Articles and blog posts written by team members, tutors and supervisors of the Mindfulness Association about how they bring mindfulness into their lives.

being on holiday

Being on Holiday

I am in the sky, on an aeroplane, on my way for a week’s holiday in Zante. My friend Claire is staying there for a month and asked me to join her for a week. The decision was easy! We flew from Liverpool. It is an early flight. So I drove down from Scotland the…

growing-courage

Growing Courage

When we think of mindfulness and compassion in action, we often jump straight to thinking about gestures of kindness, or caring interventions, or supportive acts, and usually aimed at someone other than ourselves. I sometimes feel there can be something a bit ‘Tom and Jerry’ about this – you know the thing – Tom chases…

lost in a vortex

Lost in a Vortex

Life is good.  And yet, I seem to allow myself to suffer.  The cause of my suffering? My mind of course! I notice I have been quite serious lately. A bit weighed down with my negative thought patterns. The resistance in this feels like sticky dark treacle clouding my mind – clinging to negative thoughts. …

Is-this-the-real-life

Is this the real life?

As I was driving to the station this morning mulling on my blog, Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody started to play on my playlist, with the starting lyrics: “Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide. No escape from reality”. This resonated with an experience I had this weekend. I was walking…

Finding Our Community

Finding Our Community

One of the results of our social media lifestyles is that we all end up in little bubbles communicating with those who agree with our point of view. This came home to me this week reading about the social media storm around Chris Packham and licences to kill birds. We live in a rural community…

I have a Choice

I have had a very blessed Easter weekend. My daughter has been home from university, and the family have been sitting out together in our sunny garden. Lama Yeshe Rinpoche was leading his usual Easter retreat and so I have been bobbing over to Samye Ling each morning for teachings, practices and a refuge ceremony with Lama…

mindfulness of birds

Mindfulness of Birds

One of the things I love about my home in Scotland is the birds. The little birds that come to feed on sunflower seeds and peanuts outside my kitchen window. The crows cawing in the tall trees as I practice in the morning. The starlings that roll across the sky in their flocks. The birds…