In the seen only the seen.

We seem to spend so much of our days surrounded by visual imagery, that it can seem hard to really see the world around us at all. We are used to having the world conceived, mediated and filtered for us by friends and family the media and corporate world. In Buddhism there is this phrase "in the seen only the seen" which is a great teaching about looking at the world. Just looking without adding to what we see.

What would it mean to be able to see clearly for ourselves, to just look?.This is a question or series of questions that I have been contemplating and working with for many years. In my art work, especially photography, it has meant trying to become attuned to the environment around me before I take an image. Waiting for a response from the world around, waiting to be in dialogue before I proceed.

If we can come back to ourselves, through mindful means and then re look at the world around us, we will see a richer and more detailed world and our experience will be much more satisfying.
If you are practising a 3 minute breathing space during the day, just try to notice the quality of your gaze immediately afterwards. Taking a few moments to be present with our awareness can change our ability to see the world.

Day Retreat 27th March

Ian Holder and I are holding a day retreat on Saturday March 27th 10.30-4.30 at Langdale House.
A retreat is an ideal way to deepen and develop or learn about meditation. A chance to take time out and experience yourself more fully, to uncover the true wealth of the heart-mind connection and to take new insights and methods back into your business and home life.

The theme is mindfulness and will include short talks, meditation and reflection practises.
you are welcome to join us whether you are new to meditation or more experienced.

The day costs £75 per person for more info or to book e-mail Wendy, wendy@padmayogini.co.uk or Ian, ian@3cpartners.com

Mindfulness and Coaching Workshop this Sunday

On Sunday 11th October Ian Holder and I will be running one of our Mindfulness and Coaching workshops.at Langdale house 11, Marshalsea road, London SE1 1EN 9.30 for a 10am start till 1pm.

I very much enjoyed co-leading the last workshop with Ian. The combination of mindfulness methods and coaching methods went well together and the participants said they gained a lot from taking part. I think there is room for a lot more development using mindfulness and other meditation methods combined with coaching and other areas of well being.

We still have some places see the main site www.calmcreate.co.uk for more info and comments from past participants. Or contact me for more details.

Meditating in the garden

I have been out in my garden meditating recently, it's great to have the opportunity( when our great british weather permits) to be outside. Settling into my ordinary garden chair, I just spend a few minutes with my eyes closed taking in my experience of the garden. The sounds of the birds and people in nearby gardens, sometimes the sounds of traffic or planes and the feel of the wind or sun. I notice the different perfumes and smells in the garden and a bee may fly close by.


There is a sense of enjoyment and connection in my experience and that all feeds into my meditation, which may be a practice of just sitting with my experience, moment by moment, or other meditations.Being outside in this way helps us I believe to experience ourselves in relation to the natural world, a world that we can all too easily forget if we live a busy urban life.

I certainly feel more energized and grateful for the opportunity of being a little bit closer to the natural world. So if you have a space outside, a balcony or local park, take the opportunity if you can to spend a little time meditating outside this summer.

Finding Inspiration for meditation

One of the important things in keeping a meditation practice alive is to find inspiration in our lives in general. In fact one of the simple but profound truths that we learn in meditation is that whatever and however we are in our life in general will that be there with us in meditation.

In order then for our meditation sessions, however long or short they are to be alive and vital for us, it is really helpful for us to seek out and encourage inspiration in our lives.

We may find that simply being in nature, our gardens, parks or allotments gives us this sense of wonder, joy and creativity that is characteristic of being in an inspired state of mind. We may be inspired by art, spending time reading or looking at art in it's many forms. Examples of people's lives may provide us with inspiration, as may many spiritual teachings.

If I start a meditation with something that has inspired me, I find that I am mentally more alert and more interested in my meditation. I have a real sense of uplift that carries me past unhelpful states of mind more easily and leads me into a deeper sense of practice.

Qualities of mindfulness

One of the areas I often reflect on is one of the nature or quality of mindfulness that we are trying to cultivate. How does mindfulness feel when we practise it in everyday life?

The quality of mindfulness needed is not just about efficiency, getting jobs done like washing up as quickly as possible or with as little effort as possible. It is not a mechanical type way of activity, far from it. When I think about tasks I've done hurridly and with little thought, filing, cleaning or shopping sometimes, I am aware that I am not enjoying the tasks, I'm not really engaged or aware, and my mental state is usually one that includes irritation.

Mindfulness has something to do with being wholehearted, the qualities of paying wise attention to our activities and jobs.When I have been really aware, sometimes in a conversation for instance, that conversation has taken on qualities of depth and pleasure, a sense of flow and lightness. I am really engaged and listening deeply, and responding from a greater depth in my self, there are qualities of a heartfeld engagement too.

If we can give ourselves up as it were to the job in hand and really engage with being mindfull in the moment, our experience really expands and becomes richer and more enjoyable.

Living with Awareness

One of the benefits of meditating regularly is an increasing sensitivity and development of awareness. This is particularly clear if you have been on retreat where the build up of meditation practise seems to allow us to see the world anew. Colours, sights and sounds can all appear heightened and fresh, as if we have a new pair of eyes. It is our consciousness that has changed in this instance. But I think I first became aware of this benefit in everyday life while out and about in the rain.

I am happy to see the rain fall on the gardens and land when I am inside, but having to handle busy streets and rush hour public transport in cold wet grey weather has never been my favourite pastime.On this particular day I was waiting at the bus stop wondering when the bus would arrive and whether I could fit myself on it when it arrived, I looked out at the grey clouds and was suddenly aware of the delicate colour of the grey, like the soft luminous grey of doves or wood pigeons. Then it seemed my awareness was switched on in the way it could be during meditation, The rain drops falling from the bus shelter made soft sounds and patterns on the ground and the water on the roads shone with the reflections from the sky.

It totally changed my experience of that wait for the bus to the extent that I was happy to wait and just be aware and appreciate the sights and sounds of the rain. What I also realised was this way of awareness was available to me at any time.

Although subsequent experiences based on this sort of realization are never perhaps as strong as our first ones, it can lead to a real change in our capacity and ability to respond and see the world around us.

Mindfulness of thoughts.

" It is remarkable how liberating it feels to be able to see that your thoughts are just thoughts and they are not 'you' or 'reality' For instance, if you have the thought that you have to get a certain number of things done today and you don't recognize it as a thought but act as if it's 'the truth', then you have created a reality in that moment in which you really believe that those things must be done today"

So writes Jon Kabat-Zinn in Full Catastrophe Living"

For me this understanding was also really liberating, Thoughts have no arms and legs, they cannot hold me, the holding comes from this believing that my thoughts represent reality or 'the truth' as Jon kabat-Zinn writes. When I know that my thoughts are just thoughts, I can decide whether to act on them or not.

My thoughts are conditioned, they arise from my childhood, my upbringing, my culture and so on, for someone else other thoughts arise due to other conditions. If I can sit with some understanding of this I am no longer imprisoned by my thoughts.