The Meditation Course Podcast

This episode is a recording of a class I taught on my online meditation course on Thursday, the 8th of January 2026. There is a 15-minute talk explaining how our cultural perspectives on gratitude and optimism work against us, and how we can adopt a different perspective that's more helpful by training our minds through meditation. We then moved on to 30 minutes of focused-attention meditations, which form the foundations of the mindfulness and resilience practices I teach.Click below to learn more and join us. https://meditationcourse.live

In this episode, recorded live during a guided meditation class in Bromley, Robert explores what mindfulness really is—and why it's far more than a stress reduction technique.We look at how the mind automatically creates narratives about the past or future and how a single thought can derail our day—unless we spot it early. Mindfulness meditation is the training ground for that awareness.What You'll LearnMindfulness is noticing the present moment without getting lost in mental narratives about the past or the future.The practice trains your subconscious to alert you when your attention has wandered, giving you a choice about where to focus.Stress reduction and relaxation are side effects of becoming aware of your internal state.You learn that you are the observer of thoughts—recognising this neutralises the intensity of inner narratives and mental movies.Connection isn't something to seek. It's what emerges when we break the cycle of distraction and mental chatter.The session then moves into a guided journey through focused-attention, calmness, and open-awareness meditations—simple yet powerful practices you can return to anytime.📣 About The Meditation CourseThe Meditation Course is delivered as four live, online group-guided meditation classes each week via meditationcourse.liveThe course teaches practical, science-based practices to retrain your mind for resilience, focus, calmness, and connection.🔗 Resources & LinksJoin a live class → meditationcourse.liveFollow on social channels for daily micro-learning postsExplore upcoming retreats and courses📌 If You Liked This EpisodeShare it with someone who feels "too busy to meditate"Try practising the guided section daily for a weekListen to our Mindful Walking - Guided Mindful Walk episode (most popular so far)

In this class, which I ran as one of my year-round online live group guided meditation classes on Tuesday, the 12th of August, I explained about meditation at night. Beditation can be practised before you go to bed, if you wake up in the night and also while meditating in bed in the morning. I also teach three meditations that I have learned help students to relax, calm their minds and drift off to sleep.This is based on what I've learned from teaching thousands of meditation students over the past 12 years, as well as in my regularly scheduled sleep courses. If you'd like to learn more about my online training or if you're in the southeast of the UK and you'd like to attend some of our courses, classes and workshops. Visit the meditation course website at ⁠https://meditationcourse.live⁠Happy Beditation!

The Eastern Wisdom traditions have gifted us a legacy of thousands of years of mental training. This isn't just noticing the present moment, it's an immense library of meditations, skills, techniques, and training, that combine to work together. These practices help us to construct a map of our inner landscape so we can to navigate our lives more helpfully. Science gives us a mountain of evidence you can transform your life for the better. The combination of practices I teach, from mindfulness to forgiveness and gratitude, appreciation, and others enable us to break through the barriers that our culture forms to experience the joy that this connection can bring.  This podcast episode is a recording of one of the classes I recently taught on the meditation course. Click the link below to join us together four times a week to meditate together.https://meditationcourse.live

From a class I taught on The Meditation Course on Thursday 16 January. I have learned over the last decade of teaching mindfulness, meditation and resilience that disconnection and social fragmentation are among the greatest challenges that people face in the modern world. The Mind fulness-Based Resilience practices are fine-tuned for this landscape and I explain the scenario and guide some techniques in this class. Join us at https://meditationcourse.live for 4x classes each week for the same price as a weekly Starbucks coffee. Zero commitment, first month free, easy unsubscribe and real human customer support. Me! 🤗

In this class, we explore the effect of 'The Marketplace of Fear' the modern media has become and learn how to change our mindset so that our attention is no longer drawn consistently towards a place of anxiety.This needs a toolkit of practices that we can use to manage our stress, redirect the focus of the mind, intervene in repetitive thoughts and take beneficial actions. To join us on our live meditations 4x each week, subscribe at https://meditationcourse.live

In this episode, I teach a set of practices that people have been using for at least 3,000 years to cut through all of these layers of uncomfortable, unhelpful baggage and return us to an experience which is our evolutionary legacy. It's how human beings can live when we are liberated from all of the expectations that the modern world heaps on us. This is a recording taken from a class on Saturday, 28 December, on The Meditation Course. We meet four times a week to meditate together online. If you'd like to join us for four classes each week for most of the year, the first month is free, and you can cancel at any time. All for the same cost as a weekly Starbucks latte. Click the link below to learn more. https://meditationcourse.live

Hi everyone, This is another meditation only episode. I will add a small number more of these then probably, depending on the response, return to the full episodes including the talk. In any case I intend to add a few more of these meditation only episodes as they have been requested by students. There is quite a lot happening in January so I suggest that you subscribe, at least for free, to The Meditation Course at: ⁠https://meditationcourse.live⁠ That way you will be up to date with the changes. I hope you enjoy this meditation and there are more to come. with gratitude,  Robert

Understanding Awareness, The Perception Zone, and Witness Consciousness This meditation is designed to cultivate mindful awareness and Witness Consciousness. It is also a deep and calming practice. In our fast-paced world, we often find ourselves rushing through life on autopilot. Yet beneath this surface-level experience lies a deeper capacity for awareness that can transform how we experience each moment. The Three Levels of Awareness Our consciousness operates across three distinct levels, each offering a unique quality of experience: 1. Basic Awareness vs. Autopilot At the most fundamental level, we're either present and aware of our surroundings, or we're operating on autopilot - lost in thoughts, memories, or future planning. Brain imaging shows these states activate different neural networks: Task Positive Network: Activates when we're consciously aware and engaged Default Mode Network: Engages during mind-wandering and autopilot states 2. The Perception Zone The perception zone represents our brain's integration of sensory information into a coherent experience of the present moment. Research shows this integration happens in roughly 300-millisecond chunks - creating our continuous experience of "now." 3. Witness Consciousness This deepest level occurs when we become aware that we're aware - a meta-cognitive state where we consciously observe our own experience. It's not just being present; it's choosing to investigate and explore our present-moment experience with intention. Understanding the Perception Zone The perception zone is particularly fascinating because it represents how our brain actually constructs our experience of reality: All sensory information gets bundled together in 300-millisecond packages This creates our seamless experience of the present moment It explains why we notice when audio and video become unsynchronized beyond this threshold Practical Applications Driving Example: Autopilot: Driving while lost in thought, barely noticing the journey Basic Awareness: Actively focusing on the road and immediate surroundings Witness Consciousness: Maintaining expanded awareness of all traffic patterns, potential hazards, and your own responses Social Interactions: Autopilot: Having a conversation while mentally planning tomorrow's schedule Basic Awareness: Listening attentively to the person speaking Witness Consciousness: Being aware of the entire interaction - verbal and non-verbal cues, emotional undertones, and your own internal responses The Body's Role in Awareness Our bodies play a crucial role in awareness: Physical sensations often precede conscious awareness The body processes environmental information before we're consciously aware Emotional states have distinct physical signatures Body awareness can deepen our present-moment experience Practical Steps for Developing Awareness Start with the Basics:Practice simple present-moment awareness through focused attention on breath or sensory experiences Explore the Perception Zone: Cultivate Witness Consciousness: Integration into Daily Life Practice awareness during: Conversations Walking Routine tasks Challenging situations Periods of stress or emotional intensity A Journey of Discovery Developing awareness isn't about achieving a perfect state of consciousness. It's about gradually building our capacity to be present and engaged with our experience. Each moment offers an opportunity to practice and explore these different levels of awareness.

Another Meditation only today. The perception zone is our nexus in space and time. We need to be aware of our presence in the space around us, and we also need to be aware of the passage of time. When we're in nature, this gets switched on. Walk into a forest, especially if you're alone, especially if there's low visibility, and you will be plugged into your environment, receiving all of that sensory information and processing it in a natural way. Fast forward to the modern world. We're on autopilot all day in our minds, trying to solve problems. There's an overwhelming stream of information, and we ask ourselves, where did the day go? In the meditation this week, we're training ourselves to become aware that we're here in our environment, aware of the passage of time. This is the power of the perception zone. This is the power of now. https://meditationcourse.live

This Episode is a meditation only. Apologies for the delay in posting. I have been focused on the pilot for a private podcast for subscribers to The Meditation Course. This has almost all of my classes on it so there are three or four episodes each week. This will be available as an extra tier in January, 2025. Change of Format Normally my podcasts are recordings of my classes which all start with a talk. This is the first of a Series of Episodes which will just consist of meditation practices that will bring calmness in different ways. Everyone is different so I will provide a number of different options. My goal is to give you a place to come and listen to a meditation session of between 20 and 30 minute durations you can choose from. As this is a new format, I will open the episodes to comments on Spotify and on The Meditation Course website here: https://meditationcourse.live

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.

In this class recorded in Bromley on Saturday 26 October and part of The Meditation Course, I explain how we can relax our mind and body together. The way that the mind connects to the body is fascinating. By relaxing the body deeply we can come to a place of deep, focus, and calm for the mind. To join us for four live group guided meditation classes each week, 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.

The direction of the mind is a combination of thoughts and emotions that lead us into an inner narrative. This narrative can be unhelpful or even distracting. In this class I taught on Saturday, 12 October, we explored the relationship between the mind and emotion. We practised some meditations that help us work with the mind when its direction is powerful and intense. The meditations include meditating on the body and also using labelling, which is the meditation of the month for October. Join us on The Meditation Course *Live* four times each week for more guided meditation classes.

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.

In our culture, we often suppress our emotions, leading to repression and unhealthy "emotional leakage." But there is an alternative! In this powerful new episode, we explore: - 😞 How society encourages emotional suppression - 🎭 Healthy ways to express & process emotions - 🧘‍♀️ Meditation practices to regulate emotional responses - 😌 Handling difficult interactions with calm and focus Tune in to learn valuable techniques to master your emotions, even in the most challenging circumstances. #EmotionalIntelligence #MentalHealthMatters #Meditation #PersonalGrowth

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/

This episode is a recording of a class on The Meditation Course on Thursday, 15 August. I am posting more regularly but on a private podcast. Contact me for details. In this class I explained about mantra and we practiced a variety of mantra meditations. A mantra is something you say aloud or in your mind that you repeat. Mantra meditation is a truly ancient practice that goes back to the Rig Veda, which was written about 1,500 years before Christ. In mantra meditation, we focus on our own voice, either our spoken voice or our inner voice. Meditators often get together and repeat the words in a group, chant them, or sing them. Mantra meditation is a focused attention meditation, making it a mindfulness meditation, though it is rarely taught by mindfulness teachers who prefer to focus on the breath. It is particularly useful for students who find focusing on the breath uncomfortable.

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

Hi everyone, Today's meditation class explored the link between our natural connection to other people and to nature that works so well for our ancestors, but breaks down in modern societies with millions of people. Unfortunately, I know the audio quality was poor and so I have cleaned it up and made it available as a podcast and on the meditation course website which is at https://meditationcourse.live

In this week's class on my online meditation course, we explored observation meditations. We explored how our perceptions, influenced by our cultural backgrounds and culture, add layers to our experiences, much like augmented reality. The class explained how we can be aware of our cultural filter while practicing meditation and experiencing mindfulness. Through examples like walking meditation and the metaphor of augmented reality, we learned to distinguish between observation of our reality and observation influenced by personal and cultural filters. This insightful session is part of my continuous effort to offer practical and imclusive and accessible practical guided meditation, helping you integrate mindfulness into everyday life. My Online Meditation Course is here: The Meditation Course Introduction to Observation Meditations: Today, we'll focus on observation meditations. This means we'll pay attention to our current experience, whether that's the present moment or thoughts about the past. The Fundamental Act of Observation: Today, we're focusing on meditations that involve observing, especially our current experiences. Observation is key. For example, when counting breaths, we're both observing the breaths and we can also be aware that we're observing them. Seeing is Not Just Seeing: It's not just the observing that matters, but also being aware that you're observing. There's a difference between just observing and being aware that we're the observer. Walking Meditation and Mindfulness Practice: For example, during a walking meditation, which I shared on my social media yesterday, I will focus on my breathing while noticing other things around me and bring my focus back whenever my mind wanders. Training Witness Consciousness: Meditation is about training ourselves to realise when we are distracted. This awareness then enables us to choose to focus on the present or on something else which may be a higher priority. Witnessing Reality: When observing, such as observing our breath, we become a silent witness. Looking inwards to try to perceive this witness is part of the practice. This is the heart of self-enquiry. Augmented Reality as a Metaphor: Augmented reality, like seeing a digital dragon in a room through an app, can help explain how we add layers of perception to our experiences. The Dragon isn't real. Our culture has put it there. The value we see in things (such as brands) is no more real than the dragon but we can perceive it. Integrating Reality with Perception: By using augmented reality as an example, we can understand how our perception adds to what we see, like seeing a dragon in a room through a mobile. Cultural Filters in Perception: Our cultural background adds meaning to what we see, similar to how augmented reality adds digital images to our view. Mindfulness and Cultural Filters: Mindfulness involves being aware of our perception without the added layers of our cultural or personal biases but also allows us to see those biases. Sensitivity Through Observation: By observing our experience consciously (mindfulness), we become more sensitive to our emotional and mental responses to different situations. We aren't trying to find silver bullet solutions to these social distortions, but just noticing them happening. This is enough. Meditation and Cultural Perceptions: Meditation doesn't stop us from seeing things through our cultural lens, but it makes us more aware of our emotional responses to these perceptions. Mindfulness and Awareness: Mindfulness is about noticing our present experiences without judgment and understanding the difference between just observing and observing with our personal and cultural biases.

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

When you're physically stressed, you only have a few options to intervene in your stress. One option is to learn how to relax. Relaxation isn't something you need to go on holiday for; you also don't need a glass of wine, a cigarette, or a magic combination of price-tagged experiences. It's a really simple thing. When we get stressed, our body becomes tense because we're finely tuned for nature, and our body prepares us for action. Relaxation is how we return to our normal calm, relaxed, focused condition. Unfortunately, in our consumer society, advertisers have stolen the concept of relaxation. Like so many other valuable and natural things, we have forgotten what it is. Learning to relax takes time, but you can switch off all this stress and tension in a few seconds and return to a calm and relaxed state of mind. This podcast is a great place to start to learn how to relax. You can learn what relaxation is, how it works, and how to train to gain this essential life skill. Listen in and have a calm, relaxing day. Join my regular online in person, guided meditation, classes 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.

In this class, I teach about mudras, which are hand gestures used in meditation. Anjali Mudra The Anjali mudra involves pressing your palms together. I teach this because it has a real effect. You can explore it yourself. Specific Mudras in Meditation I focus on the chin mudra, where you lightly touch your thumb and first finger. My methods for Anjali and chin mudra are unique. They're not just gestures; they have a purpose. Some say the chin mudra connects to universal consciousness. If you experience that, let me know. Focus and Awareness And The Importance of A Light Touch I use these mudras to help focus awareness. They're also useful for relaxation and sleep. A lighter touch in these mudras can have a strong impact. Anjali Mudra Explained In India, Anjali mudra is a greeting, often accompanied by the word "Namaste." It's an old practice seen in ancient art. It's a sign of peace, showing you're unarmed. It's a way to show you're safe to talk to. This gesture is powerful when done with a light, springy pressure between the palms. Pressing your palms together like this engages many nerve cells in your body, making it a rich sensory experience. The brain has a part called the somatosensory cortex that processes touch. The single largest part of which is dedicated to interpreting our hand sensations. Our hands are important for sensing our environment and using tools. They're a big part of our sensory experience. Sensory Focus in Meditation Focusing on the sensation of the hands pressed together can be immersive and comfortable. The chin mudra involves a very light touch between the thumb and first finger. You need to maintain this light touch, noticing if the contact changes. Keeping this light touch requires focus but not forced concentration. The aim is to maintain a light focus, which can bring a sense of calm over time. https://meditationcourse.live/the-power-of-mudra

Dive deep into the mechanics of nature meditation in this particular recording from our Sunday guided meditation class held on July 23rd. As part of The Meditation Course, this podcast explores the intricate relationship between the natural environment and the process of meditating, illustrating how the calm and quiet of nature can significantly enhance our emotional processing and healing journey. The complete transcript of this insightful group session is now available on The Meditation Course website here: https://www.meditationcourse.live/understanding-nature-meditation This will allow you to reflect more on each point and perhaps deepen your understanding at your own pace. By subscribing (for free), you gain access to a variety of resources. You will be the first to know about our new podcasts and receive notifications about insightful articles, upcoming online events, and much more. The beauty of the meditative journey is that there's always something new to learn, and our platform aims to make this journey easier for you. Subscribe today and join us on this life-enhancing path. Remember, the subscription is free! Explore, learn, meditate, and grow with The Meditation Course. Learn More: https://www.meditationcourse.live/about-the-meditation-course/

Mood and meditation This is our second instantly recorded live group, guided online meditation podcast episode. Hopefully the audio quality will be better than the last one. A lot of students of meditation, engage in meditation to help and benefit their mood and they're looking for ways to improve their mood. I'm confident there in time pretty much. Everyone can benefit emotionally from Meditation but it's a long process. In this class, I teacher set of practices that you can use when you're in alone mode, and you're feeling demotivated, and you don't feel like meditating . This is a class taught on 2 July 2023 online on The Meditation Course. The Meditation Course is four live guided group meditation classes each week for the same price as a weekly Starbucks latte! https://meditationcourse.live

This is a class taught on first of July 2023 in Bromley on the subject of purpose, Resilience and Connection. The Meditation Course is four live guided group meditation classes each week for the same price as a weekly Starbucks latte! https://meditationcourse.live

I taught this class today on Saturday, the 29th of April on The Meditation Course at https://meditationcourse.live because I was contacted by yet another person who told me that they can't meditate because they can't stay focused on their breath. It is a common misconception that meditation is an attempt to stay focused on the breath and the successful meditation is one where we remain focused on the breath instead of losing our attention and mind wandering. In this class, I explain the mechanism behind all the benefits of meditation, which is called the *Moment of Recognition*, and is actually what happens when our mind wanders. Blessings🙏🙏🙏 PS, apologies for the delay in getting a podcast published. I've been really busy with retreats and courses and classes.

Mindful Awareness is that crystal-clear sensory experience we can feel in a forest. Or when standing on a quiet beach or at the top of a mountain. Mindful Awareness is what we can sense when we connect to nature and what we share with animals. We can culture Mindful Awareness by practising focused attention meditation. Focused attention meditation is often called mindfulness meditation and is an ancient mental exercise that helps you focus on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting your feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations. Focused attention builds attention regulation, which in turn, can enhance many aspects of our lives.

In 2013, I started teaching meditation to a group of friends, who then suggested that I teach it at a local church room. In 2015, I was asked to run some courses by my students who wanted more structured training. I had discovered the high level of stress in the modern world, so I started by including stress management and emotional regulation techniques with the mindfulness and meditation practices. I learned after some research that this combination contributes to resilience. Resilience is the ability to cope with adversity in a way that helps us cope with future adversity. Resilience is a process, not a state. At any given time, our resilience is either growing or diminishing. Since 2013 I've taught around 3,000 sessions, with an average of 10 people per session. I gather feedback at every stage. I continually research to better understand and improve my teaching, drawing from wisdom traditions and scientific studies. Building resilience has been my guide throughout most of this time. The practices of Mindfulness-Based Resilience are aimed at five aspects: focus, calmness, relaxation, mindfulness, and resilience. Focus is Attention Regulation. Attention Regulation comes about through practice. Meditation is that practice. Focus and calmness involve attention regulation, being aware of the mind's direction, and regulating its choices. Mindfulness is the undistracted awareness of the experience of the present moment. Mindfulness is awareness of all the sensory experiences happening right now. Life isn't the past and the future. It is a succession of present moments. Unfortunately, we're trained to live in a world where the past and the future are like a continuum. And we are simply walking along this path from the past to the future. The present moment then becomes something to get out of the way to gain future happiness. Mindfulness brings awareness of the present moment. It doesn't mean that you don't have any memories, or that what has happened in the past doesn't affect you. It isn't that you ignore your future or you stop caring about it. What does happen is that fear of the future and regret or resentment of the past no longer rules your present moment. Because life is a succession of present moments. Mindfulness is the foundation of all the Mindfulness-Based Resilience techniques. For example, if you learn a stress management technique, you have to be aware that your stress is growing to know when to use it. To relax, we might have a glass of wine and watch TV. That is not relaxation. Relaxation is releasing the musculoskeletal tension that builds up in our bodies due to stress. I teach relaxation practices that are also great stress management tools. Calmness is becoming comfortable with the mind, thoughts, and emotions. Training the subconscious to become sensitive to changes in state enables awareness and intervention using various tools, like extending the breath. Mindfulness-based resilience includes stress management, emotional regulation, and meditation practices to process emotions and improve focus, relaxation, and calmness. It's about integrating these skills and not relying on external factors. I teach Mindfulness-Based Resilience in 6-week online and in-person courses. Learn more here: https://bromleymindfulness.org.uk/mindfulness-courses

Each Sunday Evening from Sun 26 March 2023 on The Meditation Course for the next few weeks, I shall run a Yoga Nidra meditation. Yoga Nidra is a type of meditation that can help us access the hypnagogic state. This state is the transitional phase between wakefulness and sleep. Practicing Yoga Nidra can make it easier to move into this state and therefore help us achieve rest. To practice Yoga Nidra, find a comfortable and relaxed seated position with your back free and your head balanced. The goal is to enter and stay in the hypnagogic state while maintaining awareness of the warm, comfortable feeling that comes with it. If you wake up from this state and you don't feel sufficiently rested, use the feeling to guide you back into it. Use the feeling of the hypnagogic state to get back into it. So, get comfortable, and let's start practicing. You can also find various other Yoga Nidra meditations on my podcast. This podcast episode is a recording of a class from The Meditation Course, an online program that offers live guided meditations throughout the year, with up to four classes per week! You can join us on The Meditation Course by clicking on this link here: https://www.meditationcourse.live/about-the-meditation-course/ If you can't join us for whatever reason but you enjoyed this meditation, I encourage you to become a podcast supporter. By joining us, you'll receive two newsletters and a host of other benefits that will take your meditation practice even further. All for the price of a monthly Starbucks extra shot, caramel latte! Become a Podcast Supporter here: https://www.meditationcourse.live/podcast-supporters-membership/ And if you're feeling generous and you would like to support my work with a single one-off donation, you can buy me a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/robertmitchell

Yoga Nidra is a type of meditation that can help us access the hypnagogic state. This state is the transitional phase between wakefulness and sleep. Practicing Yoga Nidra can make it easier to move into this state and therefore help us achieve rest. To practice Yoga Nidra, find a comfortable and relaxed seated position with your back free and your head balanced. The goal is to enter and stay in the hypnagogic state while maintaining awareness of the warm, comfortable feeling that comes with it. If you wake up from this state and you don't feel sufficiently rested, use the feeling to guide yourself back into it. Use the feeling of the hypnagogic state to get back into it. So, get comfortable, and let's start practicing. You can also find various other Yoga Nidra meditations on my podcast. This podcast episode is a recording of a class from The Meditation Course, an online program that offers live guided meditations throughout the year, with up to four classes per week! And get this: the price of this program is actually less than what you might spend on a weekly Starbucks latte. Enjoy the countless benefits of regular live guided meditation classes while saving some serious cash. You can join us on The Meditation Course by clicking on this link here: https://www.meditationcourse.live/about-the-meditation-course/ If you can't join us for whatever reason but you enjoyed this meditation, I encourage you to become a podcast supporter. By joining us, you'll receive two newsletters and a host of other benefits that will take your meditation practice even further. All for the price of a monthly Starbucks extra shot, caramel latte! Become a Podcast Supporter here: https://www.meditationcourse.live/podcast-supporters-membership/ And if you're feeling generous and you would like to support my work with a single one-off donation, you can buy me a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/robertmitchell

Mindfulness is the undistracted awareness of the experience of the present moment. Mindfulness meditation is a set of ancient practices now supported by a mountain of scientific study that we use to gain that experience of mindfulness. There are many barriers, distractions and dead ends that can divert us from our path of acceptance and connection to all of the experiences of the present moment, internal and external. By connecting to the entire body, we are able to minimise physical and emotional pain enough to learn to become comfortable with it. This is a key step in the process of learning to accept and release our suffering. In the period leading up to the next nature connection day retreat, I will be teaching practices specifically to support this process of acceptance and connection. In this class, taught on Thursday 9 March on The Meditation Course, I teach a set of practices designed to connect to the present moment and to our bodies. This podcast episode is a recording of a class from The Meditation Course, an online program that offers live guided meditations throughout the year, with up to four classes per week! And get this: the price of this program is actually less than what you might spend on a weekly Starbucks latte. Enjoy the countless benefits of regular live guided meditation classes while saving some serious cash. You can join us on The Meditation Course by clicking on this link here: https://www.meditationcourse.live/about-the-meditation-course/ If you can't join us for whatever reason but you enjoyed this meditation, I encourage you to become a podcast supporter. By joining us, you'll receive two newsletters and a host of other benefits that will take your meditation practice even further. All for the price of a monthly Starbucks extra shot, caramel latte! Become a Podcast Supporter here: https://www.meditationcourse.live/podcast-supporters-membership/ And if you're feeling generous and you would like to support my work with a single one-off donation, you can buy me a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/robertmitchell

The body and mind are deeply connected. The ancients had a concept of the body-mind which is the combination of thoughts, emotions and drives that influence our choices and actions. This leaves us with a psychophysiological state that can be unhelpful and is sometimes difficult to shift. We can find ourselves 'in a mood' and subject to a combination of autopilot behaviours and mind loops. We all need to build a toolkit of practices we can use to intervene in these processes. To coin a phrase, we need learn how to take back control. In this class we explore the ancient third eye meditation which was first taught in the Bhagavad Gita. We then go on to practice a deep relaxation technique that focuses on the key areas of stress in the body which are: the eyes, the jaw, the shoulders and the hands. This is followed by what I call The Relaxation Response which is a practice that, in time, you can learn to use to totally change your state with a single breath. This podcast episode is a recording of a class from The Meditation Course, an online program that offers live guided meditations throughout the year, with up to four classes per week! And get this: the price of this program is actually less than what you might spend on a weekly Starbucks latte. Enjoy the countless benefits of regular live guided meditation classes while saving some serious cash. You can join us on The Meditation Course by clicking on this link here: https://www.meditationcourse.live/about-the-meditation-course/ If you can't join us for whatever reason but you enjoyed this meditation, I encourage you to become a podcast supporter. By joining us, you'll receive two newsletters and a host of other benefits that will take your meditation practice even further. All for the price of a monthly Starbucks extra shot, caramel latte! Become a Podcast Supporter here: https://www.meditationcourse.live/podcast-supporters-membership/ And if you're feeling generous and you would like to support my work with a single one-off donation, you can buy me a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/robertmitchell

This article and podcast are from a class taught as part of The Meditation Course - Four live online classes each week for the same price as a weekly Starbucks latte. We all have a voice in our heads, and that voice tells a story. I call this voice the Inner Narrative. Our Inner Narrative can become unhelpful, destructive or self-destructive. It can weaken us instead of strengthen us. Thought has what I call momentum. Over time, our Inner Narratives can become more intense. It can fixate on one or a few subjects and become really unhelpful. This self-destructive process is intensified by consuming the fear-based narrative of the media. To counteract all of this, we need a powerful set of tools that have stood the test of time and are backed by a growing mountain of scientific research. We need to get our focus back from the voice in our heads that is being continuously enhanced by a stream of continuous messaging from the media to us, and to our peers. This is the place where the focused-based meditations I've been teaching meets our Inner Narrative. https://meditationcourse.live/meditations-to-calm-the-inner-narrative/

This Meditation is taken from the Deepening Course which is a course for committed meditators. See the end of this description for the link. There are a five different main areas of focus for our awareness. There is mind wandering and awareness of the body. These are what are called Inner Phenomena. With mind wandering, our single awareness has been captured by an inner narrative. There is autopilot and external awareness. These are external phenomena. In autopilot, we are generally repeating activities we have learned unconsciously, such as driving or navigating on a regular journey. Then there is balanced focus where we can maintain our awareness and yet be sensitive to both inner and outer phenomena. In this class, we explored these both with meditation and by going through the experiences that we have that enable us to become aware of these different states of focus. From a class in The Deepening Course. https://www.meditationcourse.live/about-the-deepening-course/

Dear friends, I hope that you are in high spirits and good health. Thanks for your wonderful response to my message about supporting my podcast. I shall be making some changes to the format of the podcast so that I can deliver more meditations. Starting from this week, I will only put the meditations themselves online. To listen to the talks, please subscribe to the meditation course at https://meditationcourse.live. This will enable me to publish a podcast with the absolute minimum of audio editing. You will then have multiple meditation only episodes each week. This will begin as series 11 of the podcast which starts this week. Thank you again for your support. Please do contact me with any questions. Blessings to you all. Robert.

A three-minute message from Robert about the future of the podcast and how you can help me continue to deliver high-quality content.

An episode where I teach a set of practices to enable frictionless connection to our physiology in the present moment.

In this class, taught in February 2023 and part of a series on the inner narrative, I explain the process that we apply to calm the inner narrative and I explain how it is not a process of distraction.

An explanation of the nature of narrative, how it is so deeply embedded in all human culture, and the first insight into how the cultural narrative finds its way into our minds.

Learn the mindfulness practices you can integrate into your daily life and discover the power of group meditation.

A recording of a class on body-focused meditations creating a foundation to process uncomfortable emotions. In this class, we continue learning the practices we need to process difficult emotions.

In this class, I teach how to be present and find fulfilment right here and right now by reconnecting to the present moment and to nature.

Mindfulness is the undistracted awareness of the experience of the present moment. To experience mindfulness, therefore, we need to experience the present moment free of the endless distractions of the modern world. In this class, I teach you how.

In this intensive 22-minute class, I focus purely on a small set of practices that you can use to regulate your stress and your emotions. The workshop is an introduction to my popular one-day dealing with difficult people training class I have been teaching since 2016. This audio was recorded from a 90-minute workshop I ran on Thursday, 22 December 2022, for members of The Meditation Course.

Equanimity is balance, harmony and composure under pressure and stress. Learn how mindfulness meditation brings equanimity

In this class, I explain my experience with meditation students: the beginners, those returning to Meditation and the committed students who have found a set of practices they can maintain.