WHY WE NEED MINDFULNESS NOW?

28/12/2020

Holidays at last! 2020 has been quiet a year and it’s good to put my feet up in surprisingly cool weather and rest. It’s been a pleasure to catch up with family and friends. Yesterday I went to a beautiful waterhole and tomorrow I head off on a short meditation retreat. For the first time in a long time, I feel like I can easily rest in the moment despite the background hum of the new coronavirus outbreak.

2020 was not restful- not even for "mindfulness teachers". The year began with devastating bushfires and progressed to COVID -19. 2020 was a year of uncertainty, change and grief for the world. A year where I found ithelpful to have a mindfulness practice. But why

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction: An 8-week course for greater well being.

28/12/2020

2020 has been a stressful year. First we had the bushfires and then COVID-19, and we haven't settled yet. In some ways our sense of knowing how life works, what we can expect on a day to day basis, has changed. Things feel more uncertain and uncertainty is implicitly stressful.

Although many people lost work in 2020, counsellors (such as myself) received an increase in referrals and often had to turn people away. I was relieved to be able to continue to offer Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction courses, albeit online.

What is MBSR?
MBSR is an 8-week course that integrates the teaching of contemplative practices such as meditation with western psychology, with a view to building skills to reduce stress. It is an evidenced-based program that can be helpful with stress, depression, anxiety, stress related health problems and managing pain. You can click on the links below to

Podcasts to support your mindfulness practice.

6/10/2020

Do you find it hard to maintain your meditation practice even though you know it is good for you? Many MBSR grads tell me that they have this experience with a meditation. They say, "I loved MBSR, I kept going for a while and then my practice dropped off'. I'd say that this response is almost a norm and it is not surprising. A course offers great support but once it is over, sitting on a regular basis without a community or input can be hard to maintain. Some things can help.

Last September I wrote about some of the podcasts that I use to evoke the sense of support I get in a class. These podcasts can provide inspiration and focus. They included Tara Brach, Buddhist Geeks, and Dharma Punx. Today, I update this list.

Mindfulness in COVID times: The what's and how's.

9/9/2020

Lindy has been working in her bedroom since COVID began. She lives in a share house, and her bedroom is the one private place that she can review her case files. It is difficult to separate work from home, and there are no colleagues to have an easy laugh with, to bounce ideas around with, or to consult with-just on the spur of the moment. She was finding it hard to transition from a work headspace to a home headspace at the end of the day.

Lindy now takes a 10-minute mindful walk at the end of each work-day. She pays close attention as the light changes, inhales the fresh air, feels the temperature of the air on her skin, and notices each time her feet hit the pavement

Mindfulness in the time of the COVID 19 emergency.

11/4/2020

This morning I did the shopping for my elderly mother. I took it to her back door. We did not touch or come close to each other. She sat at the back door, and I sat outside on the deck, keeping a reasonable distance from her and wanting to hug her. I reflected that COVID19 is redefining the nature of care: suddenly, it seems the best way we can care for others beyond our immediate households is to keep our distance. Social distancing is redefining what it means to be connected

Use the Buddha Patch for instant mindfulness

7/2/2020

I highly recommend the Buddha patch. It is fast, quick and effective! It costs next t o nothing and takes no effort. If you don't believe it, well, you might be better off booking into an MBSR course.

Mindfulness courses like anything else that is marketed are often sold on their positives. They promote a self-improvement slant. You'll be more productive, more appealing, calmer, a better person! You can read a few of my blog posts to get rap on some of the substantiated benefits of mindfulness Post1, Post 2 and these benefits can be real and have an strong evidence base.

But the state of the world right now is difficult and perhaps the capacity of mindfulness training as a way of "being with the difficult" is more important than it's shinier surfaces.

Mindfulness: What it is is, what it isn't and how it is good for your brain and body.

1/2/2020

A lot of people say to me, "I have tried mindfulness and I can't do it". I teach the acclaimed 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course and have never met someone who can't learn to be more mindful. There are many ways that your practice of mindfulness can go astray when you are learning. I've found that it helps to clarify what mindfulness is, how it is is good for you and what it isn't. Read on for some answers to these questions.

Some things are very difficult and mindfulness can help.

21/1/2020

Nothing terrible has happened to me, and it has been a difficult month. What does difficult mean? Well, life throws forward many challenges. All of us will face loss, all of us will have our hearts broken, we will all suffer ill health, and many of us will experience unwanted pain in our lives.

It is inevitable that life will throw both personal and external changes and difficulties in our path and that we will need to navigate these challenges because they are unavoidable. How skillfully we navigate these moment or events often flavours of our lives. Approaching difficult experiences, mindfully can help.

In the last month, I have faced 2 challenges, one personal and one shared with many of you.

Namaste from Nepal

5/1/2020

As you read this newsletter, I am trekking in Nepal. I walked in the Himalaya in my 20's and 30's and am visiting the mountains once more in my 50's before time takes me to an age and body where this is no longer possible.

One of the things I love in Nepal is the greeting “Namaste”. When I first heard the word, I loved the sound itself thinking it meant hello, how are you. Later, I learned that the meaning is, “From the divine in me, I acknowledge and bow to the divine in you”. I have never been very comfortable with

Reflections from an MBSR Course: Week 7.

11/12/2019

We have just had week 7 of our current MBSR course and there is one week to go. Something magical happens by Week 7 where a disparate group of people who were strangers just a short time ago develop a shared intimacy in the class. It is not as if we know each other well...we don't, but we have gone through a process of self-exploration together and thus appreciate the effort it takes to participate wholeheartedly in a course like MBSR.