Tags
Insights
Welcome to the home of my weekly insights blog and newsletter. The articles will follow and support my online and in-person training themes and series.
Podcasts
Episodes from The Meditation Course Podcast
Blog
This is where you can find my articles and writings.Enjoy and feel free to comment if you are a member.
Class Recording
Posts with recordings of classes that can be accessed by members of The Meditation Course. Wherever I have produced a podcast from one of these, links to the podcast are in the relevant post.
Deepening Course Classes
Deepening Course Classes (Members Only)
Book Episodes
A central place to view all of The Meditation Course Handbook episodes.
Unit A1: Introduction and info
Introduction and info
Unit A2: How to Meditate
How to Meditate - Building the Foundations of a successful practice
Unit A4: Following the Breath
Following the breath is the key mindfulness meditation. Many of the other practices I teach are designed to support the practice of following the breath. Having a regular practice of following the breath is the single most useful thing that you can do to enhance your mindfulness.
Unit C1: Mindfulness-Based Resilience
Mindfulness-Based Resilience Training teaches a combination of mindfulness, emotional regulation and stress management tools. These tools provide students of Mindfulness-Based Resilience with life skills that deliver personal resilience. Resilience helps us to cope with life’s changes, adversities and unexpected events.
Handbook Ep. 2 The Four Rules of Meditation
If you do choose to take up meditation, or return to an old practice, or deepen your practice with the meditations in this book, you really should follow these guidelines. I call them the five rules of meditation.
Unit B3: The Candle and The Breath
The Candle and The Breath is a meditation I have decided that helps in the following ways: Calming stubbornly busy minds Helping us to become aware of thoughts, the lag in thoughts when we divert our attention and the origin of thoughts as it arises.
Unit C3: 4-Week Pranayama Course
4-Week Pranayama Course
Unit A7: The Meditation of No Meditation
An appropriate first Unit for the Mindfulness Month. This is far more than a meditation. It is an introduction to mindfulness and what Eckhart Tolle calls *a portal to the present moment*.
Deepening Course (Members Area)
A central point for information for the Deepening Course Subscribers.
Unit A5: Counting The Breaths
Counting the breaths is an ancient mindfulness meditation technique. It's a practice where we count each breath using the inner voice. The way I teach it is to count each in and out breath. This engages the mind in an activity that helps to calm the mind. It is the single mindfulness meditation practice that is most helpful for new meditators.
Unit G6: Connection, Compassion and Meditation
I believe that Connection, Compassion and Meditation right now are the best way to help us to learn how to not only cope with all the changes we are experiencing but to thrive and not just survive.
7 Easy Steps to Resilience & Stress Managment
Resilience and Stress Management Week 2022 is from the 19th to the 26th of April - #ResilienceWeek2022. To support you all, I shall be making all my live streams free for this week! Resilience Week is here to bring awareness to the fact that resilience can be learned! Through resilience and stress management skills training you can manage your stress levels and become more resilient in the face of adversity.
Unit A3: 7 Easy Steps to Meditation
7 classes of short meditations on the following subjects: listen, breathe, relax, focus, notice, connect, and meditate.
Unit A6: The Self-Compassion Meditation and the Guidance Framework
The Practice of the Week is Self-Compassion Meditation. Guidance is an explanation of the 2020 Meditation Guidance Framework.
Unit A8: Labelling the Thoughts
Labeling the thoughts is a key mindfulness meditation technique for calming the mind. It probably offers more as a way of understanding the nature of thought than any other mindfulness practice. It is not a practice that every newcomer finds easy but it can help a considerable number of others to build a foundation for their practices.
Unit B2: The Labelling the Quality of Thought Meditation
The Labelling the Quality of Thoughts Meditation is a meditation that I have devised. it is designed to give us insight into the nature of thought and the origin of thought in the mind.
Unit B7: Loving Kindness
Loving Kindness (Metta Bhavana) is the Buddhist tradition of engaging with our comfortable emotions and using them as a way of making progress in our personal development. This includes gratitude, appreciation and compassion. All of this is deeply connected to Mindfulness. This Unit will contain practices in all of these areas and the guidance to go with them.
Unit B4: The Body Scan
A practice popularised by the great Insight meditation teacher S.N. Goenka. I teach it as a mixup with incremental relaxation. By doing the body scan with relaxation, not only do we reconnect with our physiology, but also we develop the skill of relaxation which is incredibly important in these difficult and stressful times.
Unit B8: Walking Meditation and Mindful Walking
For many of us the time we can spend outside is limited so it will be really useful to make the most of it by learning Walking Meditation and Mindful Walking. I am collaborating with St Christophers Hospice to deliver a series of Walking Meditation Podcasts which I shall build into this unit. (Again, I had intended to do it later this year).
Unit B9: Short Courses - Essentials - Sleep - Walking Meditation
The Short Courses are three sets of resources that you can work through separately to (or in combination with) the structured training in this course. Each short course has a web page on the 2020meditation.com website and links to podcasts and YouTube videos. You can be entirely outside of Facebook to use these.
Bromley Mindfulness
Bromley Mindfulness is Robert's Brand in the Bromley Area of London, England. Bromley Mindfulness offers courses, classes and training to organisations and the community in Bromley. Active since 2013.
Unit A9: The Destress Meditation
The Destress Meditation is a meditation that I devised to help build a connection to the body, relaxation and mindfulness. This unit is centred on that meditation and will contain guidance on the theme of the month which is Mindfulness
Unit B1: The Compassion Meditation
Mindfulness on its own is not enough. To make progress and release your suffering it needs to be taught with a compassion practice or gratitude practice. I teach compassion meditation because it is so accessible to new meditators.
Unit B5: Managing Stress - The Relaxation Practices
I am interrupting the published syllabus due to events and for the next three weeks I shall cover the following: Managing Stress - The Relaxation Practices Managing Stress - The Breathing Practices Managing Stress - Managing The Mind
Unit B6: Managing Fear and Anxiety
Managing Fear and Anxiety - The Two Wolves
Classes
These are the live guided meditation classes taught on The Meditation Course. They are only to enable students can access the Zoom links and are emailed prior to the classes.
Essential Reads
References to, and reviews of, books referred to in my serialised book.
Handbook Ep. 1 The Purpose of Meditation
Important advice – read this before you read the book. Always keep this in mind.