An engaging and entertaining TED talk on mindfulness by the irrepressible Andy Puddicombe, a former buddhist monk and the voice of Headspace, an organisation dedicated to demystifying the experience of meditation and getting as many people in the world as possible to take 10 minutes out of their day for the specific purpose of ‘doing nothing’
Traditionalists and meditation aficionados may gnash their teeth, but personally I’m something of a fan and if the prospect of only having to meditate for 10 minutes gets people to explore their inner landscape a little bit then that’s got to be a good thing…..no?
After all the practice of mindfulness is cumulative, so whether you sit for 10 or 40 mins a day it all adds up and in time, much like the water level in a bucket, the benefits of practice begin to spill over and seep into everyday life.
That said and after a little reflection, I think I’d rather be filling my buckets with a hosepipe than with a teaspoon.
Thanks James for recommending Headspace. I signed up on the site immediately and I now enjoy a new meditation practice every day. Before doing this I had been feeling stuck and confused for quite some time and didn’t know how to proceed with my mindfulness practice. I found it difficult to sit down to practice, even for a few minutes. I also found it difficult in my everyday life to be in the moment, with increased feelings of stress as a result. Many evenings I said to myself: “Yet another day completely on autopilot just rushing from one thing to the next!” Andy Puddicombe is slowly helping me on my journey. He has such a calm, personal, positive voice and it feels a bit like he is actually talking directly to me. I also find that I am longing to sit down with him because every day he adds something new, so every day is a little bit different and it doesn’t get boring (don’t get me wrong here; boring is absolutely fine! ;-). He is very down to earth and gives good advice on how to practice in everyday life. And in a pace that suits me perfectly. Slowly I am beginning again to enjoy more moments of “here and now” every day and it’s like some of your practices, James, seem to fall into place. So I just wanted to share this if anyone else experiences the same feelings as I did of drifting away too much from a mindfulness life. The first 10 Headspace practices are for free so there is nothing to lose. Anyone else who have tried Headspace and like to share something? I am also reading Andy’s book. He explains very clearly and uses examples from his own “struggle” and it is very easy to see how you can apply his wisdom in your own life.