“Trees grow out of my body
I'm not sure if I planted them
or if they planted me"
- Ryan Van Lenning -

On the cusp of the Autumn Equinox, I met with a group of women at our local park between two impressive Cedar of Lebanon trees, for a mini-workshop entitled 'Women in Nature'.

The morning was an opportunity for us to gather to meditate and write within the presence of these beautiful trees, using nature as our inspirational guide.

Google meditation and you will be inundated with thousands of possibilities, amongst which will be familiar themes (many cliched) on how it will help you clear your mind (I'm still yet to understand how this is even possible), how it can change your life in 21 days (what happens after that time?) as well as epic journeys into colourful realms. 

Many are very sincere and well-meaning, but there's very few that will suggest using the very stuff of your life as the fuel for the practice.

When we get quiet (which is what our meditation practice invites us to do), that's when other elements put in an appearance.

All those uninvited visitors decide to drop in unannounced: thoughts, feelings; memories, etc.

We have a choice - this is the beauty of meditation, it's all about remembering we have choices.

You can use your normal default of burying your head in the sand and pretending these visitors aren't there (in effect, slamming the door in their face).

Time to Focus - our monthly meditation group for women, provides a wonderful space in which you can re-focus aspects of your life through the lens of meditation.

The group is suitable for beginners and the seasoned meditator alike, and offers 3 x meditation practices, discussion on our group reading guide as well as other aspects of practice and how it relates to our lives as women.

Refreshments are also provided.

Plus! You will see that meditation isn't always what you thought it was.

In today's monthly meditation session, we looked at the inner critic - you know the one I mean? It's the soundtrack of your mind that has an opinion on everything (or so it would seem!)

We'd first encountered the topic of the inner critic / voice when reading The Untethered Soul (by Michael A Singer) in our group reading guide a couple of years ago.

Some of us have managed to befriend this voice, even so far as giving it a name. I know my writing mentor has done this too and says that it is most definitely a 'he' that shows up.

Last night saw women from previous mindfulness courses attend for a A Mindful Top-up

As with any new endeavour, there's always the 'honeymoon period' and we have good intentions to continue with a chosen practice or activity.

All too soon, our tendencies and our defaults creep back in and it becomes harder and harder to maintain the enthusiasm, especially once outside the regular weekly classes now that they've finished.

The most recent course of A Mindful Woman finished with joy and with sadness.

Joy that the women who attended received so much benefit from the sessions.

Sadness in that the sessions themselves had come to an end.

Just one of many testimonials can be seen within the image (above) and as a result of the wonderful feedback, I have decided to create something new.

A Mindful Top-up

Last Saturday saw the last mind-training slogan (Lojong) in our monthly meditation sessions. We have been using these pithy little reminders for two years, which are teachings condensed into a one-line reminder. Having covered 24 of the 59 little gems (in no particular order), the time has come to create space for new ways of reflecting.

There is nothing stagnant about a meditation practice: as explained to the wonderful group of women on Saturday, it is ever evolving and can arise in any given moment wherever we find ourselves.