Accredited programmes for beginners, mindfulness teachers, and organisations – Start your journey today!
Accredited programmes for beginners, mindfulness teachers, and organisations – Start your journey today!
Karen Atkinson, Senior Partner at MindfulnessUK, recently gave a very open and honest interview about her recently published book. You can read the interview and book review here:
Interview with Karen Atkinson, author of ‘Compassionate Mindful Inquiry in Therapeutic Practice’
Book review – ‘Compassionate Mindful Inquiry in Therapeutic Practice’ by Karen Atkinson
With the rise in consciousness and awareness of racism in the UK and across the world MindfulnessUK support the Black Lives Matter movement. There is a lot to be done and as mindfulness advocates we are naturally more open to being aware and showing compassion and now is a time to also be more aware and learn more about the struggles that black and BAME communities face, day to day.
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation Director stated that “racism is a public health issue”. This statement resonated with us at MindfulnessUK as we take our role in supporting mental well-being, through mindfulness, very seriously, and want to ensure that we act responsibly whilst continuing to always act with compassion.
At MindfulnessUK we want to increase our own knowledge, offer our support to inform people and create much-needed change, and we are going to:
This is a group effort, across our entire mindfulness community and, our Senior Partner Karen Atkinson, as BAMBA Convenor issued the following statement – https://bamba.org.uk/statement-from-bamba-in-support-for-black-lives-matter/?fbclid=IwAR0ktvtPSja-ziOnngJTnf011vceB5E7K6LbRbcQGiP5oXNJ6PHaV3oas3E
The Black Lives Matter movement is calling for sustainable transformation in our communities. We are certain that by increasing our knowledge, being supportive and by taking the above steps, we are creating a positive change.
As part of our community we value your opinion and we would be grateful for any feedback or input that you have and want to share with us. Please contact claire@mindfulnessUK.com or info@mindfulnessUK.com.
I love wildlife programmes and constantly marvel at how the amazing advances in camera and optical technology, when combined with the skill, patience and deep understanding of camera men and women, can bring the beauty and elusive natural world into our homes. It has never been so easy for us to witness the raw splendour of nature, at once magnificent and gentle, yet red in tooth and claw, and humbly recognise and understand our place and responsibility as the only humanoid species currently extant on this unique planet.
It has also never been so easy for us to witness the devastation that we as a species have inflicted upon our oceans, forests and formerly pristine wilderness areas in the pursuit of power, convenience and commercial gain.
Here then is, as they say, the rub. How can we celebrate our beautiful planet without becoming anxious or depressed about the systematic destruction of its biomes and habitats, and their startling diversity of flora and fauna?
There is a deluge of information and imagery that continually alerts us to the real and perceived dangers of our individual and collective mismanagement of the environment. As meditators and teachers, it is important to be aware of how we react to all this information.
Once, whilst riding upstairs on a bus travelling through central London and discussing the environmental crisis with my adult son and his friends, I was, as a child of the 60’s held to account along with my generation, for much of what was wrong with the world in the twenty first century.
Of course, the Climate Crisis is far too complex to be blamed on a single generation or even individuals who hold power.
However, self-blame, inadequacy and guilt are common emotions that rise in response to the Climate Crisis. Feeling guilt is to be aware of wrongdoing but the emotion doesn’t have to be self-incriminating, negatively tying us into a virtual past from which we are unable to step forward and act.
Wholesome remorse can allow us to really feel grief around our species actions with gentleness and humility. To mindfully change our behaviour and take action to protect our planet, our home, in whatever ways we, as individuals feel able.
Kaira Jewel Lingo1 suggests, ‘Self-compassion in particular is a tool of climate resilience that can help us meet the pain of eco-anxiety and climate tragedy’.
Clearly, we cannot ignore what is happening to our planet and anger nor guilt will not stop what has already started.
Perhaps we should be wary of dwelling in a ‘present moment bubble’ when we practice. Through compassion for self and others, including all beings and our environment, we have an opportunity to reach out, to accept what we have done and in so doing, begin to mediate change.
We should try to remember that nothing can change until it is faced and accepted, and that often denial is our first response to loss, or the overwhelming reality and grief of what is happening around us and to us.
Clearly then, the task ahead of us all is to make a deep and honest self-appraisal of this global situation, and work without guilt or self-blame, understanding that over time our practice of compassionate mindful awareness can support the emergence of a new human story.
1 Befriending Eco-Anxiety: A Practice of Adaptation -Kaira Jewel Lingo
At this time of year, the question,” What is the perfect present to give the ones we love?” is never far from our mind. In search of something for my mum, I hit the shops; the packed shelves heaved with gift sets; the jewellery stores with the promise of love delivered with a shiny stone and the colourful jumpers guaranteed to keep us warm and cosy. Christmas overloads our senses: Garlands and Christmas trees, chocolate and cheese, all (somehow) delivering a message that we need to do this or buy that in order to have what we desire and make the ones we love happy.
We all know in a deep place inside us that these ‘things’ do not give us happiness. It has been shown, and we can feel it if we listen to ourselves, that the anticipation of buying something or receiving something materialistic is far greater than the actual acquisition. Our mindfulness practice gives us this knowledge, but it is easily dulled by tinsel and cake!
There was a time that I would be in those shops with my mum and as I walk around those same places now I know the best present I could ever receive would be for her to able to do that with me again. My mum has dementia and her health and memory have steadily deteriorated over the last year and it is so easy, and I am so aware, that my mind will drift to how I would like things to be rather than how they are. Sometimes, I liken the life I have now to feeling as though I am in a parallel universe. I am being coerced along this unknown, treacherous path and alongside me is another path that is soft and inviting and with the guaranteed destination of happiness. I am easily seduced as I have a powerful imagination!
My mindfulness practice has allowed me the possibility of acceptance and the deep pain I suffer as I watch my mother’s health and memory deteriorate is lessened by compassion. So, at this time of year, when I search for the perfect present, I know that, really, it is already with me. Happiness is not just laughter and our memory does not necessarily make us who we are. Love is not something that can be bought but it must be noticed. Being Mindful has allowed me the possibility of sitting with emotions both painful and joyful, both pleasant and unpleasant (and rarely neutral). Knowing there is a possibility of befriending these feelings and welcoming these emotions has allowed me to cultivate compassion in a way that has evolved alongside the changing relationship with my mum.
Christmas is a season where we like to give presents as well as receive them, but sometimes we can glimpse this time as just being another moment when we can practice compassion. Why is this time any different from any other time? The truth is it isn’t. Living with Mindfulness allows us the possibility of being with heartfelt gratitude and compassion for what ever arises and whatever happens and as I search for the perfect present to give to my mum, I know the perfect present is time and it is already here. Time, and another moment to spend with my mum, to just sit and listen to her and be with her because I know that this time, right now is the best gift of all.
We are delighted to introduce you to Anna Taylor who will be teaching our Integrating Mindfulness and Compassion in Professional Practice Teacher Training Course (IMCPP) which starts in Cambridge in the autumn.
“I gained so much from this Integrating Mindfulness and Compassion into Professional Practice course with Mindfulness UK (Mindfulnessuk1). It has very much changed the way that I work both in teaching yoga classes, my yoga therapy work and working one-to-one with clients. The beauty of the course is that it enables you to incorporate the practices of mindfulness and compassion within your own work setting, whether that be working as a yoga teacher, a life coach, a school teacher. I met people from all different backgrounds who were adapting these practices for their own workplace needs”
The course has now expanded and is being delivered in London, Bristol, Taunton and Cambridge and I am delighted to be co-delivering the Cambridge course which begins in November.
The main pre-requisite for undertaking the training is to have a regular meditation practice and have undertaken an 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course. If this is something that you feel may benefit you and what you offer professionally do visit http://mindfulnessuk-com.stackstaging.com/…/integrating-mindfulness-and-com… for more information.
Welcome Anna from us all at MindfulnessUK