest job title in corporate (Jolly Good Fellow – in Google Corp) America and his mission for world peace “in my lifetime”. I had recently bought a copy of Meng’s book and was…
Last week I made my first visit the Oxford Centre for Mindfulness. After a bleary eyed start at 5:30 I stepped of the bus close to Oxford Brookes University and made the short walk to the centre under the cherry blossom and in the company of Mark, one of the course participants. This was to…