Meditation Practice

Meditation Timers

Life Coaching

Meditation is the direct experience of your mind. Observation of my mind has been part of my daily practice for several years now; and I can honestly say it has made this journey of being alive a far richer experience. I recommend it! The subject of meditation often comes up when I am working with clients, sometimes as a way of taming overactive-worried minds, and other times as a pathway to help people reconnect with feeling alive. Although the usually-simple methods for learning how to meditate come from rich and thorough Eastern wisdom traditions; it is not necessary to get deterred by their complexities and religious overtones. Learning to meditate in a way that will have positive effects on your wellbeing and outlook on life can be a simple process. I have been cultivating ways to introduce and teach meditation as an ongoing part of our life coaching work together. I craft a meditation methodology tailor made to the lifestyles and needs of my clients. The teaching is being received very well, and I now have plenty of clients developing and deepening their own daily practice. 

Learning to meditate is a personal journey which is undertaken slowly and over time. It starts simply, and with experience, that simplicity gets ever more subtle. Rather like learning to play the piano, it requires that you make available quality time, and apply the right effort. Sometimes it is a slog, and other times there are breakthroughs. And like the piano, every stage is rich with insight and new understandings. Fundamentally, meditation nurtures your ability to savour life, allowing you to “taste your life” wisely. It is a practice of poised alertness, and not a removed trance.

As we settle into mediation, we are freed from the exhausting effects of mental chatter; doesn't that sound nice? The mind becomes concentrated and focussed. Afterwards we are calm and refreshed. It took me years to get to the point where my practice was not full of resistance; I could sit for 20mins and watch a million thoughts punching and rebelling at my very sitting there! It was not fun. But then... the elixir arrived, and now a day without a sitting is like a day without a hot-shower and a nourishing breakfast.

My meditation coaching approach has several levels to it. At first we start with the basics of posture and sitting comfortably, slowly developing the skills of self-awareness and engaging with stillness. As we move deeper we start to cultivate mindfulness and concentration. At which point we will have created a bedrock for movement towards tranquillity. In more advanced levels we are then able to " play" around in stillness, developing deep insight into ourselves and the nature of existence. It is all a very personal experiment. The joy is that at any or every level we will always bring something peaceful back to the world; to share with others. A peaceful centered Mum and an aware un-agitated boss undoubtedly makes the world a better place; nobody needs to be machine-gunned with reactive drama that many will see playing out on a daily basis at home, work or on the bus. Mediation helps you get there.

As an aside, few people enjoy the company of individuals whose attitudes are persistently negative. Do you know any of those?  Perhaps even you? Yet many of us tolerate the critical chatter that can originate within our own minds. Since we are so used to the stream of self-limiting, critical consciousness that winds its way through our thoughts, we are often unaware of the impact these musings have on our lives. These musings become the script from which the movie that is our life is produced. It is only when we become aware of the power of such thoughts that we can divest ourselves of them. Using meditation and paying careful attention to thinking patterns, you may be surprised at the negativity found there. But when we take notice of involuntary thoughts in a nonjudgmental way, we initiate a healing process that will eventually allow us to replace intimidating and upsetting self-talk with positive, empowering thoughts. You become a "nice" person and everybody loves you because you are nice; or leaves you because they don't want to hang out with nice people! (PS by nice I mean a person who lives with a compassionate loving heart, as opposed to one who lives from closed-heartedness fear)

As we get to know ourselves, we can take responsibility for ourselves and our process of change; if we don’t we are largely at the mercy of whatever life brings. The universe happens to us. Meditation is a delicious way to enhance our lives and wellbeing. As a teacher, I meditate such that I have more to give my clients, and as a meditation teacher I can help my clients do the same with people that they touch in their own lives. It forms a cornerstone of my teachings that take people towards Peace, Passion and Purpose. 

Meditation Timers

When you meditate it is useful to set aside a quality period of time, say 20mins or an hour. It is also helpful to forget about the time. Time and your sense of time disappears in meditation; but as we all have lives to live, and appointments to keep, it is useful to have a timer. As a Life Coach I make consistent use of yoga and meditation to deepen my own spiritual practice and ensure that I am as centred as I can be for my coaching clients; for years I made use of different timers and alarms most of which had rather agitating alarm-sounds! I searched the planet for a more peaceful alarm, and I found it in the form of the Digital Zen Alarm Clock and the Zen Timepiece. I have been using these products in my own practice and have now decided to make them available to my clients and other UK mediators. These beautiful alarm clocks and timers make excellent gifts. The full range of meditation timers that I am stocking can be found here.

I often teach meditation practice as a part of my life coaching work with clients all over the world.