Welcome to the Next Steps course

“Befriend yourself and see if you can actually take up residence in the domain of being, by resting in awareness which you don’t have to acquire, you’re born with the capacity for awareness” Jon Kabat-Zinn

Why is this course called “Next Steps”?

The metaphor of mindfulness as a path along which we take steps to reach a goal is a powerful one, but also one which can “get in the way”. We are taking a path – yes .. but in the spirit of exploration – that might be a better way of putting it.

You will already have taken your first steps on this path of exploration, either with me or with another teacher: real, virtual or otherwise. This first encounter is critical. It may be exciting, dismaying, painful, enlightening or depressing. It may have been all of these things – but here you are back again wanting more!

Our first steps involve the experience of turning our attention inward. By doing so we discovered that there is another mode of mind, or being, alongside our ordinary and often automatic “doing” mode of mind. We learned some tools and theory to help us cultivate this “being” mode of mind and to see this played out in our lives.

Some of you will have continued using the practices you learned, more or less regularly. Some of you will turn to these practice in times of stress and some of you will not have thought about it again. You may be very clear about how it benefits you..or you may still be sceptical.

This Next Steps course aims to support your further exploration mindfulness by introducing concepts/dimensions that are at the heart of mindfulness practice. We will look at how these interrelate and how they can be used as a guide for your practice. They rely on old wisdom, on science and on my personal experience and that of my teachers.