Am I doing it right? This week at Mindful Therapies we ran a meditation workshop called ‘Am I doing it right?’ This was an opportunity for people with some experience of meditation to discuss their practice with others. Although we meditate in a group, the practice of meditation is quite a solitary experience, in that it takes place inside our own heads as we sit, usually with our eyes closed. This can often mean that we find ourselves comparing our meditation to what we imagine is happening for everyone else. Somehow everyone else looks so serene while we are sitting planning our shopping li ..read more

‘If you can sit quietly after difficult news; if in financial downturns you remain perfectly calm; if you can see your neighbors travel to fantastic places without a twinge of jealousy; if you can happily eat whatever is put on your plate; if you can fall asleep after a day of running around without a drink or a pill; if you can always find contentment just where you are: you are probably a dog.’ – Jack Kornfield I love this quote. It is a great reminder that being mindful does not mean that we no longer react to things. Being mindful doesn’t mean having no emotions and no preferences. And ha ..read more

Letting Go In Relationships   This series of blog posts focuses on some of my reflections on the nine foundational attitudes of mindfulness and how they relate to interpersonal relationships. This week is an exploration of letting go. Letting go When we practise letting go, we allow both the pleasant and the unpleasant to come into being, change, and fade away – moment by moment. Instead of clinging onto an experience that has passed, we can embrace the next moment. We need to let go of the past in order to embrace the present. Change is intrinsic to our very existence and yet we often t ..read more

13th June 2018 was Mindful Therapies’ 5th birthday. It has been an amazing few years. I never expected to set up a business but  when I look back it is hard to imagine that I could have done anything else. I set up Mindful Therapies (then known as Mindfulness Based Therapies) in 2013 because I realised that the people who could most benefit from mindfulness were those who could least afford to pay for it. By setting up a not-for-profit I figured I could use any profit from trading to subsidise those who could not afford to pay full price. I didn’t really know what I was doing, and didn ..read more

Acceptance In Relationships   This series of blog posts focuses on some of my reflections on the nine foundational attitudes of mindfulness and how they relate to interpersonal relationships. This week is an exploration of acceptance. Accepting difference Acceptance is a huge topic and one that is often misunderstood, particularly within relationships. Within relationships there are certain behaviours that are simply unacceptable, and we will all differ as to what is acceptable for us at any given time. In the serenity prayer we ask for the serenity to accept the things that we cannot ch ..read more

Winning the inner game Whilst watching the England versus Panama match on Sunday, I heard that the Panama coach had conceded his team did not have the same levels of fitness as European players. I noticed two different strands of thought emerge; What effect does this have on the mindset of his team? What differentiates the best teams if they are equally fit? Sending a message to his players that they are physically inferior is unlikely to instill confidence before the game! However it could explain the tactics of repeated fouls to stop the England players. England went on to win the game ve ..read more

The Power Hour   I have always found routine difficult. Somehow it seems so much easier to pick up ‘bad’ habits than ‘good’ ones. However, I recently stumbled across something that I like to call the ‘Power Hour’, that has really made a difference. So much so that I really wanted to share it. I have not entirely invented this idea. There are other versions of this around, including the ‘Magic Hour’ (https://thebodedit.com/wellbeing/the-magic-hour-productivity-tips/), which aides productivity, and the ‘Miracle Hour’, which divides prayer into 12 five-minute sections (https://www.amazon.co ..read more

The difference between mindfulness and meditation? We are often asked about whether mindfulness and meditation are the same thing. My answer is yes and no. It is possible to practice mindfulness without meditating. It is possible to practice meditation without being mindful. And it is possible to practice mindful meditation! So what is mindfulness? Essentially mindfulness is becoming aware of what is, in the present moment. There are many things we might become aware of. We might notice our senses, our surroundings, our emotions, our breath. We might even practice becoming aware of the stream ..read more

‘If you can sit quietly after difficult news; if in financial downturns you remain perfectly calm; if you can see your neighbors travel to fantastic places without a twinge of jealousy; if you can happily eat whatever is put on your plate; if you can fall asleep after a day of running around without a drink or a pill; if you can always find contentment just where you are: you are probably a dog.’ – Jack Kornfield I love this quote. It is a great reminder that being mindful does not mean that we no longer react to things. Being mindful doesn’t mean having no emotions and no preferences. And ha ..read more

An ordinary day or a perfect day? At 11:15pm on Saturday 21st September I was driving home, I was feeling good and realised that the day that had just been may well have been a perfect day.  I was however also struck by the realisation that from a different perspective, it was an average day or even a bad day. Three quotes came to mind: “What you practice grows stronger” – Shauna Shapiro “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change” – Wayne Dyer “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference” – Winston Churchill Firstly, I have been intentionally foc ..read more