Posts tagged with 'relaxation'
Meditation - why bother?
5th February 2026
I've been feeling for a while that my meditation practice has become a bit 'routine'. I sit 'meditating' with Catero, my wife, most mornings for about 15 minutes and then, over the course of the day, I typically 'sprinkle in' another three or so brief walking meditation practices. It's fine. …
Breathing
15th June 2022
"As you breathe in, cherish yourself. As you breathe out, cherish all beings." Dalai Lama "When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive, to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love." Marcus Aurelius I'm a member of a Book Group. We …
Balanced meditation practice: an overview
22nd May 2017
Taking our attention inwards can be done helpfully in so many ways. We can relax; we can be mindfully aware; we can use visualisations; we can deeply savour present time experience; we can process difficulties from our pasts or prepare ourselves for challenges in the future. There are so many …
Mindful self-compassion: affectionate breathing meditation
18th May 2017
I'm just back from a five day Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) retreat in Iceland with Chris Germer & Christine Brahler. MSC teaches a whole host of meditation practices, with three underlined as core meditations. These three are Affectionate Breathing, Loving-Kindness for Ourselves, and Giving & Receiving Compassion. In this post I …
Kidney donation: preoperative preparation & facing challenges generally - aspects of self-compassion
29th January 2017
I've woken early. Lying here I feel an unfamiliar hollow pressure in my gut. What is this? Fear? Anxiety? Tension? "Tense apprehension" seems to fit. I'm lying here in the early hours of the morning, a hollow tense apprehension in my belly. And it isn't surprising. Pretty normal in fact …
Kidney donation: preoperative preparation & facing challenges generally - goals and journey
28th January 2017
I'm due to donate a kidney soon, and I have been writing about what's involved - see "Kidney donation: why it's well worth considering", "Kidney donation: what are the risks?" and "Kidney donation: preoperative preparation & facing challenges generally - values are central". Primarily these posts are for other donors, …
Headache & migraine: new NICE guideline
20th November 2012
In September, the National Institute for Health & Clinical Evidence (NICE) published a guideline offering "evidence-based advice on the diagnosis and management of tension-type headache, migraine (including migraine with aura and menstrual-related migraine), cluster headache and medication overuse headache in young people (aged 12 years and older) and adults." The …
Personal directions in mindfulness teaching: should we really only be training mindfulness for diverse group populations?
6th July 2012
I wrote an initial blog post in May entitled "Personal directions in mindfulness teaching: an overview" where I said that I was "excited, stimulated, happy, frustrated, challenged, and hopeful" about the current surge of interest in mindfulness and introduced the following diagram: (This diagram is downloadable both as a PDF …
Personal directions in mindfulness teaching: an overview
27th May 2012
I have been meditating regularly for over forty years and teaching for over thirty. I think the recent surge of interest and research on mindfulness is hugely exciting. I remember in 1998 hearing John Teasdale give a ground-breaking lecture on "Mindfulness training in treatment and prevention" at the British Association …
Using Williams & Penman's book "Mindfulness: a practical guide" as a self-help resource (6th post) - fourth week's practice
19th January 2012
Last week I wrote about chapter seven of Mark & Danny's book. This post is about chapter eight - the fourth week of actual meditation practice - entitled "Moving beyond the rumour mill" (pp. 134 to 158). In their week-by-week overall summary of the whole programme (pp. 58 to 60), …