Last summer I attended a conference at Samye Ling Buddhist Monastary and retreat centre which was run by the Mindfulness Association in association with the University of Aberdeen. The conference included an array of inspirational speakers as well as a variety of workshops and presentations from students who had completed the MSc in Mindfulness Studies. While it was difficult to pick out a highlight, one workshop that I attended had a profound impact on me. In this session we

Last month, after 16 years in a job that I was comfortable in, good at and well paid for I moved on to a new and different challenge. To do this I moved from a senior to a relatively junior position, took a substantial pay cut and increased my working hours and travel time. A new colleague commented that I had taken a risk, which seemed like a reasonable thing to say. So it's taken some reflection to work out why I didn't see it that way. Interestingly, of the cohort of fello

Mindfulness reminds us to do everything with awareness. Our formal practice strengthens our ability to be mindful in everyday life. Bringing mindfulness to our life simply means coming out of automatic pilot and doing things with awareness. As Thich Nhat Hanh says, when you walk, just walk. When you eat, just eat. While mindfulness really is as simple as this, perhaps we can see that sometimes it is the opposite of our usual habits. How often do we grab a snack or a meal thin

It's Thursday and I am planning for my next few mindfulness drop-in sessions. I notice that I'm trying to make sure I include new practices alongside the core mindfulness practices of sitting and bodyscan meditation. I don't want people to get bored or to feel that the sessions are always the same. But why? After all, people happily attend exercise classes where they repeat the same moves week after week. In doing so they can feel their bodies changing, perhaps getting a litt

Have you heard of Mindfulness and would like to find out if it could be of benefit to you? Did you take an 8 week course but would like the opportunity to reconnect with your mindfulness practice? Are you feeling the effects of stress and looking for something that could help? This introduction to mindfulness course at Cullercoats Community Centre could be the answer for you. The course runs on a Thursday evening from 5.30 to 7pm each Thursday in September for 4 weeks. It wil

We have a lot of evidence now that tells us that meditating is good for us. Many of us though have grown up in a culture that tends to separate the mind from the body. We may feel that meditation helps us mentally but struggle to see how that could have an effect on our physical health. However, research tells us that the benefits of meditation reach beyond the domain of mental health and can exert a measurable influence on our physical health too. This was demonstrated in a

I have been working with people who have long term conditions for over ten years. Whether life-limiting or not, the onset of a long term condition always presents challenges and in some circumstances can lead to profound changes in how a person feels, what they are able to do and the way that they see themselves. Many people adapt and move on extremely successfully in line with their new reality. I have been privileged to share some of the journeys that people have taken to

I teach mindfulness in a pain clinic in North East England as part of my role in the NHS. There is a long history of evidence that it can be helpful, dating back to the pioneering work of Jon Kabat-Zinn in the 1980's. At first though, it can seem counterintuitive. To many people in pain, mindfulness can seem like the exact opposite of what they want. Mindfulness asks us to turn towards our pain when we would rather turn away, to allow it when we would rather not experienc

This week, I was guiding a mindful walking and movement on the beach session in Whitley Bay. I was enjoying the bracing feeling of the blustery February wind on my face when I noticed a group of swimmers walk past me on their way to the sea. They were wearing swimming trunks or costumes and had walked a fair distance from their clubhouse and across the beach towards the cold North Sea. They walked into the sea with little hesitation and stayed in throughout the remainder o

When we practise lovingkindness we wish for ourselves and others to be safe. Often in everyday life we would like ourselves and our nearest