We are in the day of the sun once again standing still. The longest day.
So, continuing my wonderings about being ‘still’. Standing still, sitting still or stilling the mind. The sun standing still.
I love the poet William Butler Yeats’ words about Still Water.
‘We can make our minds so like still water that beings gather about us, that they may see, it may be, their own images, and so live for a moment with a clearer, perhaps even with a fiercer life because of our quiet.’
I read out Yeats’ words in our last Open Practice session in May, and also in a one to one session a few weeks ago. There is such sense in them. About quieting our own noise, in order to notice and allow a more fullness of all presence. About not clinging on so hard to ourselves, and taking the time to be.
I’ve been considering with this, an observation by Helen MacDonald, early on in the book H is for Hawk. Macdonald describes the ‘sixth sense of the practised animal trainer’. Making yourself disappear in order to be closer to another being. MacDonald notes when you become at one with a hawk:
‘You are exercising what the poet Keats called your chameleon quality, the ability to “tolerate a loss of self and a loss of rationality by trusting in the capacity to recreate oneself in another character or another environment”. …it’s part of being a watcher, forgetting who you are and putting yourself in the thing you are watching.’
I’m not an animal trainer, but trying to train my unruly mischievous mind is a bit like this, my mind is all over the place, curious, poised to change direction. Noticing a moment of still water in my mind is a magic moment when I am looking at my thoughts rather than from them. Watching.
Thich Nacht Han said
‘The river must be calm
to reflect the full moon
The clear mind has insight into
the true nature of things’
Can we create a little bit of quiet, a moment of still water, a calm river, in order to better reflect ‘the true nature of things’, to allow others to live with a ‘fiercer’ being because of our quiet?
So, to Open Practice! A 30 minute online moment of some stillness and quiet for anyone who wants to attend.
This month’s is next Monday 26 June 6.30 – 7pm.
If you’d like to come, please let me know and I’ll send you a Zoom link and details. Please do invite anyone else who might like to try a meditation practice. No assumption, no judging, no previous experience required, and no need to turn your camera on if you’d rather not. Pay what you can. Suggested donation: £2.
The sessions have a loose focus (often related to themes that reoccur in my individual practice and when I’m working with others). The aim is to shift our awareness into the present moment and create (even if only a tiny sliver) a chance to notice ourselves between the many distractions of having a life, and all the stuff we have going on.
If you know anyone who would like to delve deeper into mindfulness and extend their skills; I am running the Breathworks accredited 8 week Mindfulness for Stress course and setting new dates now. Please do contact me here If you’d like to chat about this or are thinking about learning and practicing some skills to allow a little bit more peace of mind in this challenging world we live in.
New course dates are also posted on my website
I also run bespoke courses, one to one and small group sessions.
I have spaces for one to one and bespoke sessions, working outdoors, indoors, or online, focused on reflective practices and mindfulness techniques as well as Outside Thought reflection and facilitation sessions.
Wishing you well
Thank you for reading
Karen