The extra-ordinary capabilities of the average human mind pale into insignificance along side the capacity of a mind that is well trained, focused, mindful and attuned. Every area of Human Excellence is achieved in a state of mental awareness and focus, well beyond the normal waking state. Some are gifted with the natural ability to enter into such heightened states. But for the vast majority the mind is nothing more than a burden that obsesses and clings to this and that, insisting on viewing life and the world around us in a way that suits our own ideas of what we think we are . Through our own fears, anxieties and obsessions, we create a bubble around ourselves in which we live in the hope that nothing unpleasant will intrude and shake the delicate balance we have on life.

Meditation and the discipline of Mental and Spiritual cultivation equips us with the tools not only to make sense of what is hard to understand , but work through the challenges we face in a balanced way . Once we begin to burst the bubble we live in, we begin to sense that extra-ordinary potential we are blessed with.

In the same way that someone who does no exercise and takes no care of their body will never be able to climb a mountain or run a marathon , so one whose mind is slack, dull and lacking in energy awareness or concentration, will never be able to even recognize their own potential, let alone work towards achieving it. 

Some of the immediate benefits one can expect from sitting a one week retreat are:

• Deeper and more stable concentration
• More clear awareness in our every day activities.
• A greater sense of presence. More grounded
• Less easily stressed by the challenges of life
• Greater sense of Peace.
• Clearer Understanding of life and the situation we find ourselves in
• Improved health at many levels (Especially in combination with the Chi Kung Practice, Yoga and Healing Practices)

All of these benefits will continue to multiply with practice over time.

In these difficult times with so much in the world so precariously balanced, it is now more than ever we need to develop a genuine discipline of spiritual enquiry, and yet it is an ethos that has become very marginalised and misunderstood in your culture.

Much of the order we have taken for granted in life is beginning to decay, and many of us are beginning to question deeply our role on this planet. Health can no longer be taken for granted. More and more people are seeing how the body which we took for granted, now needs so much more support to just to keep it running. Chronic illnesses and degenerative conditions are increasing in all populations of the world at alarming rates despite being propped up by medical and nutritional support of the likes that we have not before known.

The root causes of sickness, whether mental or physical are still widely misunderstood, and we live in a society with a huge excess of information through which we have to wade when faced with the task of healing or cultivating ourselves. The very act of seeking a source of genuine guidance in such a task can  be very confusing and exhasting.

The single biggest cause of depression and the sense of "dis-ease" that so many of the privileged classes in the west are experiencing now is caused because at some deep level they know something is wrong , they know their life has got off track, but they have no idea what to do about it . Anti-depressant use is almost at epidemic levels and countless people who are well provided for without any apparent troubles in their life are seeing therapists and counsellor's .Many people just aren't coping!

If we are courageous enough to recognize that most of our problems are internally created and not simply the result of external forces, then we begin to take on the power to do something about it. Having made this brave shift in our perception of things we will then need the tools to empower ourselves for a process that truely leads to healing and enrichening of our lives. That is the first goal of meditation…….To develop a harmonious, balanced mind.

The truth is that there is a higher intelligence in the heart that always knows the truth and knows the answers to all our most deep rooted challenges, if we could only learn to listen.

In essence…The entire field of meditation in the early stages is geared to learning to hear the Silence of the Heart. Once we have done that, then we can ask questions…And then we will get the answers.

All the answers to our most searching of questions lie already answered within the heart. The problem that most people face is the fear of, or the inability to sit still long enough to listen. I have taught many people from so many backgrounds and from many cultures with many different ideas about how to practice. I no longer believe that there is one technique that works and the rest don't…That is not true. There are many people who profess to be teaching "The Only Genuine" technique of meditation….They can't all be right.

The truth is that we need to prepare and train ourselves to do so: it is all very well being told to listen within but if when you do so all you get is the noise of your mind, or you wonder of into some daydream, or you just get unsettled, you will not really be able to hear anything, at least not clearly.

It is a bit like this. If you want to train to be a skilled boxer, and make your proffesion the expression of an art, you do not simply get in a ring expect to effortlessly be able to box. Some people may have talent before they even step in and are just waiting to realise it, but no matter how much talent you may have to progress or even just to start you have to get out of the ring, do your circuit traing and cardivacular work, work on your floorwark and ability to dextorously move, and work on your power, strength and energetic level through weight trainng and right nutritional support. The same applies with meditation, if you wish ot cultivate a mind that is harmonious, that can be placed on an object and have ture insight into it while abiding serenerly on it, a mind that can listen to ones heart, one must first systematically cultivate it in terms of concentration , mindfulness and mental agility, and well and wisdom.

Many within our culture see intelectual cultiovation predominantly as an activity of the intelectual training. Some take this further, into abstract reasoning, intuitive thought, and seek to express life through rational and artistic processes combined. But the highest cultivation of ones mind has been to a large extent lost, and this is the sphere of yogic cultivation, which far outstrips modern day brain gyms, or cultivation programmes that are offered on the marketplace.

I look to one thing and one thing only as a barameter- what results are the students and yogis of each teacher and practice experiencing? I have been taught so many techniques and I am fortunate enough to have such concentration to see how and why and whether they work directly.

It is for this reason that I offer the Foundation Meditation course as a thorough introduction to the disciplines of serenity and insight meditation, with a special application of these techniques towards the healing of physical conditions and ailments.

For more information about such courses please click here.