The Beachcomber approach to meditation practice
In life we often struggle because we think that we are the content of our experience. In other words, we think we are our thoughts, emotions and perceptions. However, our true nature is that which knows the thoughts, emotions and perceptions, which we call our aware being.
The beachcomber approach is all about connecting with the aware being, which is generally overlooked because we are lost in the thoughts, emotions and perceptions. We do this at the start of our practice, as described above.
A Time of Transition
Last night I was leading a mindfulness session on Zoom and we did the bus driver exercise. This is an exercise from Acceptance and Commitment (ACT) therapy that has been adapted into a creative reflection practice using writing and drawing. One of the great things about teaching mindfulness is that I get to do this exercise repeatedly over the years.
I guide this practice out of my black book of class plans which I have had for many years and at times I use this book to draw my bus in. I did the exercise as I guided it and drew my obstacles and enablers onto my bus. At the end of the exercise I was struck by how different my current bus was from the one I had drawn several years ago.
April Retreat with Rupert Spira Week 2
The point is that for every human being our most intimate experience is our aware being. But we tend to overlook this in favour of the thoughts and perceptions we experience. The experience of aware being is available to us all the time and if we are able to recognise this and live from this, we can tap into an ocean of peace and happiness, that is our true nature.
Presence - our theme for May
Presence is the first habit of happy people which we will be exploring in the Beachcomber Meditation monthly subscription - A Year of Meditation.
So why is presence, in other words being here and now, so important for happiness?
April Retreat with Rupert Spira Week One
This week I have been attending an online retreat led by non-dual teacher Rupert Spira. It just finished this morning (Saturday). The good news is that I have another week of retreat online with Rupert starting on Sunday evening.
Rupert describes the non-dual understanding very simply as the recognition that the nature of my being is peace and love and that I share my being with everyone and everything. Sometimes he teaches this very simply. Sometimes he teaches this in a complex philosophical way. Both of which appeal to my mind and which for me compliment each other beautifully.
Why A Year of Meditation?
So that will be our journey each month. For the first six months our themes will be the six habits of happy people. These habits are presence, gratitude, kindness, resilience, good relationship skills and living with purpose and meaning.
For the next six months we will explore these themes by noticing what is happening in our minds in relation to these themes, noticing how we feel about what is happening, recognising that all this is mental activity and opening to and becoming that which knows the mental activity.
Living in Flamborough
This morning, the horizon offered a new wonder: a silent gathering of rock stacks. I found myself lingering, caught in the quiet spell of these earthen sculptures, capturing their fleeting artistry. Rosie and Iona, however, did not share my appreciation; they met these strangers with a chorus of skeptical barks, deeply suspicious of these new things on the beach.
Why Beachcomber Meditation Mondays?
When I mentor meditation students one of the biggest obstacles to their meditation practice is not having enough time. When setting up Beachcomber meditation one my main aims was to support busy people to fit a meaningful meditation practice into their lives.
Vision, Mission, Values
What helps here is to remember that the human condition is not one of perfection and that being human is a messy business for us all, with challenging emotions and troubling thoughts tripping us up all the time. So the trick is to acknowledge we are a mess and then become, as my meditation teacher Rob Nairn famously said - a compassionate mess. We can be compassionate towards our flaws and celebrate our strengths in a healthy and balanced way.
Why Beachcomber?
Then there was the name. I wanted something to represent where we live on the East Coast of Yorkshire. I wanted something to communicate my belief that we all have the qualities we need to live a happy life already within us. Then the word Beachcomber came to me. Wandering on the beach, paying attention, curious about what gemstones, shells and sea glass are already there waiting for us to find them amongst the rocks, seaweed and sand. This seemed the perfect word.
How we began
I see clearly how my meditation practice enabled me to find the gemstone of this new venture within the seeming difficulty of the ending of my work with the Mindfulness Association to which I had been devoted for sixteen years.