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.