Mindfulness For Beginners

This week we explore how to make plans for the future without sacrificing your wellbeing in the here and now. Join the Facebook group:   https://www.facebook.com/groups/999461463825856/ Say hello on twitter: https://twitter.com/mindfulness_for mindfulnessforbeginners@protonmail.com Meditation can be used to reduce stress / anxiety, improve your mood and live a  more peaceful, fulfil...

Hello my friend, I hope you’re well - this week we’re going to be going over some of the basic principles of mindfulness, this time from the perspective of Jon Kabat Zinn rather than the Plum Village tradition. If you’re new to mindfulness then welcome, if you’re an experienced practitioner then I would invite you to apply your beginners mind and enjoy the refresh. Join the Facebook group:  ...

If I asked you to picture someone you find difficult to deal with, whether that’s at work or in your family, you wouldn’t find it too hard. A few weeks ago we talked about how to deal with a friend or co-worker that’s having a bad day but there’s one or two people who always seem to have a grump on - mindfulness can help! Join the Facebook group:   https://www.facebook.com/groups/999461463825...

Have you had that reaction when something goes wrong at work, with your health or in a relationship? You might think that if a relationship ends you’ll never find someone else, if we fail an exam we can never have a successful career. You’re imagining all the terrible things that are going to happen, it feels like the world is ending and the house of cards is falling apart. Catastrophic thinking m...

Have you ever been lying in bed, not able to sleep because you can’t stop worrying about things? Today we’re going to talk about how mindfulness can help you to let go of your worries and build calmness into your everyday life. Join the Facebook group:   https://www.facebook.com/groups/999461463825856/ Say hello on twitter: https://twitter.com/mindfulness_for mindfulnessforbeginners@protonmai...

Starting your day off with a smile doesn’t involve a huge amount of rocket science but like mindfulness itself it does need a bit of patience and persistence. The key thing is setting up new habits and sticking to them every day, even on the weekend. Mindful movement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mz-dJFkmrk Join the Facebook group:   https://www.facebook.com/groups/999461463825856/ Say he...

Have you ever had a conversation, maybe with your co-worker or a friend, and they’ve been a bit abrupt? And you’ve thoughts afterwards, “what was that about? Are they annoyed at me?” We can get swept away by that anxiety or anger and not see what’s really going on - but it's possible to experience what’s happening without needing to react to it, without needing to do anything or, critically, witho...

How do you feel when someone criticises you? Maybe it prompts you to start beating yourself up. Nobody likes to be criticised, especially if you have perfectionist tendencies. But unless you listen to criticism, it makes it harder to grow and learn. The golden rule is to treat yourself with kindness, even if you think you’ve made a mistake. Non-judgement is key in mindfulness and you might feel up...

Have you ever remembered something embarrassing that you’ve done and thought “you idiot”? Or worse? Everyone does to some extent - its very ingrained in us to regret things from the past, to see ourselves as not meeting some standard and as a result we feel miserable and anxious. Mindfulness can help - non-judgement is one of the key pillars and this episode talks about how we can reduce the harm...

Join me on my mindfulness course starting Feb 13th: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/be-calm-be-happy-online-mindfulness-course-saturday-afternoon-group-tickets-133001853123 Thich Nhat Hanh calls loneliness the suffering of our time, that we can be in a crowd of people but still feel alone, all of us lonely together. That feeling is something that we're afraid of - the fear of loneliness can be wors...

Join me on my mindfulness course starting Feb 13th: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/be-calm-be-happy-online-mindfulness-course-saturday-afternoon-group-tickets-133001853123 Mindfulness is all about applying 100% of your attention to whatever you’re doing - most weeks we do a guided meditation, focusing on our breath, verses, images, body etc. Doing a little of that kind of formal practice each day...

Join me on my mindfulness course in Feb (only a couple of places left): https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/be-calm-be-happy-online-mindfulness-course-saturday-afternoon-group-tickets-133001853123 Everyone compares themselves to others to some extent but when it plays on our thoughts a lot this can really impact on our wellbeing. The evidence on this has been around since the 1950s - people have always...

Join me on my mindfulness course in Feb (only 12 places): https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/be-calm-be-happy-online-mindfulness-course-saturday-afternoon-group-tickets-133001853123 Have you been doomscrolling recently - going through a feed of negative stories in social media or the news? You might be feeling a little bit overwhelmed with everything that's going on in the world at the moment. Its eas...

Join me on my mindfulness course in Feb (only 12 places): https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/be-calm-be-happy-online-mindfulness-course-saturday-afternoon-group-tickets-133001853123 Even if you’re experienced in meditation it’s always useful to apply your beginners mind and return to the fundamentals. f you’re new to mindfulness it’s good to practice these basics regularly to get yourself into a routi...

If you’re listening to this early in 2021 then you might have spent some time thinking about new years resolutions, commitments to make your life happier and calmer. If you’re like me, new years resolutions tend to be a bit of a mixed bag, for every driving test passed there’s a gym membership that doesn’t get used beyond February. In this episode, we talk about how to make change stick. Join me o...

Join me on my mindfulness course in Feb (only 12 places): https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/be-calm-be-happy-online-mindfulness-course-saturday-afternoon-group-tickets-133001853123 Join the Facebook group:   https://www.facebook.com/groups/999461463825856/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/mindfulness_for mindfulnessforbeginners@protonmail.com Meditation can be used to reduce stress / anxiety, i...

If you’ve ever been in a place where you’re feeling low or  life just feels like a grind, you might have asked the question, what is it all about? There’s no shortage of influencers who want to provide you with answers, especially on TV or social media. In this episode we explore the mindfulness perspective on why we exist - the answer is simpler than you might think! Join me on my mindfulnes...

In the Buddhist tradition, desire is the root of all suffering; when we’re dissatisfied with our lives its because we’re attached to the idea that something better is out there that we don’t have. You might look at gratitude as being the antidote to that sense of dissatisfaction - we can be grateful for the important things in our life, the people we love or our health but also the little things l...

This week we’re talking about compassion, being aware of suffering and feeling a desire to alleviate it. Compassion is one of the key practices of mindfulness and its something we find easy when we think of someone we love. But where we can really struggle is feeling compassion towards ourselves; when we’re suffering we sometimes punish ourselves more for not being good enough. Mindfulness is a pr...

In mindfulness we call the decisions we make ‘watering the seeds’. These everyday choices can contribute to our anger, our happiness, our fear - just in the same way that if you choose to water certain plants in your garden, you’re choosing what your future garden looks like. Being aware of decisions and prioritising your wellbeing as the most important factor makes a huge difference over time. Jo...

Last chance to win a free place on mindfulness course - join our Facebook group to enter: https://www.facebook.com/groups/999461463825856 If you have kids or nieces/nephews you might have seen a baby suddenly become aware of their hand. They look at the palm, they look at the fingers, then they turn it over and realise there’s a back of the hand. And if they tell the fingers to move, it they wiggl...

If you think about what you need to be happy, you might think about achieving something in your career, or a relationship, or buying a house. All of these things have one thing in common - attachment. When we think of the things that make us happy or sad, there is always something within that that we’re attached to.  For example, when we worry about what people think of us we’re attached to o...

You might have been feeling stressed recently with events happening across the world or closer to home; a lot of that tension is manifested in our bodies without us being fully aware of it - that might be in your back, in your brow or simply in a general feeling of restlessness which could be interfering with your sleep. In this episode, I talk through how you can can use mindfulness to release te...

If you suffer from social anxiety then you might stress in advance about meeting up with people, feel anxiety about going out in public, have regular thoughts that you’ve said the wrong thing or worry what people think of you. This anxiety is common and can helped by practicing mindfulness. You can smile to your anxiety, unlock the door, invite them in, sit at the table and listen. Shutting diffic...

When someone has hurt you, it can be tempting to say nothing because it’s not worth the quarrel. But bottling up anger isn’t good for your mental health or your peace - anger that lingers in your awareness becomes resentment, resentments leads to suffering for you and for others. Your feelings are important and should be listened to - practicing compassion meditation before the conversation can gi...