Tag: health
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Before the world wakes…
I have been switching up my morning routine a wee bit. Almost by accident, not by virtue, I have been avoiding my phone and taking in the early morning light. I wish I could say it is because I have been cleverly and intentionally opening the blinds to let natural light reset my internal clock,…
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Embracing both/and
Recently, my daughter has been sending me gorgeous photos of spring time in Vancouver. She moved over there last September and just missed the long summer days and ocean breezes of July and August. Instead, she walked headfirst into the misty skies and darkness that can be associated with a coastal winter. Truthfully, she would…
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Energy follows focus…
There’s a phrase that the Buddhist teacher Rob Nairn uses when teaching mindfulness: energy follows focus. This simply refers to the concept that wherever it is that our attention has gone to, our energy follows. In terms of our meditation practice, when we become entangled in our thoughts, we feed energy into the habit of…
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Dawn is coming…
There is no denying it. I can definitely feel the days starting to stretch and lengthen. With the building of this increase in light, there has been the slightest whisper of warmth that has started to gently seep in when that north wind is not looking. These are the days described by the great Mary…
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Slow down, you move too fast
As many of you know, and those who have been reading my blog will know, the last few years of my life have been difficult ones (to say the least). Life turned upside down with the illness and death of my beloved. And before that, I was working a lot. Too much, some might say.…
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Quietude
One of my favourite times of the day is the early morning in which I surrender into quietude, or what the Cambridge dictionary calls a state of calm and peacefulness. This is especially true during December as we approach the solstice. Usually at this time of year, I feel a pull between the noise of…
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The peace within
I am just home from a personal retreat in Donegal, where I spent 3 days dropping down into practice. It was just what I needed: reconnection. Reconnection to a deepening of meditation, to my dear friends and colleagues who joined me, to the land of Donegal and to that part of myself that is never…
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To flourish…
A few Novembers ago, I was travelling through Scotland when I heard a BBC radio show called ‘The Susurrations of Trees’. It took my breath away. In particular, Bob Gilbert’s description of the sound of rain on the leaves of a copper beech transfixed me. It completely transformed my relationship with my neighbour’s great big…
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Hold your seat
There’s a phrase that we use when teaching mindfulness for times when we feel challenged during a teaching session or unsure of how a situation will unfold: hold your seat. For the most part it simply means just that. Stay put. When the going gets tough, don’t run away. Instead, stay embodied, present, compassionate and…
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Blackberr-ease
I am always torn between two worlds- the Canadian forest and the Irish hills. And just to add, I can‘t deny the privilege of calling these two places my home. They are two breathtakingly beautiful lands that are filled with abundance. So, you can imagine how each leave taking can bring both sorrow and joy.…
My Silent Place 