I have been confirmed for the Sun and Moon festival again and will be leading the Dowsing workshops. Last year we discovered an ancient stone circle which we re-energised with a midnight meditation under a full moon using three lovely ladies, Rhona, Natasha and her beautiful daughter which represented the ‘crone, the woman and the girl’ the stone circle is an ancient one that was originally dedicated to the moon and once again it is a living part of the landscape. The festival will be held under the auspices and energies of a rising and full moon. The festival runs from the 14th to the 21st of August with hundreds of workshops, it will be great if we see you there.
Category Archives: Born of Fire Blog
Mindfulness Meditation in Guildford
The spring term starts at the Surrey’s Adult learning centres and my first meditation course of the years starts on the 27th Feb, the first date is a meditation taster where I will be introducing you to the techniques for calming the body and quietening the mind, if you plan on coming along for the following three weeks, this may also be a good grounding for you, but otherwise the three week course begins on Saturday the 5th of March. You of course can sign up for all these dates, I will also be repeating this later in April and will post dates for this course soon.
Saturday 27/2/2016 – One off taster/Intro session, 10.30am-12.30pm
Saturdays 5/3/2016 to 19/3/2016 – 3 week course, 10.30am-12.30pm
To book your place on the mindfulness meditation courses, please visit the Surrey local government page below.
Mindfulness Meditation Studies
You can find a lot of scientific studies that have been done on people who do mindfulness meditation and they all present profound findings on how mindfulness meditation changes your perception on life and how this impacts on the level of your personal happiness. Below is another short video extolling the virtues of mindfulness meditation from the perspective of a Psychologist.
Mindfulness in Life
Being mindful is an attitude of mind, we can practise mindful meditation as well as mindful living. Mindful living refers to being aware of the sustainability of life and this idea cascades down through and covers everything on the planet. Mindful living could be as simple as sorting out the household rubbish so it is recycled correctly or it could be practising mindfulness in your garden and not using chemicals that indiscriminately kill ‘things’ that is likely food for other ‘things’, or in other words practise natural sustainability in as many things in your life as you can. Be mindful of others. (other creatures)
Another great method of mindfulness is to practise on your body, we may use breathing as an exercise for meditation but there are some great healing methods of body mindfulness. One I have come across these last few years and have tried from several practitioners is the popular continental method called Feldenkrais .
http://www.feldenkraisuk.co.uk/
Mindfulness needs awareness to be operating in your mind, setting goals to be mindful in your life needs you to be aware of all the NEW things that you will encounter while going about your normal day to day life. You can plan to be mindful in your behaviour but what can you do during the transitional stage from before and to ‘now’. Practise being aware of everything you say and do and consider if it is acceptable for your mindful living.
Meditation Course Guildford
I will be providing Mindfulness Meditation courses in Guildford over the next year in Guildford, Surrey, the dates are below but you will need to book your position through the Guildford Surrey Adult Learning system. (see website below) I Hope to see you there. 🙂
Or ring them on – 0300 200 1044
http://new.surreycc.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/adult-learning
Autumn Term
Saturday 7/11/2015 – One off taster/Intro session, 10.30am-12.30pm
Saturdays 14/11/2015 to 5/12/2015 – 4 week course, 10.30am-12.30pm
Spring Term
Saturday 27/2/2016 – One off taster/Intro session, 10.30am-12.30pm
Saturdays 5/3/2016 to 19/3/2016 – 3 week course, 10.30am-12.30pm
Summer Term
Saturday 23/4/2016 – One off taster/Intro session, 10.30am-12.30pm
Saturdays 30/4/2016 to 21/5/2016 – 4 week course, 10.30am-12.30pm
The taster/intro session is a stand alone meditation course where I teach the technique of breathing to calm the body and then the technique of clearing the ‘monkey mind’ which so many people get stuck on, we shall also start to discuss the principles of ‘awareness’ of which there are many and how to start implementing them in your life. This is a must if you intend to also do the weekly course as it would be unfair to make those who have completed to wait for you to catch up.
In the follow up weeks of the meditation class proper, we shall practise all these techniques, we will also consider the mind images that some people can get and their meanings. I will outline the differences between various Meditation techniques and we shall also practise walking meditation alongside our sitting meditations. Each class shall finish with a guided healing meditation. I will provide handout sheets for the guided meditations so that you can also begin to practise these at home yourself. All lessons will have time for a question and answer between our meditations as well so that we can all learn together.
Meditation and Dowsing Courses
I shall be providing a Dowsing course this year at the Sun and Moon Festival near Brighton, Sussex this will be a practical dowsing course and for those who are keen, we may do some serious stuff
At the festival I shall also be giving one to one Mindfulness meditation teaching for those who contact me and we shall probably do it under a tree somewhere
Another Festival to look out for will be the One World Festival near Bridgewater, Somerset which I shall be attending
http://oneworldcamp.com/
At this festival I will be assisting Master Wizard Stanley Stewart with some Wizardry talks and again I am offering one to one Mindfulness meditation teaching for those who contact me, probably under a Tree somewhere.
Showing How Meditation Improves the Brain
Neuroscientist Sara Lazar’s talk at a TedX presentation provided evidence of scientific studies and brain scans to show how meditation can actually change the size of key regions of our brain after just two months of daily mediation, the studies showed that meditation improves our memory as well as making us more empathetic, compassionate, and resilient under stress, watch her short video presentation.
Meditation Resources
It is always good to find scientific research on the effectiveness of Mindfulness meditation although it is generally accepted that meditation is good for health getting the scientists advocating what was once seen as an ‘Alternative’ therapy is always good. So here are a couple of links to some great resources for meditation.
Bangor University for UK independent research.
Mindfulness Research Guide Independent organisation building an archive of scientific studies from around the world.
So enjoy your investigations!
Meditation Workshop Guildford
I will be providing a workshop on Mindfulness meditation on 20th August at Guildford Adult Learning centre. (0300 200 1044 or email adultlearning@surreycc.gov.uk)
Below are the details pertaining to the course
| To ensure that you choose a course that suits both your interest and ability, please study the details below. If you would like further information on this or similar courses in the area, please contact us on 0300 200 1044 or email adultlearning@surreycc.gov.uk |
| What will be learnt during the course? |
| Course aim: to experience improved health & wellbeing and reduce stress, through the practice of Mindfulness meditation.You will be introduced to and practice Breath work (for calming the self), quietening the monkey mind (for inner peace) and we will discuss awareness, plus you will be introduced to the popular mindfulness meditations of Zen meditation, Transcendental Meditation and walking Meditation. |
| What level is the course? For whom is it appropriate and what skills or knowledge are needed before enrolment? We welcome learners with additional needs and disabilities. Please let staff know if you require any extra support when you enrol and they will arrange for a member of the Supported Learning Team to contact you. Surrey Adult Learning values and supports equality and diversity by promoting fairness and respect at all times |
| No previous experience is necessary although for those who have tried meditation in the past and are struggling to get past the ‘monkey mind’ level they will find this very useful in moving past this critical step. This course is for those who wish to work gently with a focus on health benefits. This short course will introduce participants to the foundations of Mindfulness Meditation. We will lead you gently through the starting steps of this popular health giving Meditation technique which will empower you to continue in your own time at home, work and play. |
| What opportunities for further learning and progression routes does the course offer? |
| Meditation is at its most basic form a beginning to wellbeing and long term physical health, further practise and guidance can provide emotional healing, profound change in how you see yourself relating to the world with more advanced practice moving into spiritual awareness. This course can be used as a first step towards advanced meditation leading to further personal growth. |
| What equipment, clothing or textbooks should be brought to the first session of the course? Will other items be required later? |
| No equipment is required as we will be sitting on chairs during this short course, comfortable, loose clothing should be worn and if you have difficulty sitting upright for the course duration then please bring an appropriate cushion to help with this. You may wish to take notes, if so please bring along a pen and paper to write on. |
Dowsing Workshop Farnborough
I will be providing a Dowsing workshop alongside Michael Haxeltine at the North Camp Summer Fayre tomorrow 14th June at Queens road recreation park, North Camp, Farnborough, Hampshire. Further details can be found on their website and the flyer below:
The facebook page is:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/North-Camp-Matters-Community-Association-NCMCA/183886188297454
Meditation at the One World Festival
The One World summer festival.
You can get some great discounts by booking early, so please check out their website for further information on the Festival.
Love and Light