The other day I was feeling particularly overwhelmed by things – my feelings, my chattering mind and my perception of the world around me. It’s at these times that my general wellbeing can be balanced on a knife edge; either I will fall deeper into the chatter of my mind and get horribly lost or my […]
Category Archives: Awareness
Disobedience and the Cultivation of Compassion
If you only got into Mindfulness because you had tried everything else and were desperate to find relief from your mental suffering, to escape some neurosis, or you simply wanted to quieten your mind so that you could get the edge in a competitive world, then you need to understand one thing now. Before you […]
In ‘Dark’ Times…
…Life is your playgroundWe are currently experiencing an unsettling time – this is nothing new; we were experiencing it already but maybe we weren’t all quite so aware of it before recent events in the political world and the repercussions this has ensued. This is bringing some challenging moments for many, it is showing us […]
The Four Skills of Mindfulness
I’m really excited to be sharing this addition to The Portal with you. It’s the first piece provided by our friend Oli Doyle from the other side of the globe! Check out his Contributor Profile for more about his work and now enjoy this wonderful piece giving you some beautifully simple Mindfulness tools. SophieLiving a […]
The tale of an old man’s bag – A lesson in awareness
On my commute to work this morning I was presented with a rather wonderful opportunity. My journey requires a change of trains and a short walk up the stairs over the footbridge and down the other side.Half way up the stairs I found an old man struggling with a heavy bag. A queue was forming […]
Bouncy Mindfulness
Getting out of our heads and into our bodies One of the things we often talk about on our retreats and classes is checking into our bodies as it’s your body that tells you how you are. Well I wanted to share a moment with you that beautifully reminded me just how true that is. […]
Lessons in Mindfulness – The Paradox
Where are you going? Who are you becoming ? You are going? no-where, you’ve already arrived. This moment is all that exists. The future is nothing more than a rubbish guess, it’s just a projection of your mind, and it exists no-where other than in your head. You are not ever going anywhere, because there […]
Retreat, not retreating
As I write this we are coming to the end of our very popular summer retreats (don’t worry if you missed them, we are looking at doing some winter ones too and we do have 1 left – see our Retreats page) It’s always amazed me the different types of people that turn up, a […]
Zen and the Art of Drinking Tea
Once upon a time in ancient China there was a nun who ran a tea shop. The nun was famous throughout China because of her deep understanding of zen. It was said that she was a true zen master, that she was fully enlightened, and students of zen travelled for thousands of miles to seek […]
