isochronic tones

[piedwagtail91]

if you're lucky you may find a course here http://bemindful.co.uk/learn/find-a-course/ but there are lots of good courses to be found.
bemindful also run an online course.
they should be 2 hour sessions over 8 weeks , though i believe some do meet for longer and have fewer sessions.
your teacher should ideally stick to the Good Practice Guidelines for Teaching Mindfulness (UK Network for Mindfulness Teachers)

[JonW]

Hi ezzo.
In my opinion there's no substitute for a live course with a good teacher. The next best option would probably be a 1-2-1 course via Skype. I believe my teacher, who is excellent, offers such a course. Let me know if you'd like me to enquire.
Meanwhile, worth checking out that Williams/Penman book. Many members of this forum seem to have read it, and it's universally praised.
Cheers,
Jon, Hove

[ken300]

ezzo,

I find the courses that i've been on great for meeting other like-minded people but not really to learn anything new - If you're already doing 'focusing on the breath' meditation then that is really all there is to it. What you WILL learn is what you discover about yourself as you become more mindful, get more perspective in your life and become more aware of what your priorities really are.

Just carry on day after day after day after day ..... Don't worry whether you seem to be achieving anything - don't approach it as some kind of task to be completed or drug that you need to take twice a day or else.. just make time in your daily schedule & just sit there quietly noticing your thoughts pop into your head and when they do bring your attention back to your breath.

Having thoughts when meditating is a good thing - each time you bring your focus back to your breath you're familiarising your brain with coming off 'auto-pilot' and paying attention to your senses instead and what's actually going on 'in the moment'. During the rest of your day just try and pay a bit more attention to your senses, & don't just go round totally on 'auto-pilot' all the time - that's all there is to it really.

I'm a very 'logical' person, i like to know how everything works and spent years trying to work mindfulness out and perfect my technique - but once i let go of all that and just went with it - it all kind of fell into place.

Support from a group of like-minded people is important, especially when you get the inevitable 'am i doing it right' questions whether it's online or in the flesh - feel free to send me a private message if you want.

Ken

PS - It's only a journey in terms of what you'll learn about yourself - it's not a journey in terms of learning new more advanced techniques or methods.

[JonW]

Not disagreeing with Ken here but, in my experience, a course is invaluable in terms of getting a solid grounding in the practice, both in terms of formal meditation and everyday mindfulness.

[piedwagtail91]

Not disagreeing with Ken here but, in my experience, a course is invaluable in terms of getting a solid grounding in the practice, both in terms of formal meditation and everyday mindfulness.

fully agree

[ken300]

But the fact is that ezzo is already doing exactly what he (or she) needs to, but sounds like he thinks he's doing it all wrong suggests that he may benefit from a few well-placed words to make things 'click' into place in his head - whether that be words in a book, advice on this form or anything else.

A course that just reiterates that he should be doing what he already knows might not be that much use to him at the moment.

Ken

[piedwagtail91]

You get a lot more from a course than just practice. Someone with ezzos chronic anxiety really needs more than just a book for help. Talking with an experienced teacher after session can provide help that just can't be found anywhere else.
8 structured weeks with homework , feedback and advice would be a good way to go.

[ken300]

I agree with you but as you say his issues are quite 'chronic' and he's suffering now, he will definitely benefit from the guidance of someone who knows what their doing.

BUT like I said, he's doing things pretty right already, with a few well thought out words (or whatever) from us he can start doing something to make himself feel better NOW and book on a course too, if he just booked on a course, then in the weeks between now & the start of the course he'd still be suffering with absolutely no need!

Ken

[Gareth]

It is possible to teach yourself; I am living proof of that, but I was lucky enough to enter this process with healthy mind to begin with.

Mindfulness is full of nuances and many people need the experience of a teacher to guide them through, and the support of a group going through the same thing must be a real help.

I think you're all right. Some people need the things that a course offers, others don't.

[ezzo]

Amazing in depth responses from you Ken, ty, shows a real compassion to other people. I have bought the Milliams / Penman book and will look through that. i have already read 'the mindful manifesto' and found it a real insight. The only sticking point i have is that before i discovered midfulness, i was doing a lot of 'traditional' meditation with deep deep breathing which really calmed my anxiety. I am a bit worried about stopping deep breathing meditation and only using mindful meditation as I feel this could take me back a step. After all, midfulness meditation is not designed to 'relax' the person whereas 'deep breathing meditation is' Maybe I could use a combination of both, 2 x 30 min sessions of mindfull meditation and 1 deep meditation each day, would that be overall beneficial?