The conference addresses the great challenge of our age: to not only live connected to one another through technology, but to do so in ways that are beneficial to our own well-being, effective in our work, and useful to the world. More conferences like it are currently in development.

The list of speakers includes Jon Kabat-Zinn, Jack Kornfield, Roshi Joan Halifax, Daniel Siegel, Eckhart Tolle and there is a live stream of the conference from the Wisdom 2.0 website

Here’s the schedule running order and the introductory video from the conference founder Soren Gordhammer.

Wisdom 2.0 Conference is a post on the Embrace website

Instructions

Several times a day, stop and just listen. Don’t scan for sounds; wait for them. Open your hearing 360 degrees. You might think of the difference between radar that goes out looking for something and a satellite dish with a wide range of pickup capacity that just sits in the backyard, waiting. Be a satellite dish. Stay turned on, but just wait. Listen to the obvious sounds, and the subtle sounds – in your body, in the building and outside. Listen with beginner’s mind, as if you had just landed from a foreign planet and did not know what was making those sounds. See if you can hear all the sounds as music being played just for you.

Reminders

You may like to set alerts at specific times of day to remind you to stop and pay attention to sounds or even more simply, put a drawing of an ear in various places in your home and workplace just as a visual cue to help you to stop and bring yourself into the present moment with your hearing.

Really looking forward to hearing your comments and please, feel free to use this blog as a place where you can discuss any aspect of practice. I’d also love to hear from people who have not posted before (as well as our esteemed regular contributors of course!)  Take the plunge, it’s not as scary as you might imagine.

Image courtesy of Ars Electonica

Week 8 – Listen to Sounds is a post on the Embrace website

Recent research conducted by Lyubomirsky (Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Riverside), shows that 40% of happiness is determined by our intentional activities. People who keep a daily “gratitude journal” or who regularly express gratitude to people who have been kind to them show a significant increase in happiness and decrease in depression.

Instructions

At the end of the day write a list of at least five things that happened during the day that you are grateful for. At the end of the week read it out loud to a friend, partner, or mindfulness companion.

Reminders

Keep a notepad and pencil or pen beside your bed or on your pillow. When you go to bed at night, write your list before you lie down and fall asleep.

Image courtesy of aussiegall

Week 7 – Gratitude at the End of the Day is a post on the Embrace website

Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes of which all men have some.”

Charles Dickens

Have a great day, may it be filled with present blessings rather than past misfortunes.

Happy Birthday Charles! is a post on the Embrace website

Instructions

Several times a day, become aware of your posture. This has two aspects. First it means to become aware of what posture you are in and how it feels within the body. If you closed your eyes, what would be the clues that you are standing, sitting, or lying down? For example if you are sitting in a chair with your eyes closed, what tells you that you are in a body that is sitting? Where do you feel pressure or movement?

Being aware of posture also means to notice and adjust your posture many times a day. If you are slouching, gently straighten up.

A very good time to work with mindfulness of posture is at meals. Sit on the front edge of your chair with your feet planted on the floor, knees a bit apart. Straighten the spine to maximise room for breathing.

Other interesting times to become aware of posture include while standing in line, driving, lying down in bed, in meetings or classes, and while walking.

Reminders

Ask for help from your family and friends. Tell them you want reminders if your posture is slumped. Also look at your posture in mirrors and reflective windows. As you go by stand so that you can see your posture from the side. Does it need adjusting? Place a little coloured tape or a small note that says “Posture” on the chair or table that you use for meals.

Image courtesy of bartmaguire

Week 6 – Mindfulness of Posture is a post on the Embrace website

This is a quite mesmerising interview with a Dutch Professor of Vascular Surgery turned mindfulness teacher who conveys with presence and humility his journey and search for meaning. If you can find a spare 20 minutes it is well worth a look…….on second thoughts better to make 20 minutes to hear what he has to say; after all practice is about making the time rather than finding it.

I hope you enjoy it.

This Will Also Pass is a post on the Embrace website

Instructions

Once a day over the course of this week, think of someone close to you, someone that you know well – a family member, a friend, a co-worker – and pay them a genuine compliment. The closer that person is to you, the better, such as a child or a parent. (Telling a stranger at the post office that you like their scarf doesn’t count.) The more specific the compliment, also the better…. “I appreciate the way you answer the phone so cheerfully.”

Become aware also of any compliments you receive from other people. Investigate the purpose of compliments and the effect on you of being given a compliment.

Reminders

Post the word “Praise” or “Compliment” in places where you’ll see it throughout the day. Set a midday reminder to be complimentary to somebody on your mobile.

Did you know?

This mindfulness practice could equally be said to be a “Mudita” practice. Roughly translated from Pali (the original language of the Buddha) this word means ‘appreciative joy’ and mudita is one of the four bramaviharas (divine abodes) to which people who practise insight meditation aspire. The other divine abodes are metta (lovingkindness), karuna (compassion) and upekkha (equanimity). All four can be objects of meditative contemplation.

Mark Twain has this to say on the subject…

I can live for two months on a good compliment.”

So go forth into this week galvanised by the words of this literary giant and experience some appreciative joy, some mudita, in the giving and receiving of compliments truly meant.

Really looking forward to hearing your stories and experiences.

Image courtesy of LexnGer

Week 5 – True Compliments is a post on the Embrace website

Instructions

This week when you are eating and drinking don’t do anything else. Sit down and take the time to enjoy what you are taking in. Open all the senses as you eat or drink. Look at the colours, shapes, surface textures. Attend to the smells and flavours in your mouth. Listen to the sounds of eating and drinking.

Reminders

Post a note on the table where you eat meals that says, “Just Eat.” Also post this note wherever you are likely to snack. You could experiment with posting ‘preventative’ notes on objects that tend to distract you while you are eating, e.g. the TV or the computer or a book. Write the word “Eating” with an X through it as a reminder not to eat while using it.

At first glance this practice may appear a little daunting so I suggest that in the initial stages you hold the instructions lightly and try to let go of any ideas of success and failure, of ‘doing’ the practice well. Instead, try simply to ‘be’ with the experience of eating as best you can, whenever you remember. Should you catch yourself wolfing some food down in the middle of the week on the run as it were, congratulate yourself; this ‘noticing’ is your moment of mindfulness and gives you another opportunity to bring yourself back to the present moment and the richness of your eating experience.

Looking forward to hearing your comments and please, feel free to use this blog as a forum & have conversations with each other – no need to wait for me to respond!

Image courtesy of the12thplaya

Week 4 – When Eating Just Eat is a post on the Embrace website

• 8-week MBSR courses.
• Silent All-day Retreats.
• Monthly Mindfulness Drop-ins
• Valentines Mindfulness for Couples

8 week MBSR programmes

Monday evening course starts 23rd January – I still have a place or two available on this course so if anyone fancies squeezing in at the last moment please do give me a call.

Wednesday evening course starts 22nd February – This course is running just after the lent half-term and you can find out further details about it here.

Silent All-Day Retreats

For those of you who have done an 8 week course with me, or graduates of any 8-week course for that matter, I invite you to attend my all-day silent retreats on Saturday 3rd March and Saturday 31st March. There will be a small fee of £25 for the day, although we may have to restrict numbers. This is a wonderful way to get in touch with and venture deeper into your practice with others doing the same. Go to Graduates for all the details or contact James to book a place.

Monthly Drop-Ins

My first Monthly Drop-in for 2012 is taking place on Wednesday 8th February, 6.30-8.30pm. Again, this will be open to anyone who has completed a course with me or any other mindfulness teacher. There will be a nominal charge of £10 payable on the night to cover the cost of these. These classes will take place at The Rectory Room, 2 Clancarty Road, Fulham, London SW6 3AB. Please contact me if you’d like to come.

Mindfulness for Couples

Given Valentines day fast approaches, what better idea than to invest in an 8 week mindfulness course with your beloved? This course, specifically designed for couples, is available at £880 for the 8-week programme during the month of February (standard rate £140 per session) Please visit my couples page for further information.

Hope to see you come February & March!

All very best wishes,

James

Dates for your Mindfulness Diary is a post on the Embrace website

Instructions

Become aware of the use of “filler” words and phrases and try to eliminate them from your speech. Filler words that do not add meaning to what you’re saying, such as “umm”, “ah”, “so”, “well”, “like”, “you know”, “kind of”, and “sort of.” Additional filler words enter our vocabulary from time to time. Recent additions might include “basically” and “anyway”. In addition to reducing the filler words, see if you can notice when and why you tend to use them – in what situations and for what purpose.

Reminders

It is mortifyingly difficult to notice yourself using filler words at first. Try to enlist the help of friends or family members. Children love catching and correcting their parents using filler words, though if you coopt them into this process, get them to raise their hands to point out your ‘filler’ otherwise you will be interrupted mid-flow with alarming frequency!

Another way to bring awareness to the filler words you use is to record yourself talking. Ask someone to use his or her mobile to record you in conversation unwittingly. Play it back and tabulate the fillers you use and their frequency.

It’s as simple as that. Enjoy!

Week 3 – Filler Words is a post on the Embrace website

The BBC journalist Tim Muffett reports that one in ten people suffers from Insomnia and more than 10 million prescriptions for sleeping tablets are written in England each year, but is popping pills the right answer? Non-drug treatments, such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy – or CBT – are often not offered to patients because they’re too expensive.

You can watch the report broadcast on 13/01/12 here:

Is enough being done to help people with Insomnia?

BBC News advocates Talking Therapies for Insomnia is a post on the Embrace website

You may be interested to know that we now have 30 members who have signed up to receive weekly practices via email, all in the space of a week! I think that’s pretty wonderful and I gently ask you all to continue to spread the word and get other interested parties involved, friends, family,loved ones etc.

So, here we go….the practice for week 2!

Instructions

Choose one room of your house/flat and for one week try leaving no trace that you have used that space. The bathroom, sitting room or kitchen works best for most people, but go with what you fancy. If you’ve been doing something in that room, cooking a meal, eating a meal or taking a shower, clean up in such a way that you leave no signs that you have been there, except perhaps the odour of food or fragrance of soap.

Reminders

Put a sign in the room you have chosen saying “Leave No Trace” – In Zen paintings according to the book, turtles symbolise the practice of leaving no traces, because they sweep the sand with their tails as they creep along, wiping out their footprints. Instead of a written sign therefore, you could use a picture of a turtle by way of a reminder!

Good luck!

Image courtesy of AprilandAndy

Week 2 – Leave No Trace is a post on the Embrace website

Discoveries

This practice really brought home to me how I tend to barrel through my experience without realising it, particularly when I have an underlying sense of anxiety or impatience with where I am at in any given moment. I noticed this because the incidence of my ‘left-hand use’ declined, tumbled off the cliff in fact, whenever something needed to be done or whenever I felt under pressure in some way. The more intense the pressure or anxiety, the longer I stayed with my dominant hand and the longer it took me to realise that I had reverted to my habituated state.

When I actually ‘stayed with’ the practice, I noticed how much it slowed me down, psychologically as well as physically. The disquiet, the monkey mind, the insistent forward press of wanting to be somewhere where I wasn’t, started to dissipate. I was more grounded, present, considered.

Deeper Reflections

Using my left hand has been salutary for me to the extent that it has shown me how I habitually speed up and rush at things that I perceive to be impediments or unpleasant in some way, as though by getting them out of the way fast, I am bound to stumble on some greener pastures! Moreover, that it is by doing precisely the opposite, by actively trying to slow down with the things that I dislike, that the upward spiral of my anxiety starts to turn a little less insistently.

What insights did you learn or discover from this practice? Please share your experience.

Image courtesy of Planetc1

Week 1 – Practice Update is a post on the Embrace website

The BBC journalist David Sillito attended the 8 week MBSR Course with mindfulness teacher Michael Chaskalson (a former teacher of mine) and reports his findings in a series of short 3 minute news pieces over the course of this week.

You can watch the first 2 reports aired on 3/01/12 and 4/01/12 here:

BBC News covers the 8 Week Mindfulness MBSR Programme is a post on the Embrace website

Instructions

Use your non-dominant hand for some ordinary tasks each day. These could include brushing your teeth, combing your hair or eating with your non-dominant hand for at least part of each meal.  If you are up for a big challenge try using your non-dominant hand when writing or eating with chopsticks.

Reminders

The most difficult part of any mindfulness practice is remembering to do it, so here are some pointers to assist you: Put a band-aid or sticker on your dominant hand to help you notice when you have fallen back into using it. You could also leave messages for yourself “LEFT HAND!” on your mirror, by the kettle, on the fridge or wherever you are likely to see them – as gentle reminders to use your non-dominant hand over the course of the day.

Good luck, have fun with it and remember there is no right or wrong way of doing this practice, rather the invitation is to be curious, trust the process and simply notice what you notice.

I look forward to hearing from you all over the course of this week.

Image courtesy of Trace Meek

Week 1 – Use Your Non-dominant Hand is a post on the Embrace website