Gratitude To Your Body
Yesterday morning I heard Tracy Emin talking of her experience of cancer. She has had her bladder removed and a hysterectomy. She has just received a test saying she is now clear of cancer and she spoke of how she […]
self-care
I Love You – Can You Say This To Yourself?
Self-love is not narcism but because we fear being narcissistic or vein we may confuse loving ourself with this and feel that it is somehow bad or wrong. What did the Buddha have to say about self-love? After all he […]
Love Yourself Through The Four Brahma-viharas – compassion, sympathetic joy and good will.
How do we handle emotional pain? When our inner bully is telling us we have messed up, are a failure or we feel overwhelmed what can we do? Over the last three weeks I’ve been working with some pain connected […]
Learning To Love Yourself – Minority Stress and Gay Shame
I was teaching on a workshop yesterday for trans/queer/non binary people, reflecting on some experiences from my childhood that first gave me the message there was something wrong with me. We are not born with shame, we learn to feel […]
Tips For Self-Care During Lock Down – The Covid Survival Guide!
As we continue into 2021 we find ourselves still in lock down here in the UK due to Covid restrictions. Over the last week I’ve heard a few different people talk about how to approach this time of increased isolation and […]
The power of nature to heal
As we enter another lock down it’s important to find ways to care for your mental health and emotional well being. A few weeks ago I heard a report of some research that looked at the impact of giving people […]
Self-care through kind touch
Over this period of Covid induced restrictions one of the recurring themes on a Monday night is people feeling isolated, lonely and in need of physical contact. We are mammals and social creatures. Our animal body needs touch and nurturing. Whilst […]
Caring for our mental and emotional well being during covid
At the start of the weekly class I run for gay men everyone writes down a few words to say how they are. For those who came to the Monday meeting at Hop Gardens you’ll know each week was a mix of […]
Loving Ourselves As a Whole
Yesterday I listened to a guided Loving Kindness a friend sent me that he had led for an online group. Moustafa Abdelrahman led the meditation in a way that I found really refreshing. Traditionally the practice moves from self, to a good […]
Autopilot – how limiting self-beliefs sabotage our well-being: an introduction to 8 week MBCT mindfulness course
Autopilot Do you ever notice how your thoughts or actions can fall into familiar and repetitive patterns? One way of describing this is to talk of autopilot – it’s as if we are going through life with a pre-set course, […]
