Introductions

[stopitaggers]

Hi everyone, I'm Dave "in my fifties" and new to mindfulness, though I have meditated quite a bit in the past.

As a novice I'm looking forward to benefitting from everyone's experience. I'm starting to establish a regular mindulness practice, having read Shamash Alidina's book "Mindfulness for Dummies" and watched you tube video of Jon Kabat-Zinn guiding google employees in a meditation sesion - very interesting! Jon seems to be "the man" and I look forward to reading his books.

Sincere thanks to Gareth for what looks like a great forum. I think having such a resource will be a great help.

[FeeHutch]

Welcome to our community Dave, I look forward to getting to know you

[JonW]

Hello Dave.
A warm welcome to the community. Look forward to reading your posts. Cheers, Jon

[stopitaggers]

Hi guys, thanks for the welcome, much appreciated.

I have a few questions but I think I'll read through the site rather than ask what has probably already been answered!

It's great to have a resource like this because books, whilst very helpful, don't really allow interaction with other people.

Dave

[ZenDoe]

Hi, all! I came here because of a tweet this morning about this forum. I'm "ZenDoe", and if that sounds a bit anonymous, it's because I blog under that name. I've been meditating for about 40 years, and these days mindfulness is a primary practice. I look forward to getting to know you all. Looks like a lovely, supportive community!

[JonW]

Hello ZenDoe.
Again, welcome (I say hi on another thread).
I think you'll find that this is a lovely, supportive community of like-minded souls.
40 years????!
If you don't mind me asking, at what age did you begin meditating?
All good things, Jon

[FeeHutch]

Hi ZenDoe and welcome to our community

[ZenDoe]

40 years????!
If you don't mind me asking, at what age did you begin meditating?

Jon, I started sitting when I was about 15, maybe a little younger. After all this "practicing", you'd think I'd have it down by now!

Hi, FeeHutch. Thanks for the warm welcome.

[PeterFreeMindfulness]

Hi all,

I've enjoyed reading about how you found mindfulness and what it has meant in your lives, great idea for a thread and as a way to get to know people in this community.

I first found out about mindfulness through studying Buddhism at college, and have been practising and learning about it ever since. I'm (soon to be) a clinical psychologist by profession, I use mindfulness in my clinical work, my research and in my personal life. Mindfulness has helped to shape who I am and to better understand and cope with what it is to be human and all the stresses and joys that brings I believe in sharing the concepts of mindfulness as a way to enhance life and alleviate suffering, as well as cultivating self compassion and becoming more comfortable with who we are right now.

As I've said elsewhere on the forum I run the site http://www.freemindfulness.org, which I set up to make it easier to get access to free resources that are not copyrighted - everything there can be used and shared, there are plans to develop the site over the coming years to have more and more resources.

[JonW]

Hi there, Peter. Welcome to the group. A pleasure to know you.
I'm investigating your site right now. Looks fascinating. Particularly look forward to sitting with those guided meditations you have kindly provided.
All good things, Jon