“Analysis of death is not for the sake of becoming fearful, but to appreciate this precious lifetime.” Dalai Lama   Do you feel prepared for your own death? Do you feel equipped to calmly and kindly support loved ones through their final weeks to their death? What is your attitude to the word ‘death’? Do you use euphemisms, such as ‘passed’, ‘succumbed’ or ‘departed’? Many people feel that death is a morbid topic, or that by talking about it we may be tempting fate. It is a subject that is often thought of as taboo. If you find this topic uncomfortable, then this is usual in our culture ..read more

I asked my mother where she kept her love and she answered: My love is a golden bird in a crystal cage and that cage is perched on the head of a fat boa coiled at the top of a tree and that tree is surrounded by scorpions and tigers and bears. So I went in search of the tree and fought the beasts around its trunk. I fought the fat snake. But when I opened the cage I found a goldcrest with its wings torn off. by Pascale Petit   I often turn to poetry for comfort and guidance, but this poem by Cornwall based poet Pascale Petit, starkly gives us neither. Yet it is the one that stands out in ..read more

The way I was taught to approach poetry at school, although fascinating in its own way, didn’t foster a long-term love of it. I remember there being so many things I was supposed to be able to say about a poem – about alliteration, rhyme, pentameter, simile, metaphor… More frustratingly I was supposed to ‘get’ the poem intellectually, and many times I didn’t. But in recent years, I’ve rediscovered poetry through mindfulness and this is a whole new world! Poetry is an available and priceless source of life-wisdom. It’s sad that so many miss out on this because they think they have to understand ..read more

If you are curious about our part-time, online and in person MSc Studies in Mindfulness delivered in collaboration with the University of Aberdeen, then please do join us to meet the staff and to hear about this wonderful, experiential and transformative course. The meeting in online at 7pm on the 9th May. Please email us at info@mindfunessassociation.net to get the link to join us ..read more

What we want: Moments Of lucidity Or better yet: of crystal clarity Rare are those moments And thoroughly hidden Searching hardly Pays of, but Finding does The art is to live  So that it comes to pass That clarity, now and then by Martin Bril translated from Dutch by Kristine   This poem, by the Dutch writer and poet Martin Bril, has been hanging in my mum’s bathroom for years, and when I was looking for a poem with the theme of ‘clarity’, it came to mind. But in Dutch of course! So this is my attempt at translating it, which of course is harder than it seems… It’s al ..read more

We are excited to announce the launch of our new Mindfulness Research Forum. Each month two of our recent graduates from our MSc Studies in Mindfulness Courses will present their research with us live over zoom. The next presentation will take place on Thursday April 11th at 7pm – we’d be delighted if you could join us. Follow THIS LINK to find your way to the research Forum webpage.   The Post Graduate Studies in Mindfulness (MSc) is run as a unique partnership between the University of Aberdeen and The Mindfulness Association. This contemporary online and blended learning programme allo ..read more

International Women’s Day is marked on Friday the 8th March,  so it may be appropriate to share some of the issues related to gender that have been raised in my research on Equity Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), Secular Mindfulness and Social Justice.[1] A number of studies have shown that the practice of mindfulness on a regular basis can offer a range of benefits for all in dealing with stress, anxiety and chronic pain, as well as with numerous health issues. All women, regardless of gender identity including CIS women, transgender women, and non-binary individuals. The term ‘cisgender ..read more

Me: Hey God. God: Hey John. Me: I’m about to break. God: Why do you think that is? Me: Because life just keeps getting harder. God: Then you need to become softer. Me: Huh? God: Here is the thing: glass is hard but it can shatter easily when dropped rock is hard but it can be broken quickly with a drill gold is hard but it can be melted in a blazing fire don’t be so hard that you break down so easily. be soft like wet clay in the hands of a potter be soft like river water in the summer be soft like the breeze through a row of tall pines all of those things survive no matter what happens to the ..read more

I am sitting in a retreat led by Rupert Spira this week, at home, online. Rupert Spira teaches the direct path and pathless path to non-dual awareness or naturally being. I relate to his teachings very strongly and find that his style is similar to the style of my first and main meditation teacher Rob Nairn. There is a combination of incisive intellectual insight and experiential practice based in decades of meditation practice in their teaching that I find engaging, instructive and, with practice, transformative. Both teachers strip away the historical dogma and present the essence of the tea ..read more

International Women’s Day is marked on Friday the 8th March,  so it may be appropriate to share some of the issues related to gender that have been raised in my research on Equity Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), Secular Mindfulness and Social Justice.[1] A number of studies have shown that the practice of mindfulness on a regular basis can offer a range of benefits for all in dealing with stress, anxiety and chronic pain, as well as with numerous health issues. All women, regardless of gender identity including CIS women, transgender women, and non-binary individuals. The term ‘cisgender ..read more