Article on Helpful Reminders for Practice
At the first Mind Life conference in 1987, the Dalai Lama was asked by a journalist what was the happiest moment of his life. He was silent for a while and then he gave a mischievous look and said, "I think now". And this is really the essence of the training in...
Article on learning to let things be
Cultivating the attitude of letting go or non-attachment is fundamental to the practice of mindfulness. But our conditioning is to hold on to things: we hold on to our experiences, the way things are supposed to be, beliefs, material goods, our ideas of what we think life is about. Letting go is not easy. Meditation practice can help us to find composure and resilience in the midst of all the changes in our life. It helps us see that everything passes and that we can rest in the midst of change.
Article on practicing Self-Care in stressful times
Self-care is simply taking care of ourselves, every day, nurturing our well-being by listening to our deepest needs and responding in some caring and compassionate way. Self-care helps us look after our physical and mental health so we can cope better during stressful times. For me any self-care practice starts with pausing, following the invitation of the meditation teacher Tara Brach who asks us: what would it be like if right in the midst of all our busyness and stress we were to consciously take our hands off the controls? What if we were to intentionally stop our mental computations and rushing around and, for a minute or two, simply pause and notice our experience?
Article on Cultivating Presence in your Life
Find out more about what presence is and how you can learn to become more present to your life with the practice of mindfulness.
In honour of Thich Nhat Hanh
This article was written in honour of the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hahn who died on 22nd January 2022, aged 95. Often referred to as “the father of mindfulness”, his simple yet deeply profound teachings have led countless people towards a life of mindfulness, joy, and peace.
Positive neuroplasticity and the practice of taking in the good
The best way to compensate for our negativity bias and build our inner strengths is to regularly take in the good, as described by the psychologist and meditation Rick Hanson. The practice of taking in the good is a systematic approach that allows us to deliberately internalize our positive experiences into implicit memory, so that they can start to have an impact on neural structure in our brain.
Article on Finding Refuge in your Awakened Heart
“Be a lamp unto yourself, be a refuge to yourself. Take yourself to no external refuge.” – The Buddha
What did he mean? Our ultimate refuge is none other than our own being. There is a light of awareness that shines through each of us and guides us home. We are never separated from this luminous awareness any more than waves are separated from the ocean. Even when we feel most ashamed or lonely, reactive or confused, we are never actually apart from the awakened state of our heart-mind.
This is a wonderful and beautiful teaching. For all of us, this open, loving awareness is our deepest nature. – Tara Brach, True Refuge
Article on finding our inner resources
Discovering a way to contact positive emotions, and especially a sense of care, strength, stability and safety in the present moment, is a key element in healing.
If we know how to develop an inner refuge where we feel loved and safe, it enables us to reduce the intensity of difficult emotions when they arise during our meditation practice, and in our day-today life. New associations, new inner resources, and new ways of coping and understanding begin to emerge spontaneously.
Most of all, it enables us to grow a sense of trust in ourselves, to know that we have within us whatever is needed to be present with our life.
Article on the benefits of mindfulness for children and parents
In this article you will learn how the practice of mindfulness can benefit your whole family, and help you raise happy and resilient children.
Transforming our thoughts with mindfulness
Mindfulness includes the capacity to remember, remembering what is happening right now, and also remembering what is skilful and what is unskilful in the mind, so that we are better able to discern what qualities of mind bring about suffering in our lives, for ourselves and others, and what states of mind bring about happiness, peace for ourselves and others, this is the broader meaning of mindfulness. both in our meditation and in our lives.
