Unplugging and standing still

I hope all is well, I thought this quote from Anne Lamott was a fitting way to begin:

‘Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes. Including you.’

Perhaps not ‘almost everything’ but it’s a good point!

I am now fully accredited to teach Breathworks, 8 week courses in mindfulness for health and mindfulness for stress, including mindful movement, and work one to one in meditation practices. I am on the mindfulness teachers UK register here. 

Most mornings recently I’ve taken time to watch the sky changing. Sometimes clouds pushed by wind, or bright blue, then dark rain clouds. So much movement.

In that sky, two youthful kestrels have been pairing up and using the tall mill chimney beside the row of houses where I live. Incredible birds, they were my Dad’s favourite. He could watch a kestrel for long lengths of time. I keep up his habit. Old words for kestrel included windfucker or fuckwind; also wind-hover; wind-sprite; bell-hawk; standgale. The kestrel is magnificent at hovering in one place, facing the wind, being able to stay absolutely still in even wild blasting gales. The pair here are flecked and striped. The male has a head the colour of blue grey sky and the female has vocalisations to outdo Bjork and glorious well-preened redbrown and cream plumage. 

For my mindfulness practice I wonder how I can stay still (mentally and physically) in the face of wild winds. To be with those tempestuous days and ‘wild in the head’ nights with skill and balanced effort. Being a standgale. There is a practice I sometimes use at night to get to sleep, which involves staying ‘impeccably still’, and comes from Jay Michaelson.

Onto practices that might help:

• Open practice. Monday 24 April. 6.30 – 7pm

I will be running a monthly 30 minute online open practice from next Monday 24 April.

If you’d like to come please let me know and I’ll send you a Zoom link and details. Please do also 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 will have a loose focus, usually connected to common themes I cover on an eight week course, for example, self-doubt, working with unhelpful or difficult thoughts, being with our busy minds. We’ll begin with a short exercise, such as considering an idea, or moving mindfully for a few minutes. Then we’ll move into a short meditation and leave with something to practice to develop our ability to respond rather than react. 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. My approach will focus on the practical; building a toolkit of skills to use. An audio recording of each week’s meditation will be available.

• 8 Week mindfulness for stress course

I will be running two new 8 week mindfulness for stress courses starting in late May.

More information available here.

I am also able to offer work based courses or other group courses on Zoom.

• One to one and small group sessions

I have spaces for one to one sessions and bespoke sessions, working both outdoors and indoors, focused on reflective practices and mindfulness techniques as well as Outside Thought reflection sessions.

Finally, I do hope that you are going well. How about committing today to three, 3 minute breathing spaces each day this week? That’s nine minutes scattered through the day of getting to unplug and reset.  It certainly works for me! The breathing space supports us to step out of autopilot and into awareness, out of busyness and into being mode, helps us to reconnect with the present moment. I teach it in week 3 of the mindfulness for stress course. Here’s Vidyamala Burch of Breathworks leading a breathing space.

Thank you for reading

Wishing you well

Karen