In the early days of silent retreats, for me they were definitely more about having a break from “life” — especially with young children. After a few years, they became more about self-improvement… becoming a better meditator. In the last few years, as meditation teacher Bob Sharples says, I’ve been attending retreat as an act of “deep warm friendship” to…
2015. I was a busy GP, dealing with some personal pain and fatigue, with a teenager going off the rails. And then menopause hit! Hot flushes, up-and-down moods, worsening pain and poor sleep was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I am a big proponent of HRT, however I had medical reasons for being unable to use it, so…
Originally this was titled “intersection” but I have changed to “confluence” at the suggestion of a friend. Much more emergent and flowing, not so linear and angular. I became interested in mindfulness, self-compassion and modern pain neuroscience at approximately the same time several years ago. At the time I thought the mindfulness/self-compassion and what I call Pain Explained were both…
I was teaching week 2 of MBSR today to my wonderful new group. We were discussing perception, the way our brains make predictions and hedonic tone. It reminded me of this wonderful article by Lisa Feldman Barrett in Science Focus “How Emotions Trick the Brain”. My take homes: Your brain’s most important job is keeping your body alive. To accomplish…
Negative situations and emotions are a part of life. If we learn to tolerate uncomfortable experiences then we may find it easier to take action to make necessary change – otherwise we may find ourselves stuck in situations and relationships.
Some experiences of very deep tranquility and peace in both sitting and moving meditations were so welcome and deeply soothing.
This morning I was looking forward to walking my dog Charlie for the first time in a few days, so I took her to the longest dog beach in Wollongong. When I got there it was blowing a gale. Then, something strange happened.
