The Meditation Course Podcast

This is a recording from a class on Thursday, November 7. The topic of the class talk is Meditation and connection. In it, I explain how some Meditation practices (including the practices in the Seven Keys to Clarity program running on The Meditation Course) help us release the burden of beliefs that form our mental model and cause us to feel separate from nature and each other. This sense of separation, almost universal in our consumer Society, is destructive for a social animal like a human being. The journey of Meditation is a journey of learning about reality (the present moment) and realising that we adopt an illusion created by our society: that life is a continuum, that the present moment is something to be gotten out of the way to reach the future, and that the mental model that we form represents our lives, whereas it instead creates an illusion that is constructed in our heads and distracts us from the present moment which is where we connect. The meditations begin at 14:10 and combine mantra, connection, and visualisation meditations. To join us for four live group guided meditations every week for the price of a start weekly Starbucks latte, visit https://meditationcourse.live.

Meditation is mental training. It's easy to become diverted into the meditative experience itself and think that is the end of it. It's important to remember that meditation is mental training for life. We can learn many skills from our meditation practice that can benefit us in different ways. It's never too early to put what we learn in meditation into use as during our day. Then we can integrate these practices into our life and that transforms our life. In this class, which I taught on The Meditation Course, I focus on the Perception Zone, which is a concept I use to help meditators experience and understand the present moment and learn a set of tools that help to bring us into it, whether it's during the meditation or during our day. If you'd like to join us, click on the link below. The first month is free at the moment. There is zero-commitment and easy unsubscribe. Click this link to join us. ⁠https://meditationcourse.live⁠ Contact me if you have any questions.

We can't predict our future mental states or how we'll think or feel because we can't predict the events and experiences that will create those thoughts and feelings. Because of this uncertainty, it is unwise to rely on a single meditation practice, however cosy and comfortable, or even a tiny selection that gives us what we need right now. Meditation is mental training. When we meditate, we build our inner resilience. To do that, we need to grow our repertoire of practices. We then extend our skills to meet future adversities. When adversity arises, we can then trial and error through our repertoire of practices to find the one that returns our minds to the clarity and focus we need to cope and make the best choices. I call this a meditation toolbox. Speaking to other experienced meditators about this, they also have a variety of techniques and use them to help them in a wide variety of situations. Then, when a new complex experience arises, we can select which tool to use to get our mind on our side and make the best of it. I discuss this in this meditation class and teach some practices that will help you to build your meditation toolkit.

The first meditation of the month is Following The Breath. In this class, we learn how focusing on the breath enables us to connect to the present moment. We also learn how to practice this and how this skill can work for you during your day to help you switch on mindful awareness and step out of the craziness of the modern world. Meditation of the Month We will have a meditation each month and then have some support for that meditation. There will be a focus on it, explanations of how it works, how you can benefit, what the downsides might be, any dead ends, etc. You can read supporting articles for the training on the meditation of the month series on The Meditation Course website. https://www.meditationcourse.live/blog/

After our meditation and nature connection retreat at the weekend, I thought it was a good idea to run a class on the meditations that we did in nature. Connection in nature is all about allowing natural environment into an our experience. All the sensations and smells and sounds become part of the totality of the experience of the present moment, which is what mindfulness is. To experience this, we need to learn to open our awareness to our environment. In this class, I teach a process of incrementally opening our awareness. Although this is I'm an important part of nature connection, it's an important part of experience in life rather than existing in a sensory bubble on autopilot which is what our culture teaches us to do. To join our four live group-guided online meditation classes each week, click here: https://meditationcourse.live To attend our retreat, click here: https://bromleymindfulness.org.uk/day-retreat

Welcome to The Meditation Course podcast. Today, we return to the essential topic of mindfulness, unravelling its meaning and importance and how to embrace it in our fast-paced world. Mindfulness may defy precise description, yet it's best understood through direct experience. By simply observing time's passage or the sound of a bell, we begin to engage with the mindful state of being. This state, often sought at great expense at retreats or vacations, is a natural human trait that our ancestors and animals still embrace without effort. Mindfulness isn't complicated—it's the undistracted experience of the present moment. However, modern lifestyles filled with economic and social pressures have trained us out of this innate ability. We live caught in a continuum of past, present, and future thoughts, many of which are driven by subconscious impulses that we mistakenly believe we can consciously control. Nevertheless, true mindfulness grants us choice, allowing us to step out of these automated narratives and make informed decisions in the present, where life unfolds. Advertisers and marketers exploit our emotional responses to guide our consumption behaviours. In contrast, mindfulness equips us with the clarity to steer our actions based on self-awareness rather than external influences. As we face rapid social and technological changes, such as those brought by artificial intelligence, the necessity for mindfulness becomes even more pronounced. To adapt and thrive, we must be present, mentally clear, and ready to navigate the paradigm shifts of our lives. By practising mindfulness meditation, we train ourselves to harness our awareness, make better choices, and truly engage with life's vast potential. Meditation has two parts: achieving mindfulness, or presence in the now, then regaining the ability to make better choices with this renewed perspective. It's an invitation to embark on a mindful journey that promises a paradigm shift in our daily existence. For the full podcast notes (transcript) or to learn more visit The Meditation Course website at https://meditationcourse.live

Counting the breaths is an ancient mindfulness meditation technique and the best practice for about 50% of new meditators to start with. 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. Counting the breaths is the single mindfulness meditation practice that is most helpful for most students. The Meditation Course is Four Live Guided Meditations On Most Weeks. To Learn More about The Meditation Course, visit our website at: https://www.meditationcourse.live/ You can subscribe to our mailing list and get updated regularly with new content and offers.