Ngakma Nor’dzin

The Bionic Ngakma

2012-03-11T00:10:00.000Z

I am now officially bionic—or Borg—having taken possession of a hearing aid. The hearing in my right ear had deteriorated considerably and I have been struggling for a while. I only had the aid fitted on Thursday so it is early days yet, but it is going to be quite an adjustment. The hearing that it gives me is not what I would call ‘natural’. It is a bit like listening to the world via a slightly tinny radio—which I guess is practically what it is—and the hearing-via-the-aid seems to dominate my hearing. This is not surprising really as I am also a little deaf in my left ear, but not so severely. Hopefully as I get used to it my hearing will start to feel more balanced as my brain makes the necessary adjustments.

Despite my reservations about sound quality I have already noticed the benefit in terms of conversation. Yesterday I needed to go to a DIY store to pick up some paint and decided to be brave and wear the hearing aid. Usually I have difficulty understanding what people are saying to me if I am not familiar with their voice or accent, but in the store I had no problem at all hearing and understanding everyone who spoke to me. It should help a lot in meetings and perhaps I will lose my reputation for answering-the-question-that-wasn’t-asked when we are teaching.

Tomorrow is the first meeting of the Buddhist Council of Wales for 2012 and I hoping that I will find it much easier to follow what everyone is saying.

St David’s Day Parade

2012-03-06T21:20:00.002Z

I was delighted to be asked to take part in the St David’s Day parade on March 1st as a representative of the Buddhist community. I was joined by several other local Buddhists of several traditions. We were placed near the start of the parade, right behind the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress. In this section of the parade were all the religious representatives, so we were with several members of the Salvation Army and with my Interfaith friend, Rev. Aled Edwards OBE of Cytun.

’ö-Dzin spent his lunch break stalking us as the parade progressed and took some great photographs.

The weather was glorious and the atmosphere in the parade happy and friendly – a most enjoyable experience. If we are invited again next year we will make a Buddhist Council of Wales banner.

Several famous names were included in the parade:

Shirley Bassey

Owain Glyndŵr

Tom Jones

Nessa Jenkins (Ruth Jones)

Holocaust Memorial Day Wales 2012

2012-02-06T23:20:00.002Z

I attended the Wales Holocaust Memorial Day Service as Buddhist representative, which was held at City Hall in Cardiff. The theme for the 2012 service was: Speak Up, Speak Out. It was a thoughtful and beautifully presented service led by The Reverend Stewart Lisk, Hon Chaplain of Cardiff Council, remembering not only the Holocaust of Nazi persecution but other genocides since that time, such as Cambodia 1975-79, Rwanda 1994 and Bosnia 1995.

Literature accompanying the Order of Service identified eight stages of a gradual process that could enable a basic lack of respect and tolerance to escalate to a Holocaust:

Classification – ‘us’ and ‘them’
Symbolisation – indicating those who are ‘different’
Dehumanisation
Organisation
Polarisation
Preparation
Extermination
Denial

The Service—conducted in English and Welsh—included several musical interludes by Cardiff County & Vale of Glamorgan Youth Choir, and Cardiff County & Vale of Glamorgan String Quartet. Wreaths were laid by The Rt Hon. Carwyn Jones, AM, First Minister of Wales; by Councillor Rodney Berman, Leader of Cardiff Council; Saleem Kidwai, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Wales; and Norma Golten, South Wales Jewish Representative Council .

The Pledge was originally written by Gwyneth Lewis, National Poet of Wales 2005/6,
for the 2006 Holocaust Memorial Day service which had the theme: One Person Can Make a Difference:

The fight for justice starts and ends with me
Truth is the sound of what I may say.
I can only be well when others are free
And right has a price I’m prepared to pay.

I refuse to be afraid
Of force or hatred
I will pull their lie like weeds,
Plant gardens of more generous seeds.

If I turn my back and walk away
Who’ll ask for others what I want for me?
I can only be well when others are free
And right has a price I’m prepared to pay.

Talk for Radio Glamorgan

2012-01-25T22:38:00.000Z

I performed my first real duty as hospital chaplain yesterday - recording a message for Radio Glamorgan. On their Sunday afternoon programme they include a five minute ‘thought for the day’ from the hospital chaplains. Mothering Sunday had been suggested to me as a possible topic so I created a script that referred to the Buddhist teaching that everyone has been our mother at some point in the endless stream of rebirths. Below is my script.

“As we approachFebruary, the New Year may not be feeling quite so new any more, yetfor some the New Year has not yet arrived. Losar—the Tibetan NewYear— is a three day festival that will be celebrated aroundFebruary 22^nd.

In the west we have atradition of making resolutions in the New Year and perhaps these arestarting to slip a little towards the end of January. There are onlytwo resolutions that are of the utmost importance however, and we canrenew these every day or even every moment. These are theresolutions to be kinder and more aware. Kindness and awareness arethe basis of spiritual practice. If we attempt to act kindly towardsother people we will discover that we become more aware. If weattempt to be more aware we will find that it becomes easier to bekind.

Sometimes it is thebusy-ness and pressure of our lives that gets in the way of awarenessand kindness. We feel rushed, stressed and overwhelmed. In order tofeel more relaxed and to discover the inner spaciousness that helpsus with our good intentions, it is important to give ourselves timeto be quiet everyday. We need to ensure that we have five or tenminutes every day to let go of the endless stream ofthings-that-need-to-be-done. The things-that-need-to-be-done willnever end, so we have to decide to take time out from them. Sitquietly every day. Sit and watch the breath, letting go of tensionand thought as we breathe out. This simple practice develops calmand inner peace so that over time our capacity to access this innerspaciousness increases. This inner peace then starts to becomeavailable to us even in times of fear or anger, illness or loss,depression or confusion.

Another reason that wefind it difficult to be kind and open towards others is that we feela lack of connection with them and hence feel the need to protectourselves. Yet we are all intrinsically connected. We have all beentravelling through an endless cycle of living, dying and beingreborn. This cycling of birth, death and rebirth means that it islikely that we have experienced every relationship with one anotherthat it is possible to have experienced – we have all been eachother’s mother or father, sister or brother, uncle or aunt, friendor enemy, teacher or student, doctor or patient. Although we maynot recognise one another in this life, we have inevitably had astrong connection in a previous life, and so our sense ofdisconnection with others is illusory.

Understanding that wehave had every possible relationship with one another at some timeover countless lives, we can realise that therefore at some point inthat stream of lives, everyone has been our mother. This is perhapspertinent to consider as we approach Mothering Sunday. When wecelebrate the kindness and love of our own mother in this life, andenjoy the love we feel toward her, we can remember that people thatwe do not currently recognise as a loved one have been very dear tous in previous lives. Contemplating this possibility we can allowour hearts to open so that it becomes easier to act in a kindly waytoward others – even those that we do not know or do not get alongwith. A kind and aware attitude are the key to peace and happiness –our own, and everyone else’s.

So when we arecelebrating Losar or Mothering Sunday we can remember that we are allintrinsically and endlessly connected to one another. Through thisunderstanding, and through allowing ourselves to be still and quietfor ten minutes every day, we will gradually be able to let go of ourprejudices and self-protection so that our capacity to be kind andaware becomes stronger and stronger.

Happy Losar to you all– may the year of the Earth Dragon bring peace, joy and happiness.”

Note added 27-01-2012: many apologies - it will actually be the year of the Water Dragon.

If you’re ever in Cardiff Bay...

2012-01-08T22:48:00.000Z

For Christmas I bought ’ö-Dzin a book called “Wales: The 100 Places to See Before You Die” (by John Davies and Marian Delyth, Y Lolfa publishers). We are hoping to actually try and visit these places over the next few years. Some will need planning and time, but quite a few of them are easily accessible being in South Wales. Today we made a start by visiting Cardiff Bay.

I have always loved the Pierhead Building – especially the way it seems to manifest straight out of the ground. It was particularly interesting looking at it today as it so reminded me of the sandstone carving at the Red Fort and Agra Fort in India which we visited last month.

Afterwards we had a pleasant meal at Cosmo, a Pan-Asian restaurant.

The Pierhead is red brick.

This picture is the most accurate rendition of the colour of the brickwork.
They are doing renovation work so part of the building is covered in scaffold.

A slightly odd monument to Scott of the Antarctic with the Norwegian Church behind it.

This is a war memorial. From a different angle it looks like the prow of a ship.

A moving experience

2012-01-06T20:13:00.000Z

Today I moved 2 tons of logs – so I am officially declaring myself well again. The logs—for our wood-burning stoves—were delivered this morning and dropped on our driveway. I spent most of the rest of the day moving them (in a wheelbarrow with a flat tyre!) through the garage and our summer room to the patio, where they currently reside. ’ö-Dzin is still not well and I wanted to at least get the logs that far without him needing to do anything.

Over the weekend we can move them in a more leisurely manner up the garden to the wood store. If ’ö-Dzin is not well enough and it takes longer than a weekend to sort them and stack them it will not matter now that they are off the drive.

Whether I’ll be able to walk tomorrow after this great effort remains to be seen. My joints are already feeling rather stiff.

Yang-le-shöd

2012-01-05T17:30:00.000Z

Yang-lé-shöd(Pharping in Nepali) is the sacred place where Padmasambhava and Yeshé Tsogyel manifested as Dorje Phurba and Dorje Phagmo: the thunderbolt nail and the thunderbolt sow. There are a number of monasteries in the area and also several caves. The Asura cave is the most well-known and has the imprint of Padmasambhava’s hand in the rock outside it. It is an electric experience to place one’s own hand into the rock imprint. I am not very tall and could only just reach to place my hand, and hence could not see the imprint very clearly. It was extraordinary therefore, to look at ’ö-Dzin’s photograph of the hand print when we got home and see the fluid quality of the rock – exactly as if the rock had melted around Padmasambhava’s hand. I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to place my hand in this imprint and feel a connection with the Tantric Buddha through my practice.

’ö-Dzin also spotted this small tsa-tsa of Padmasambhava in the rock.

We then walked up above the Asura cave and found a small chörten (stupa). This rocky crag afforded a magnificent view across the fields and town with a backdrop of the mountains.

We sat and meditated for a while and sang Dorje Tsig Dün. Then a rather strange thing happened. A friendly little dog had followed us up to the chörten and had sat beside me. As I began to sing, the little dog became excited and climbed into my lap, licking my face and hands. It was an inexplicably moving experience.

From this point, and up to the top of the hillside, was completely criss-crossed with prayer flags. A few of us climbed up higher, ducking under the strings of prayer flags.

The drive back from Yang-le-Shöd in the two ancient and rickety hired buses was hilarious. The driver of our bus kept turning round – either to avoid traffic jams or, so it seemed to us, because he was lost. At one point he was driving the wrong way down a one way street. We saw the extremes of Kathmandu that day: people living in shacks next to a rubbish dump, and a modern, new shopping mall that would not have looked out of place in any western city. We lost track of the other bus and felt sure they would have been back an hour before us. We found out later that they also had thought we would be home ages before them. Then suddenly the two buses were in convoy again and we were practically at the hotel. Amazing.

This was the last trip of the pilgrimage and this is my final post about it. I am most happy to have had this experience one more time – especially as ’ö-Dzin and I do not feel we are likely to be going there again.

Happy New Year

2012-01-04T09:00:00.000Z

Goodness!
In all the post-pilgrimage festivity and trying to catch up with posting about Delhi and Kathmandu – and amid sneezing, coughing and feeling low...
I have forgotten to wish you all a happy new year. How remiss of me.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

May 2012 be happy and healthy for you and your loved ones.

Now if you were thinking of making a new year resolution...
may I suggest resolving to practise10 minutes of Letting Go meditation every day.
That would be splendid.

Visiting Monasteries in Boudhanath

2012-01-03T20:47:00.000Z

We visited a number of monasteries in the Boudhanath area of Kathmandu. They are all beautifully decorated and well maintained.

Shechen Monastery

They were practising tsog’khorlo (gana puja).

Decoration and a plaque at Shechen Monastery

The White Monastery – which they kindly opened for us. Also known as Ka-nying Shédrüb Ling. A Kagyu-Nyingma monastery.

I love the way the monks leave their robes – almost as if they are still there.

Finally we visited Düd’jom Monastery which is off the main street and does not have such an impressive frontage. Inside however it was the most inspiring with many wonderful statues and a feeling of being a place of continual dedicated practice over a long period of time.

Kathmandu

2012-01-01T23:45:00.000Z

Several expeditions were planned for the pilgrims while we were in Kathmandu. Two of these went forward—a visit to the nearby monasteries and a trip to Yang-le-shöd (Palping)—but the third—visiting Nagi Gompa—had to be cancelled. We were sad not to be able to visit Nagi Gompa again, but at least we had had the opportunity to visit there on our first trip to Nepal. In this post I am including pictures of Boudanath and meetings with Lamas. I will create two separate posts for the visit to the monasteries and Yang-le-shöd.

The street from our guest house to the stupa.

Visiting Kathmandu is a pilgrimage for the Confederate Sanghas of Aro, but there are also opportunities to purchase things that are difficult to find at home. We bought a gZi stone for our elder son who is an apprentice of Naljorpa Bar-ché, We purchased cases for our rolmo and ting-shar and are delighted that they are of perfect in size. ’ö-Dzin and I each bought new teng-gars (malas – prayer beads) and also a set for our younger son. There are now a couple of good bookshops near the stupa and we found a few interesting books. We had some robes and other clothing made for us by our favourite tailor. Many sangha members were having robes made and it was a busy few weeks for Norzin Tailors.

An incense shop.

There were approximately 60 Aro sangha members on pilgrimage together when everyone assembled in the week our Lineage Lamas were present. Various individuals stayed for extended periods before and/or after the Lineage Lamas’ visit.

Many gZis for sale in Lumbini mala shop. These are not the highest quality but are stone rather than glass and very nicely marked. We bought Daniel a 9-eyed stone very like the one in the bottom right corner of the picture.

Tenzin Dölma is looking after Norzin Tailoring for her sister Palmo while she is away. Norzin is the name of Palmo’s daughter. Tenzin worked hard and was most efficient in getting everything ready on time. The tiny shop is packed from top to bottom with garments.

I rather liked this hat but felt that although it would be fine to wear in Kathmandu I would never wear it at home. Perhaps this will be the ‘wish I’d bought that’ from this trip.

There is a monastery right next to the guest house, and others all around. It is splendid to go up onto the roof and look around at all the signs of Buddhist practice and hear Tibetan instruments and chanting.

One of our main practices while in Boudhanath is kora – circumambulation of the stupa practising mantra. Here we were practising as a group. Tibetans usually practise kora twice: early in the morning and at around 4 pm.

I was delighted to have the opportunity to meet Khandro Ten’dzin Drölkar – a great Lama and one of Ngak’chang Rinpoche’s first teachers.

We also had a lovely visit from Jomo Samphel Déchen – the sang-yum (spiritual wife) of the late Kyabjé Kunzang Dorje Rinpoche. She spoke at length about her early life – but the translator spoke so quietly that none of us could hear him. Fortunately it was recorded and I look forward to hearing that sometime.

This is the Lama of the monastery next door to the guest house. His name is Sang-ngag Rinpoche. He heard us singing seven line song (Dorje Tsig Dün) before meals at the guest house and invited us all to visit him and his wife, Lhamo Yangchen. We all followed her round to the monastery and had a delightful time with them drinking tea and eating biscuits. They had been reading Ngak’chang Rinpoche’s latest book, Wisdom Eccentrics*, and thoroughly enjoying it. It was wonderful to make this friendly connection with these Nyingma practitioners.

A number of the restaurants near the stupa have photographs and drawings of Boudhanath in the past. This is a picture from the 1970s when Boudhanath was a small village clustered around the stupa and surrounded by fields rather than being subsumed in the urban sprawl of Kathmandu.

Only one day during our 10 days in Kathmandu did the air clear sufficiently to catch a glimpse of the Himalayas.

* Wisdom Eccentrics by Ngakpa Chögyam is published by Aro books.

Boudhanath and Swayambhunath, Kathmandu, Nepal

2011-12-31T17:00:00.000Z

We arrived in Kathmandu on December 13th. This was our third visit and we feel quite at home there now – especially as we have stayed at Valley Guest House each time (although it used to be called ‘Happy Valley’). It is such a shame Kathmandu takes such a toll on one’s health. I suppose if you live there all the time you become accustomed to the smog. It did seem especially bad this time. We barely saw a glimpse of the snow-capped mountains this time and I found I could not bear to stay on the roof for any length of time because the air quality was so poor.

The day after we arrived a trip had been organised to Swayambhunath and the Monkey Temple. We were warned not to make eye contact with the monkeys as they can be aggressive.

Visiting pilgrimage sites in Nepal always seems to involve climbing many steps.

Eventually you reach the stupa at the top - which sadly is surrounded by shops.

The gompa (temple) has several exquisite statues - here the 16th Karmarpa...

... and Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche).

One of the many monkeys who clamber over the statues.

Detail of decoration.

Vajra Guru mantra above the prayer wheels.

It is possible to circumambulate below the stupa where there are more statues and prayer wheels—and no shops—and we enjoyed a pleasant walk...

... along the wall and below the prayer flags.

View of the urban sprawl of Kathmandu from Swayambhunath.

Sights of Old Delhi

2011-12-30T22:07:00.000Z

We visited three ancient sites during our tourist day in Old Delhi: the mosque Jama Masjid, Humayan’s Tomb, and the Red Fort.

Jama Masjid

Humayan’s Tomb - on which the Taj Mahal was modelled.

Detail of an Islamic text in Persian script.

Photography was not allowed inside the tomb.

The Red Fort

The grounds are paved with beautifully shaped areas cut out for planting.

Many parts are not really rooms - just covered areas.

Detail of a marble panel with stone inlay - very similar to those found in the Taj Mahal.

More areas of decorative arches - this time in sandstone.

There is a museum in the Red Fort with many interesting exhibits.

Persian tiles.

On the way back to our guest house we saw an elephant strolling slowly down the road.

The Fort at Agra, India

2011-12-30T17:00:00.000Z

About 2 km from the Taj Mahal is Agra fort and we visited this on the same day. It is considerably larger than the Red Fort in Delhi and encompasses several different styles of architecture and decoration as it evolved over time. Parts of the fort are mainly sandstone and other parts are of marble. There are also extensive grounds with waterways and pools. Unlike the Red Fort in Agra where they were all dry, many of the waterways have water in them which made it a most pleasant and tranquil setting.

Agra Fort

Marble structure within the inner part of the fort.

The marble arches.

Detail of the carving at the centre of one of the ceiling domes.

Grid carved in the marble to let in light.

A wall panel of carved flowers with a semi-precious stone inlay border.

Parts of the fort afford lovely views of the Taj Mahal.


View of the Taj Mahal from Agra Fort.

Detail of a ceiling dome.

Sandstone carvings.

Decorative and functional buttresses.

Parts of the fort are derelict and have suffered from vandalism, but they are being renovated.

The Taj Mahal, Agra, India

2011-12-29T20:07:00.000Z

The Taj Mahal is about 180 km south of Delhi. Here are a few photographs taken by ’ö-Dzin when we visited this extraordinary monument on 12th December. It is more beautiful even than the pictures can portray.

South gate - the entrance

Detail of inlay and Persian script - South Gate.

Archway, Taj Mahal mausoleum - also with inlay and Persian script.

Pinnacle - our guide told us this used to be gold but was replaced with this iron version by the British.

The mosques on the east and west of the white marble mausoleum are identical.

Detail of a section of inlay. The marble is carved and pieces of semi-precious stone are skilfully inlaid. They glint in the sunshine so that the Taj Mahal sparkles. We were told that it is also particularly beautiful by moonlight.

As well as the inlay, many wall panels are decorated with exquisite carving in the marble.

On the northern side, on the opposite bank of the river, are the foundations for the black marble mausoleum that Shah Jahan intended to build.

These decorative columns create an optical illusion as you look up them from the ground.

The white marble mausoleum is surrounded by this floor of sandstone and marble.

The central building.

The Taj Mahal from the gardens through the South Gate.

Home safe but not well

2011-12-28T22:40:00.000Z

Today is the first day I have felt well enough to open my computer since returning from Nepal. Kathmandu is a great place to visit – but it is not good for one’s health. The pollution is bad for the lungs, the food can be a problem, and at this time of year the temperature fluctuates from warm and sunny during the day to really cold in the evenings and at night. Our room in the guest house was icy cold.

I was lucky and escaped the tummy bug ’ö-Dzin picked up in Delhi which laid him low with vomiting and diarrhoea for a few days. I did have a few unpleasant insect bites and above my left eye was swollen and painful for several days. We are both experiencing the result of the air pollution however, and ’ö-Dzin is suffering the return of his hacking cough. I also developed another bad head cold and have been feeling really weak. The journey home was uneventful – but it is so long and was something of an ordeal while feeling unwell. I am just thankful that we were not suffering digestive upsets by the time we were due to travel home. It must be truly dreadful to have to cope with sickness and/or diarrhoea on a long haul flight.

It took around twenty four hours to get home and of course on top of the general illness there is jet lag to cope with. At the moment we are feeling that this will have been our final visit to Nepal because it is too stressful for the body now that we are getting older. It seems to be impossible to travel to these countries without experiencing illness to some degree. So we think we probably will not be going out there again – but who knows...

Christmas arrived in a blur of illness and exhaustion, but we still managed to enjoy Christmas Day with our sons. We are so happy to be back home with our wood-burning stoves to keep us snug in the evening. Images of our trip to follow soon.

Last days in Delhi; arriving in Kathmandu

2011-12-15T08:35:00.000Z

With Zorba Publications hosts

It has not been possible to find time to write anything for the last few days. We are now in Kathmandu.

On Sunday I taught two workshops in Gurgaon near Delhi. Unfortunately because of the delay with the issuing of our Indian visas we were not able to confirm with Zorba Publishers that we would definitely be in Delhi until the day before we flew. This meant that they were not able to advertise the events to any great extent. Still there was a reasonable turn out and it was delightful teaching the two groups.

Answering question after teaching

The organisers from the publishers seemed pleased that I offered a professional and practical presentation and were most complimentary. I have the good fortune of not only having trained as a school teacher, but having also received excellent teacher training within the Aro Lineage. All the Aro teachers present the teachings skillfully.

Taj Mahal

Monday was our last free day in India and we decided to take the long trip to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal. We set out early at 5:20 and it took us about 3 hours to get there. It was worth the journey however, the Taj Mahal is breathtakingly beautiful. I am so happy to have seen it. We had a guide which was 'free' and included in the cost of the ticket, but we guess we paid for our 'free' guide in the shop he guided us to at the end of the tour. I don't know if it is a British thing but we find it so difficult to extricate ourselves from these situations without feeling compelled to buy something. We know we paid too much for a plate but it is beautiful work and we will appreciate it for always, so we are just regarding it as our contribution to the Indian economy! It took us 5 hours to get back because of the traffic so it was a long day.

Delhi BnB hosts

For the last two evenings in Delhi we ate dinner at the bed and breakfast, and shared wonderful food with other guests. We met an Australian man and his daughter, and a young woman from Wisconsin who had been living in India for 3 months and spoke Hindi. Together with our hosts with had a most pleasant evening of enjoyable conversation.

So on Tuesday we left India and arrived in Kathmandu. Kathmandu feels a lttle less chaotic and less of a hassle than India but this may well be because this is my third visit staying in the same hotel in Boudanath. We know the restaurants that we like and about how much we should be paying for things. Also because we always come as a group certain things are prearranged for us, such as transport to and from the airport. If we were to visit India again we would happily use the same driver and the same bed and breakfast establishment, so perhaps that familiarity would also make India feel easier.

Swayambhunath

Yesterday we visited the monkey temple at Swayambhunath. The stupa there is very nice at the top of the hill with many steps to climb up to it. It is surrounded by wooded land. It is also surrounded by many little shops however, which does detract somewhat from the atmosphere of it being a holy place.

It is quite slow and laborious to upload photos to my blog on the intermittent internet connection at Valley Guest House in Boudha in Kathmandu, so I will only post a few pictures every couple of days while we are here. 'ö-Dzin has taken many wonderful photos of the Taj Mahal and other sights in India and Nepal. I will post a selection of these when I get back to the UK.

Sightseeing in Delhi

2011-12-10T16:00:00.001Z

Shanti Stupa

Today was a free day so we enjoyed being tourists. First of all we visited the Shanti Stupa in Indraprastha Park. This is a modern stupa, inaugurated in 2007, and is very beautiful. It is set in a large park which provides a wonderful green space for the people of Delhi and respite from the busy bustle of the streets.

A driver had been arranged for us by Delhi Bed and Breakfast where we are staying. He now passed us into the care of a cycle rickshaw because cars cannot go into Old Delhi.

Old Delhi

Our driver told us where we would be going with the rickshaw and how much we should pay. He also warned us about pick pockets and taking care of our bags. We got to the lane in front of where we expected to be - the Jama Masjid, the great Mosque, where 25,000 people pray every Friday, but then things became a bit confused as we were told we had to change to another rickshaw. He took us to the markets in Old Delhi and a Jain temple. We did eventually get back to the mosque, where we refused to pay the exorbitant charge for the extra ride we had not wanted. We paid what we thought was reasonable based on what we had been advised and our 20Rs rickshaw ride of the previous evening. This is pretty typical of India in my (admittedly limited) experience, which is why I tend to prefer Nepal.

The Red Fort

At last we were back with our driver who took us to the Red Fort which covers a huge area and includes a great many beautiful buildings. It must have been truly magnificent when all the water channels and pools were functional and before the tiles had been mostly stripped of their colourful semi-precious stones.

Marble tile still with inlay

We had a delicious lunch at a busy restaurant near India Gate and then finished our tour at Humayun's Tomb. The architecture of this building was the inspiration for the Taj Mahal. Here most of the water channels are filled and several have fountains. The layout of the gardens and symmetry of the buildings are inspiringly eloquent.

Humayun’s Tomb

Even though it was a Saturday there were many groups of schoolchildren wherever we went. They were delightful and all very smart in their school uniforms. One strange thing that kept happening was people asking to have their photograph taken with us. This happens in Kathmandu as well, but there we had always assumed it was because we were wearing Buddhist robes. At Humayun’s tomb a whole bunch of little boys asked to have their photograph taken with ’ö-Dzin. Afterward they surrounded him and all wanted to shake his hand. I so wished I had had a camera with me to photograph this amusing scene. ’ö-Dzin takes such wonderful photographs that I don’t usually carry a camera myself.

Tomorrow is the day I teach. The venue has been changed to Club Patio, South City 1, Gurgaon. This is quite a way out of Delhi so we have a fairly early start tomorrow.

Delhi, India

2011-12-10T03:34:00.001Z

We have arrived in Dellhi, India. It was a long day yesterday but we had a good night’s sleep last night and feel pretty refreshed this morning. The smog in Delhi is horrendous.

I will be teaching two workshops tomorrow on Relaxing into Meditation organised by my Indian publishers Zorba Publications.

The photograph is of me making sure of my 10 a day in the multifaith prayer room at Heathrow airport yesterday. Photo taken by ’ö-Dzin before he settled down beside me to meditate.

Listening

2011-12-03T21:09:00.001Z

The classroom is filled with the lyrical sound of classical music. The lighting is subdued. A group of people sit in a circle. They are not doing anything – just sitting, with their eyes closed, immersed in the flow of the melody.

It is rare that we listen to music just for the experience of Listening. We may listen to music while we are walking or engaging in household chores. There may be background music at our place of work. Music can be present in almost all areas of our lives – in shops, on answer phones, in elevators, in taxis.

Despite this pervasive presence of music however, it is unusual for us to simply stop and fully engage with the experience of Listening. The closest we may come to Listening in ordinary life is when we attend a music concert. Even here however, the focus is not entirely on Listening because there is also a visual aspect and the interaction of the audience that surrounds us.

In the relaxation technique of Listening, that is all we do – we listen. We do not listen and read a book. We do not listen and become fascinated with the contents of the room. We do not listen and analyse the structure of the music. We simply listen.

Relaxing into Meditation, Chapter 4, page 17

[The photograph is of Sgwyd Eira—Fall of Snow—in the Brecons, taken by ’ö-Dzin Tridral]

Dying to get better

2011-11-27T20:58:00.001Z

Ours has been the house of the sick for over a week. ’ö-Dzin started out with the dreaded lurgy and then I must have been feeling left out ’cause I began a few days later. Being ill is a strange bardo and I think the hardest aspect of it is giving myself permission to just be ill. I have to tell myself that it is okay not to put the computer on for a couple of days – the email will still be there when I’m better. We can live on takeaway food for a day or two – it won’t do us any harm and we might as well take advantage of living in the city. Mum is safe and well looked after in the Care Home – she can cope without seeing me for a little while. The horses are checked every day and will be fine – Dee hasn’t even wanted to bother to come in for a feed the last few times I’ve visited her. So... relax and experience the bardo of being ill however unpleasant it may be from the relative point of view of health.

A bardo is the intermediate stage between two states. In Buddhism this is usually taught as the state between death and rebirth – at the end of one life and the beginning of another. It can also be recognised as the state between one sphere of experience and another. One experience dies so the next can be born. So for most of us illness is a bardo experience that punctuates the flow of usual good health. Our familiar experience of health dies and a state of illness is born, which will in turn die so that health can return.

I’ve never sneezed so much in my life—8 or 10 sneezes in a row each time—but I quite like sneezing so that wasn’t so bad. The worst bit was the cough and just generally feeling pretty rough. One thing I like about being too unwell to join in with the rest of the human race is cooching up in a blanket, watching a film, and (at least once one of you feels well enough to make them) drinking hot toddies and/or mulled wine – oh and I mustn’t forget cat cuddling. As far as Spots and Smokey are concerned lying around on the sofa is an invitation for quality snuggle time.

There are many opportunities for meditation practice when ill – being aware of the impermanence of health and the impermanence of illness; entering the dimension of the new sensory experiences illness creates; dwelling in the emptiness of not-being-able-to-do. When the body is sick the mind can remain cheerful. We do not have to lose our sense of humour.

So today I am emerging once more into the world of the living. It is always surprising to realise that it has only been a week of illness when I am getting better. The worst days of being ill can be pretty intense and uncomfortable, but I am one of the lucky ones who are usually mostly well and it’s good to remember that.

Breathing exercises

2011-11-11T16:29:00.001Z

Sitting with their right hands over their faces, the group practise a breathing
exercise. Many of them have their eyes closed, concentrating on their
breathing. After a few minutes, the tutor chimes a bell and the group drop
their hands into their laps and settle into their sitting position.

Alternate nostril breathing

Breathing exercises can be extremely helpful in promoting physical relaxation, through the process of slowing and deepening the breath. They are also a useful adjunct to meditation as a preliminary practice.

It can be especially useful to employ a breathing exercise in the morning before the demands of your day begin. It may help you become fully awake and refreshed and ready to start the day.

At other times of day, breathing exercises can calm you if you are feeling worked up, or can encourage clarity if you are feeling flat and lacking in energy. Breathing exercises may also have therapeutic benefits, such as helping with pain relief, insomnia, and emotional distress.

Relaxing into Meditation, Chapter 3, page 13

Shark infested waters

2011-11-07T23:44:00.000Z

I believe I have successfully navigated the shark-infested waters of care home financing. What an ordeal! First one benefit was stopped without notice; then another. First one amount was charged for the care home, then another. Then one benefit suddenly became payable again, but another one had to be re-applied for.

Aaaarrrrggghhhh!!

Throughout this process I have been expected to make decisions. I made decisions based on the criteria I had at the time, but no one told me that they would change... and then change again... and then change again. In the end I think it will be alright and we will be able to afford to keep mum in the home that she chose, but it has been most stressful and worrying. Fortunately she has no idea of the extra grey hairs I have acquired over the last three or four months. I am still waiting for one reply about a benefit and another official document, but then I will finally know our actual financial situation.

Mum has settled in well and is mostly content. I am the person that she complains to so I have learned to take this with a pinch of salt. She is usually pretty happy when I visit and only has the occasional grumbly day. She gets on well with the staff and has a lady that she always sits by who seems fond of her. She is eating well and seems stronger. I took her out in the sunshine a few days ago. We walked along by the river and the cyclepath and got the wheelchair rather muddy, but the staff thought this most amusing and were not at all upset about the state of the chair. They were happy that mum had had a nice trip out. This is a refreshing and balanced response and reflects the pleasant, friendly atmosphere of Cathedral View.

The image accompanying this post is of a plate that my mother painted some years ago.

Relax... and then meditate

2011-11-01T22:09:00.000Z

Through the years that I have taught meditation classes—both as a Buddhist teacher and as a community education tutor—I have found that people expect meditation to be a solution to their problems. This was another common factor that arose amongst many of those attending my classes: a need for relief from exceptional personal circumstances such as illness or bereavement. People attended the class in the hope of finding help with a particular personal problem. A period of life with an unusual degree of stress or difficulty however, may not be the best time to try to begin meditation practice and in such circumstances it will certainly be better to begin with relaxation techniques. It is in fact preferable to have established a degree of stability in one’s life and relief from immediate pain—mental, emotional or physical—before beginning meditation. Hence I begin this book with relaxation techniques to allow us to arrive at a starting point for meditation.

Chapter 1, page 5, Relaxing into Meditation

Opening

2011-10-25T23:15:00.001+01:00

Bell - from a thangka of Rang-rig Togden
by Kumar Lama

Chapter 1, pages 3 - 4: Relaxing into Meditation

A group ofsixteen people sit in a circle on plastic schoolroom chairs. Theireyes are closed; their hands rest in their laps. Surrounded by thechaotic decoration of a textiles classroom the group has anatmosphere of stillness. The only sounds are slow and gentlebreathing, or the occasional cough. After ten minutes, the groupleader silently raises a bell, and—aftera pause of a few seconds—strikesa single note with the bell’s clanger. The pure sound echoesthrough the room, gradually dying away. Slowly—asthe sound fades—eachmember of the group begins to stir, opening their eyes, stretchingtheir limbs, and smiling at one another. “Good evening everyone. How has your meditation practice been this week?”

This was a typicalscene for the opening of one of my relaxation and meditation classesfor several years. School rooms are never entirely satisfactory forteaching practices such as meditation but this textiles classroom wasone of the better ones. I offered the class as an attempt to bringthe practice of meditation—in particular—to a wider audience.

An Interfaith intensive

2011-10-24T00:30:00.001+01:00

On the 12th of October I attended two meetings in Cardiff Bay: one at Ty Hywel with the Welsh Assembly Government Faith Communities Forum and then following that in the conference room at the Lightship with the Interfaith Council of Wales.

I am starting to get used to these meetings. It felt a bit overwhelming when I first accepted the post of Chair of the Buddhist Council of Wales as I have never had a job that involved a lot of meetings, but everyone is friendly and the meetings are professional and efficient. I am starting to think of many of the Interfaith Council members as friends.

The Ty Hywel meeting was the first I had attended chaired by the First Minister, Carwyn Jones. The most interesting item on the agenda for me was the proposals for organ donation becoming an opt-out rather than an opt-in scheme in Wales. Chris Jones, Medical Director for NHS Wales, gave a presentation. I was pleased to hear that the proposal is for a 'soft' opt-out which means that the next of kin will still be consulted.

There was also a presentation on hate crime research. They are looking into 'hate crimes' and 'hate incidents' with regard to prejudice on the grounds of disability, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity and religion. If any readers living in Wales have suffered in this way, do complete the survey. It is totally confidential.

Conference on Unity and Diversity: Monastic and Non-monastic Traditions in Amdo

2011-10-06T21:52:00.000+01:00

I attended the conference on Unity and Diversity: Monastic and Non-monasticTraditions in Amdo on Sunday 2nd October. It was held in St Michael's College in Llandaff in Cardiff – a most beautiful building set in lovely, well-kept grounds.There were three presentations that morning.

The first was by Professor Paul Nietupski – The unity of religion and politics: Monastic and nomadic governance in Amdo. The Detri Estate (sde khri nang chen) at Labrang Monastery

He discussed that Amdo was considered to be uncivilised and barbaric because it was an area of nomadic grassland, and that nomadic society appears to have no boundaries and no government. Amdo society is multifaceted and polythetic. Authority is in the hands of nomad lords, monastic estate governors and monastic representatives. They are influenced by the Chinese, Muslim and Mongol borders. Governance is built on kinship. He discussed governance of a borderland area recognised as a state. The monastery city of Labrang is the primary influence inthe area. He also discussed the Detri estate which is one of 32 estates in the region. The nature of the governance of the estate is multifaceted – there isno single hierarchy or fixed government, but a great importance of networking. Whether authority is recognised depends on particular tribes. Authority isbased in wealth and heritage and it is a fluid changing structure.

The second presentation was by Dr Hildegard Diemberger – Female Rulers and Female Lamas: Religion and Gender Politics in Early 20th Century Amdo

She discussed how the religious and political environment in Tibet is dominated by men, and yet women do become important. Even as early as the 7th century there were women in power, such as the cakravartin, Empress Wu Zetian (rl.684-704). Dr Diemberger focused on a particular episode in Henan (Sogpo) county where a woman, Tashi Tsering (1920 -1966), became the ruler, the 10th Qinwang. Tashi Tsering'sfamily connections and connection by marriage enabled her to hold political power.
Dr Diemberger observed that it is unknown how much these women manipulatedthe system or how much the system manipulated these women. Tashi Tsering's daughter, Paljor Wangmo, has continued in politics and is still alive today.

Ngakma Nor'dzin with Dawn Collins & her daughter

The final speaker was Dawn Collins – Dancing the Gods: Modern Transformations of 'Cham in Rebkong

Dawn Collins spoke about her study of 'cham (ritual dance) and its effect on the audience. Sheexplained that there are three kinds of dance and only one of these dances involves women – a dance for the nagas, who like slow meditative movements. 'Cham is believed to have a healing effect on observers, and to transform themind of those who attend. It is also described as a preparation for the bardo state.She showed a recording of audience members going into a trance state and joining inthe 'cham. Dawn Collins noted that the modern interpretation of 'cham has meant that the performances are shorter and dances are speeded up, and that the performance maybe taken out of the ritual context completely – 'cham for tourism.

Austria and local conference

2011-10-04T13:21:00.000+01:00

Things have been very busy over the last couple of weeks and there has been no free time to post.

The weekend 23rd - 25th September we were in Austria teaching. On the Friday evening we taught at the Shambala Centre in Vienna. We gave a general introduction to practice in the gö kar chang lo. This was well received. It was quite moving to be in the Shambala Centre and feel the presence and influence of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche so strongly.

Shambala Centre shrine room

Monumental Phurba, Forchtenstein

On the Saturday we gave a day of teachings in Forchtenstein, about an hour's drive from Vienna. Here the topic was The Four Fundamental Certainties and the Path of Alignment - alternatively known as The Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path.

Both events were well attended and people seemed to enjoy themselves and find something useful to take away. We have been invited back to teach again next year.

Last weekend a conference entitled Unity and Diversity: Monastic and Non-Monastic Traditions in Amdo took place practically on our doorstep. As practitioners within a non-monastic Tibetan Buddhist tradition, this conference interested us greatly and we were fortunate to be invited to attend as observers. More on that in the next post.

Wise words from our elderly Tibetan friend

2011-09-19T21:53:00.000+01:00

'ö-Dzin & Zonga Thongyal 1990

For many years we have been helping an elderly Tibetan gentleman who lives in McCleod Ganj, northern India. He is now in his late 80s. We hear from him two or three times a year. As is quite common with Tibetans of past retirement age, he spends most of his time practising.

Sadly I have never had the opportunity to meet him in person, though 'ö-Dzin did meet him when he went on pilgrimage to McCleod Ganj in 1990.

I was particularly touched by our Tibetan friend's PS to his most recent letter:
“It's very good to do meditation. I felt happy that you are practising it. It will help you, not only in this life but in next life also. Please continue it.”

Settling in

2011-08-30T12:59:00.000+01:00

The sign painted by a member of staff.

Mum is settling in to Cathedral View as well as can be expected for someone who has lived independently in her own home till the age of 95. I see that she does not really like it there, but it is tolerable and she accepts it as an unavoidable necessity.

I visit as often as I can and take her out for a trundle in the wheelchair when the weather permits. She does not really cope with long visits now, so I usually only go for one to two hours. She had another fall last week and has some cuts and bruises from that. She is remarkably philosophical about this – although often she also does not remember that she has fallen. Her walking is still not good and she is quite dependent on carers to take her wherever she needs to go within the home.

Mum is very changeable – some days bright and lively, some days hardly able to stay awake when I visit. The day pictured here was a bright day, and she enjoyed being taken out to the park. The home are arranging for her to get a new wheelchair and hopefully it will be more substantial that this one.

It is a lot less stressful for me knowing that Mum is safe, eating well and looked after. I hope she will make real friends in the home eventually and feel that it is more than tolerable.

Buddhist Chaplain

2011-08-27T09:00:00.000+01:00

It is quite a new venture for hospital chaplaincy to be inclusive of all faiths and have chaplains available representing all the major faiths to offer help. Previously only Christian chaplains were available. As I have spent quite a lot of time at the hospital visiting my mother this year, a few months ago I visited the chapel one day just to see what it was like. I happened to meet the chaplaincy manager, we got talking and somehow it turned into a job interview! Consequently I have now been given the post of Buddhist Chaplain for Cardiff and The Vale NHS, based at the University Hospital of Wales, Heath, Cardiff. I have a fancy badge. They've spelt my name and chaplaincy incorrectly, but never mind. I am a 'bank' chaplain – only called out if a Buddhist chaplain is requested. So I may never actually do any work. I hope I can be of help to people though I also hope that there are not any people who need help – if you see what I mean.

Are candles required?

2011-08-25T06:00:00.000+01:00

In the mind of the media, meditation—or anything spiritual—is irrevocably intertwined with the need for candles. Two examples that immediately spring to mind are Teal'c practising kel'no'reem (Stargate) and Kira Nerys consulting the prophets (Star Trek DS9). Sometimes I find myself wondering how they find the time to set up and light all those candles. For most of us it can be a challenge to find time to meditate every day – without the need of creating a candlelit environment as well.

So may I state for the record... candles are not required for meditation.

For some forms of meditation a candle is actually a distraction. If we are trying to let go of thought and sitting with our eyes slightly open to help avoid sleepiness, then the brightness of a candle can be disconcerting and disadvantageous for settling into our practice.

A candle can be used as a focus for meditation as a specific technique. A butterlamp is ideal for this as it does not create a still and stable flame. The flame will splutter and flicker, and it is this movement that we use as a focus. We find the stillness of mind in the movement of the flame.

I do light a candle every day when I set up offering bowls in our shrine room, but this is a Buddhist ritual practice not a meditation – although it has a meditative quality to it in that the offering bowls should be set up mindfully.

Secret cemetery

2011-08-22T20:19:00.000+01:00

Last weekend we visited Llandaff – a city within the city of Cardiff and home to a beautiful cathedral. First of all we had a refreshment break at Jaspers – a delightful tea room on the high street which I highly recommend. Our plan had been to be in Llandaff earlier and visit my mother before her tea time. We were running a little late however and so decided it would be better to visit her after tea instead. This meant we had nearly an hour to spend and we decided to visit the cathedral.

When we arrived at the entrance to the cathedral however, there appeared to be a ceremony taking place and we did not want to disturb them. So we wandered down the road from the cathedral and discovered something magical. Below the cathedral—between it and the riverside fields—is a pretty little wilderness cemetery. Most of it is totally overgrown with gravestones haphazardly hidden among the undergrowth. We wandered around the cemetery for over an hour enjoying the peaceful atmosphere and dappled sunlight. It felt as though we had found a secret garden.

Being on retreat

2011-08-17T22:46:00.000+01:00

Learning dance moves on the lawn in front of Plas Glansevin

Last week I was on retreat in mid Wales. If I ever mention to people that I am going on retreat they always say things like “Oh how wonderful – that must be so relaxing.” Hmm... well... yes retreats are enjoyable, inspiring... and also quite exhausting.

I am not a morning person and I find the early start to the day challenging. Even if I have had sufficient sleep the night before I am still not at my best in the early morning. Retreats also involve a lot of sitting and listening, with a need to be present and alert, and this is quite tiring. Then we have short bursts of intense activity such as practising sKu mNyé (Tibetan Yoga). On this retreat we were learning cham (dance). As I get older I find retreats more and more physically demanding and am usually pretty tired the week afterwards.

So retreats are not exactly relaxing – are not like a holiday. There is however the sense of the mind relaxing into the spacious warmth of a retreat. It is wonderful to be among a group of tantrikas for a whole week. They are an extraordinary group of people with great integrity, commitment and energy – Vajrayana warriors. We laugh a lot. It is good to have the opportunity to meditate for two hours at a stretch every morning and to work with others to further interesting projects in the afternoons.

This was also a special retreat because we had an ordination and a wedding. The last day was full of celebration. We usually have two retreats a year with the Lineage Lamas but there will not be another one this year as we are having a pilgrimage to Nepal instead. More on that in the weeks ahead.

Therapy at Surya Eco Yoga Camp

2011-08-12T17:16:00.000+01:00

Here is the first picture from Surya Eco Yoga Camp. The laminated advertising sheets worked really well. The organisers had reserved a lovely secluded spot for us to erect Tharpa Ling this year, up above the main area. It was quiet and private for the therapy sessions. We did miss being in the middle of everything as we were last year, but agreed that it was a better arrangement for people to be able to relax into their therapy session.

The Enchanted Castle

2011-08-09T17:01:00.000+01:00

Llandaff Cathedral by 'ö-Dzin Tridral

I have just finished reading The Enchanted Castle by Edith Nesbit. Sometimes I like to read literature that is intended for children. I enjoy its directness and simplicity. Some of my favourite children's books are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll, The Narnia stories by CS Lewis, The Borrowers by Mary Norton, AA Milne's Winnie the Pooh poems (not Disney!), and JK Rowling's Harry Potter books.

I had not read any Edith Nesbit before, although I have seen television adaptations of a couple of her stories. I found The Enchanted Castle a delightful magical story. I love the creative imagery of this work – it is so inventive and lively. The narrative assumes a basic moral code of honesty and integrity for the characters and the book has an almost spiritual message woven into the story. Dharma can be found everywhere.

“The moonbeam slants more and more; now it touches the far end of the stone, now it draws nearer and nearer to the middle of it, now at last it touches the very heart and centre of that central stone. And then it is as though a spring were touched, a fountain of light released. Everything changes or, rather, everything is revealed. There are no more secrets. The plan of the world seems plain, like an easy sum that one writes in big figures on a child's slate. One wonders how one can ever have wondered about anything. Space is not; every place that one has seen or dreamed of is here. Time is not; into this instant is crowded all that one has ever done or dreamed of doing. It is a moment and it is eternity. It is the centre of the universe and it is the universe itself.”

Are you sitting comfortably?

2011-08-06T17:28:00.008+01:00

using a meditation strap

I have just returned from Surya Eco Yoga camp – a lovely annual event at Chyan in Cornwall. It offers many different styles of yoga workshops, chanting, meditation and therapy. I taught a two hour sKu-mNyé session (Tibetan Yoga), led morning meditation and offered reflexology and pulse diagnosis.

The morning meditation session was from 8 - 9.30. Many of the attendees were clearly used to sitting and meditation, but few of them came prepared to be comfortable for an hour and a half session. Most of them simply brought a yoga mat. For most westerners this is insufficient comfort for sitting. One would need to be an extremely adept yogi, able to sit for protracted periods of time in full lotus posture to be comfortable for an hour and half on a yoga mat on the hard floor of a tent. They all managed remarkably well and I admire their commitment to practice, but a lot of them looked pretty uncomfortable after the first 20 minutes.

using a chair

Sitting comfortably is so important in meditation. A meditation session needs to be that – rather than a period of physical discomfort and distraction. There was a great deal of obvious discomfort and physical distraction in those morning sessions.

So how can we be comfortable when meditating? If sitting cross-legged, the hips need to be higher than the knees. The knees need to rest on something soft and the cushions under the sitting bones need to be sufficient to provide comfort. The back should be erect and balanced allowing for the S-curve of the spine, and the abdomen needs to be loose and relaxed with the pelvis tilted slightly forward. The shoulders should be in a natural position and simply suspended from the relaxed back. The chin can be tilted down slightly to lengthen the back of the neck.

If these factors are in place it should be possible to sit for an hour and a half without experiencing discomfort, and only occasionally needing to move or adjust one's position . Sitting in a chair is also fine as long as the chair is the right height for its occupant and supports the spine. Some people also finding kneeling comfortable.

cross-legged on a cushion

The images are from Relaxing into Meditation where there is a whole chapter on sitting comfortably. In the back of the book there are instructions for making meditation cushions and a sitting strap (gomtag).

Images from Surya coming soon!

Himalayan Book House stocks Relaxing into Meditation

2011-08-03T21:08:00.003+01:00

I have been having some nice communication with Himalayan Book House on Facebook. They contacted me to let me know that they are stocking Relaxing into Meditation. There are a couple of nice photographs on their Facebook page showing the book on their stall (can you spot it?!). It is delightful to see this and demonstrates that Zorba publishers are being successful in their distribution.

Himalayan Book House do not have a website so the link is to their Facebook page. They are in Butwal in Nepal, 240 kilometres west of Kathmandu. Butwal is in the Lumbini zone – the area that is home to the birth place of Shakyamuni Buddha.

We will be in Kathmandu in December, but unfortunately I think 240 kilometres is a bit too long a trip for us to visit their store while we are over there.

Aro Ling book sale

2011-07-30T17:47:00.000+01:00

We are always trying to think of ways to raise money to support our Buddhist centre, Aro Ling. It is wholly run and funded by volunteers and donations.

Recently we held a second hand book sale and also offered chai and chapatis. There were also DVDs and and CDs for sale - and videos, but no one wants videos any more.

We probably bought more books and DVDs than we donated, but they are good items and we are happy to help.

The day was most successful and raised a reasonable amount of money.

QR code and laminating fun

2011-07-27T17:29:00.000+01:00

I prepared a lot of handouts, posters and other items in preparation for the Surya Eco Yoga Camp. 'ö-Dzin bought us a new toy—a laminator—and I had great fun making posters knowing that they would survive whatever the weather throws at us at the camp.

QR codes are a new discovery for me and I have created one that points people to this blog. I experimented with colouring it and found that my mobile could still read it as long as the contrast remained good. Hopefully people will walk past Tharpa Ling with their smart phones and pick up the link.

Some people have done fancy and interesting things with these codes – there are many displayed on google images. I think it is interesting that they can contain text rather than just be a link. What do you think of them? Do you find them useful? Both of these colourful ones work.

Surya Eco Yoga Camp

2011-07-25T17:27:00.001+01:00

It is nearly time for this year's Surya Eco Yoga Camp in Cornwall. It begins on Thursday 28th July through to Sunday 31st. One of our students, Ngakpa Samten Dorje, will be accompanying me.

We will be leading morning practice and yogic song from 8 - 9.30 every morning, and we will teach a session of sKu-mNyé on Thursday afternoon, 2 - 4.

I will also be offering therapy sessions – relflexology, and pulse diagnosis and element balancing.

I am looking forward to a week of camping in our van. The weather is pretty wet and cool at the moment however, so I hope it will improve a little.

If you are going to be in the Falmouth area on these dates do come along.

Proud mother

2011-07-23T17:05:00.001+01:00

Last week my elder son graduated with a 2.1 in Creative and Professional Writing at the University of Glamorgan. I am so proud of him – it is an extraordinary achievement.

Daniel had health problems from birth. His was ill pretty much of the time as a baby and a toddler, but this gradually improved by the time he went to school. At infant school he was diagnosed as dyspraxic and he received therapy for this for several years. This means that his coordination is poor and he does not see the world in quite the same way the rest of us do. For years—for example—he was only able to safely walk downstairs by sliding his foot along the back of the step to feel his way to the next tread. He could not hop, found running difficult, ball games impossible, and has never succeeded in learning to swim despite a couple of courses of private lessons.

In the final year of his primary school his was awarded the Bethan Bradley memorial award – an award given to the student who has persevered and risen to the challenge to overcome personal learning difficulties.

Because of his poor hand/eye coordination his handwriting is messy and childlike and difficult to read, and this proved a great disadvantage in the secondary school examination system. Nevertheless he achieved 10 GCSEs and 3 A levels. The grades do not reflect his intelligence and capability. He worked really hard for his exams – Daniel always gives 110% in effort and application. For his A levels he gained a D for politics, a D for English Language and a C Religious Studies. Unfortunately the writing course he wished to take at university required a minimum achievement of 2 Bs and a C.

Daniel tried to find work but was unable to find anyone who would give him a chance. Having to hand write application forms was a big disadvantage. Two years later and still with no career prospect he decided to try again for the writing course at the University of Glamorgan. After having been refused again, once in writing and once on the phone, we pursued it this time explaining that writing was all Daniel had ever wanted to do and that he had been writing stories since he was 5. Fortunately one time we spoke to a person on the other end of the phone who was less rigid, and they put Daniel in touch with one of the tutors. She asked him to submit a piece of his work. Daniel sent in a short story and was accepted on the strength of that.

In his first year at university he was diagnosed as dyslexic – which explained a lot. He was allowed a computer for the exams which meant he was not at the mercy of his handwriting. Years two and three were assessed on coursework rather than by examination so this problem did not arise again. He worked hard and deserved the 2.1 award.

So well done Daniel. I hope that someone will give him a job this time. If an employer would take a risk on him they would discover a jewel – an employee who is conscientious and hard-working, honest and reliable, and who can succeed when the odds are against him.

End of the hospital vigil

2011-07-21T23:18:00.001+01:00

The period of daily hospital visits is now at an end. My mother moves into a residential care home tomorrow. It has been six weeks. Mum—who featured in illustrations in Relaxing into Meditation—is not overjoyed at the prospect of residential care but does recognise that she cannot live alone in her own home any more without considerable support. Of the options available to her, residential care is the lesser of two evils for her – she really hated carers coming into her home several times a day and this would have had to happen four times a day from here on. Residential care may actually be cheaper as well.

She is moving into Cathedral View Resdidential Care Home which is just up the road from her house. Mum felt it would be nice to continue to live in the area she knows and she is lucky that there is a space at the home. It is a great relief for me to know that she will be in residential care. I will no longer feel on call all the time and have that little surge of worry whenever the phone rings in the evening; I will have more time and will not feel the responsibility of being my mother's primary source of companionship; and I will know that she is safe. It will be great to visit her just as her daughter wanting to enjoy her company, rather than as a carer running around trying to sort things out for her. The home is near a park and the Taff trail, and I am looking forward to trundling her over to see the river. If the weather is fine we can even have a picnic – we haven't managed anything relaxing like that together this year as it has been dominated by her injuries and hospital visits.

All the wards at the University Hospital of Wales have these curtains showing scenes from Cardiff and the Vale. They are nice curtains and a useful talking point sometimes – but I am hoping that I will not be seeing them again for a while.

Form of practice

2011-07-19T00:41:00.002+01:00

Dorje Tsig Dün

The final topic that arose from my discussions with the Welsh Assembly Government representatives was about Buddhist practice. Andrea Adams and Jo Glenn asked about what form Buddhist practice takes. This is quite a big question as different traditions will practise in different ways. The forms that I mentioned were meditation, mantra, chant, song, and visualisation.

What is regarded as meditation will vary according to tradition. In my writing I categorise meditation of broadly three types: concentration or quietening the mind; visualisation; and analytical or contemplative. Practices such as shi-nè, Letting Go or vipassana would fall into the concentrating and quietening the mind category – allowing the mind to discover its own nature. Visualisation includes any energetic practice employing symbol and may include song, chant or mantra. This is a primary aspect of Vajrayana practice. An awareness being may be visualised and a sadhana chanted. Analytical meditation takes a topic for contemplation and uses the intellect to penetrate to the reality of the situation. It challenges ordinary view and encourages realised view.

In my tradition chant and song are understood as separate practices. Chant is employed as an aid to visualisation – the meaning of the words is significant and guides the visualisation. In song, it is the actual singing that is the focus of practice. Song is used as a sem-dzin – a means to hold the mind so that the nature of mind can be discovered. Sometimes the same practice can approached as chant or song. An example of this would be Dorje Tsig Dün – the Seven Thunderbolt Phrases of Padmasambhava. This can be chanted—following the meaning of the words—as an inspiration or as a guide to visualising Padmasambha; or it can be sung – where one finds presence of awareness in the dimension of the experience of singing and sound.

Teachers & vehicles in Buddhism

2011-07-17T11:42:00.001+01:00

During my discussions with the Welsh Assembly Government representatives, Andrea Adams and Jo Glenn, they asked about the Dalai Lama and what he meant to the Buddhist community. I expressed that all Buddhists would respect the Dalai Lama as a great practitioner and many Tibetan Buddhist revere him. In recent times however, he seems to have become regarded as a 'Buddhist Pope' – which is not accurate. Tthe Dalai Lama is the head of the Gélug school of Tibetan Buddhism and until recently was also the political head of the Tibetan refugees in exile. There are three other schools within Tibetan Buddhism itself however, as well as numerous other forms of Buddhism which are quite different in style to Tibetan Buddhism. I explained the importance of the teacher in Buddhism – how there were many and various forms of Buddhist practice and that the style of particular Buddhist groups would reflect the practice style of their teacher.

Thangka painting of Padmasambhava
by Ngakma Pema Zangmo

The style and form of practice that evolves around a teacher will depend on where the teacher bases their practice. Buddhism is a religion of method not truth. It is perhaps unique in religious terms in that the teachings are expressed through yanas – vehicles. Each Buddhist vehicle has a base, a path and a result. The style and content of a path will depend on the vehicle. If you are attracted to the renunciate approach to practice then there is the path of Sutra. If you feel more inspired by a transformative approach embracing the energy of neurosis then there is the path of Vajrayana. In the different schools of Buddhism the vehicles are expressed in different ways. In the Nyingma there are the nine vehicles: Shrivakayana, Pratyekayana, Mahayana, and the six Tantric vehicles.

An unfortunate side effect of this flexibility of approach to the path of realisation is that sadly human beings are not always able to cope with such flexibility. A teacher teaching from the viewpoint of one vehicle of practice may appear to contradict a teacher teaching from a different vehicle. This can be confusing for their followers and can create conflict. It can mean that Buddhist groups tend to keep themselves rather separate and not interact with one another.

Shrine rooms

2011-07-15T14:52:00.001+01:00

I took Andrea and Jo—the Welsh Assembly Government representatives—up to see our shrine room. This beautiful room which we are so fortunate to be able to accommodate in our house, is decorated in traditional Nyingma Buddhist style. When describing this room verbally it sounds a little wild: "The ceiling is dark blue; the lower part of the wall is maroon and the upper part yellow; between the maroon and yellow are bands of orange and green; details such as coving are picked out in gold." On entering the room however, one is struck with its extraordinary atmosphere. The colours themselves create an ambience that is conducive to practice.

The practice room at Aro Ling—our centre in Bristol—is decorated in the same manner and new visitors always comment on how wonderful it is.

Andrea and Jo liked the shrine room and enquired whether there was a particular image or icon that should be present in a shared faith room with regard to Buddhism. I suggested that probably the most universal image would be the wheel or Shakyamuni Buddha.

Buddhist Holy Days

2011-07-14T17:50:00.000+01:00

Continuing posts in response to questions put to me by the representatives of the Welsh Assembly Government, Andrea Adams and Jo Clegg, the next question was about special Buddhist Holy Days. Andrea explained that it was useful for them to be aware of such days so that they could avoid them when arranging meetings.
I replied that the special days of which I was aware were the birthday and paranirvana of Shakyamuni Buddha, the new year and twice monthly celebration of tsog'khorlo (gana puja). Of these, those that I personally am most familiar with are Losar, Tibetan New Year, and tsog'khorlo.


Losar 1995 at our home – 111 candles fascinated our six year old son.

Losar is a time of gathering together and celebrating the arrival of a new year and an opportunity to begin again with a fresh intention to practice and develop kindness and awareness. Andrea asked if this would be a time when we withdrew and were quiet. This made me smile a little as it is a time when we are likely to be quite noisy, playing many instruments and singing, and enjoying one another's company. We usually share a special meal – often momos with Golok sauce. Momos are a Tibetan delicacy – like little pasties, steamed or deep fried. Fierce Golok sauce is made from garlic, ginger and tamari.

December 2009 – photo by 'ö-Dzin Tridral

Tsog'khorlo is celebrated twice in the lunar month on the 10th and 25th days. I explained that it is quite common for the exact days to not be formally celebrated by Buddhist organisations for practical reasons. At the Lam Rim Buddhist Centre, for example, tsog'khorlo was celebrated on alternate Sundays. We celebrate it on the first and third Tuesday of the month.
The magnificent chörten (stupa) in the centre of Boudha, Kathmandu, in Nepal is often beautifully decorated with coloured lights on special occasions.

Buddhists and organ donation

2011-07-13T15:06:00.001+01:00

On 7th July I was visited by Andrea Adams, Secretary of the Welsh Government Faith Communities Forum, and her associate Jo Glenn. They were visiting me because I am currently Chairperson of the Buddhist Council of Wales. Andrea Adams is visiting representatives of all the faiths who are part of the Assembly's Faith Communities Forum, as part of her orientation to her new rôle as Secretary.
            Andrea and Jo asked many interesting questions and I thought they would make an interest series of posts. They clearly had researched the principles of Buddhism and were interested to find out about my thoughts on various issues. I was very conscious of my responsibility as Chairperson of the Buddhist Council of Wales, to attempt to answer the questions with consideration of the broad spectrum of Buddhism in Wales. The topics discussed—presented over the next few posts—appear in no particular order.

Buddhists and organ donation:
This is a serious and pertinent issue. I believe that the Welsh Assembly Government are considering changing the law so that organ donation becomes an assumed opt in by default – that is it will become necessity to carry a card to state that if you are not willing to donate organs.
          I stated that I believed that many Buddhist would regard organ donation as the ultimate act of generosity and that in general terms it would present no problem in the Buddhist community.
          I did add however, that because a tenet of Buddhism is rebirth, the state of mind of the practitioner at death—and possibly immediately after death—was very important. It is considered important to die with a peaceful and quiet mind.   Some Buddhists believe that the body should be left quietly for a period of time after having been declared medically dead, as consciousness may not immediately lose connection with the body. In view of this a Buddhist's attitude to organ donation may depend on the timing – on how immediately after death organs would need to be harvested. Some may feel that there may be the possibility that there remains an awareness of what is happening to the body for a while after death, so that if organs are removed immediately it could be distressing to the mind-stream of the deceased.
          Taking these consideration into account I said that consequently I felt that the decision about organ donation had to be individual and personal.

Kind words from Joanna Lumley

2011-07-09T12:24:00.001+01:00

Photo: Nick Clegg

My publisher, Aro Books worldwide, has received a lovely endorsement of Relaxing into Meditation from Joanna Lumley.

She says of the book:

"This is a wonderful introduction to relaxation and meditation – its message offers peace and tranquillity in this stressful world."
Joanna Lumley

Thank you to her. I am happy that she enjoyed the book and I do indeed hope that it will be of help to people. I hope that Relaxing into Meditation will become a means for people to discover relaxation and to establish a daily meditation practice so that they become happier people manifesting kindness and wisdom in the world.

Head jerks as an aid to meditation

2011-07-07T23:11:00.000+01:00

When we begin to practise meditation regularly we tend to experience two problems: sleepiness and distraction.

Sleepiness occurs when the mind becomes dull. At worst we may actually be nodding off to sleep, but there is a more insidious dullness that is harder to work with. When the mind is simply dull we may actually feel that we are meditating quite well because we are not being distracted by thought. The space we are in however, lacks sparkle and presence. We are not really alert and aware. If there were to be a sudden loud noise—for example—we would be startled out of our sluggishness in a disturbing and unsettling manner that is often disproportionate to the intensity of the shock. The same loud noise if we are present and alert might still startle us slightly, but such a shock would create a greater sense of awareness once the physiological reaction had subsided.

Distraction is when the mind is full of thought and/or every little twitch, sound, itch and change in light or temperature prevents us from settling into our meditation. We sit, but seem unable to get comfortable – the cushion is too hard, our knees hurt, our shoulders ache, the sun is too bright, we have an itchy nose, and suddenly writing a shopping list, work projects and memories are intensely fascinating.

There are a number of simple meditation aids that we can employ to combat sleepiness and distraction and the one I am describing in this post is called 'head jerks'. Head jerks take just a few moments to enact and lift our energy out of dullness, or settle our mind from distraction, so that we are able to truly engage in our meditation practice. This exercise involves moving the head sharply so care should be taken to prevent neck injury especially if you have a neck problem.

For sleepiness and dullness, place your chin on your chest and sharply and quickly raise your head upwards three times. Then return to your meditation practice.

For distraction, raise your chin slightly and then bring it down sharply and quickly towards your chest three times. Then return to your meditation practice.

This simple meditation aid can be used more than once in a session. We need to use common sense however. If I have tried the exercise two or three times and am still sleepy, perhaps I actually need to go and rest. Perhaps it is not the best time of day to be practising meditation and I need to try a different time of day. If I am still distracted having tried the exercise two or three times, perhaps it would be better to practise yogic song or a physical practice for a while and come back to silent sitting later.

Buddha statue

2011-07-05T22:14:00.000+01:00

This is the Buddha statue that sits outside the front of our house. He is starting to look nicely weathered.

Resting on his hands is a torma. This is a sculptural representation of the five elements: earth, water, fire, air and space.

We had a retreat at our home in 2005 that was dedicated to making such tormas in various sizes. You can read about the retreat on Aro Encyclopaedia. Our son—who was fourteen years old at the time—made 111 tiny tormas. After the retreat we made an expedition to Cadair Idris in mid-Wales and he hid these tiny tormas along the route of our walk.

Tubular Bells

2011-07-04T23:30:00.001+01:00

'ö-Dzin inherited a set of tubular bells from his great grandfather. They have been languishing in a box for decades and finally we have pulled them out, polished them up and hung them somewhere they can be played. There are only eight of them so what can be played is fairly limited and the music notation we have is nearly all hymns. I remember this tune from my days of learning to play the recorder in junior school - a long time ago!

'ö-Dzin's great grandfather was called Seymour Barker and he was a bell-ringer at St John's Church on the Hayes in Cardiff. I also used to ring bells in my teenage years at the Church of St Mary and St. Bartholomew in Hampton in Arden, Warwickshire where I grew up. I was also a choir girl. I had to stand on a box to ring the bell and can remember occasionally leaving the ground slightly while holding on to the sally.

Bread of Heaven

2011-07-03T22:34:00.000+01:00

I enjoy making my own bread. Generally I use a breadmaker and often use ready-mix packages for convenience. Sometimes it is nice to make something a little more special though, and I can highly recommend this spelt loaf. I was given the recipe at a delightful café in Knighton/Tref-y-Clawdd on the England/Wales, Shropshire/Powis border. It is called the Tower House Gallery/Oriel Tŷ Tŵr. They are happy to share the recipe with anyone.

The recipe is as follows:
500 g spelt flour
200g mixed seeds
2 sachets instant yeast (approx 14g)
1 tblspn olive oil
1 tspn salt
1 tspn sugar
500 mltrs warm water

Mix all the ingredients into a sticky dough and pour into a lined 2lb loaf tin. Leave for approximately 15 minutes in a warm place until the dough rises to just above the tin. Bake for 1 hour at gas mark 6/200C

Schedule for July and August 2011

2011-07-02T21:22:00.000+01:00

Here is my schedule for July and August.

Tuesdays 5th and 19th July - tsog'khorlo practice for Buddhist practitioners

Tuesdays 12th and 26th July - Relaxing and Meditation Group

Saturday 16th July - Book Sale day at Aro Ling, Bristol

Wednesday 27th to Sunday 31st July - Surya Eco Yoga Camp, near Falmouth, Cornwall. (I will be teaching sKu-m-Nyé and leading relaxation and meditation sessions. I will also be offering pulse diagnosis and reflexology.)

Tuesdays 2nd and 16th August - tsog'khorlo practice for Buddhist practitioners

5th - 12th August - I will be on retreat

Tuesday 23rd August - Relaxing and Meditation Group (there will be no meeting on the 9th August because I will be on retreat)

18th and 25th August - lunchtime meditation at Aro Ling, Bristol 12.30 - 1.30

18th and 25th August - evening class at Aro Ling (to be confirmed)

Have you had your 10 a day?

2011-07-01T13:02:00.000+01:00

At the beginning of establishing a meditation practice the discipline of sitting every day can seem daunting. Often new meditators feel that they have to sit for twenty or thirty minutes to make it worthwhile. If we are struggling with distraction or sleepiness however, this can seem like an awfully long time, and then there can be the temptation to lapse into daydreaming to avoid the frustration of the struggle to remain alert.

Ten minutes meditation a day is actually sufficient and will quickly establish a healthy pattern of daily practice. Does ten minutes even feel too hard to do every day? Then decide to meditate for the length of three breaths several times a day. Simply stop—wherever and whenever you happen to be—and take three long slow breaths. Breathe out into the empty moment at the end of the out-breath, letting go of whatever is in your mind. After three breaths continue with your day. If you do this practice several times a day it will quickly add up to ten minutes of meditation. Once this practice is established you may find that you naturally move into a more formal practice of sitting for a ten minute period, letting go of the content of mind on the out-breath.

Hospital visiting

2011-06-30T23:40:00.000+01:00

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

My mother is in hospital at the moment. This is her second round as an in-patient this year. In January she broke her wrist. In June she broke her hip. At 95 years of age it is disorientating for her to adjust to changing environments and circumstances. The ward she is on at the University Hospital of Wales, Heath, Cardiff, is a friendly place with an optimistic atmosphere. I try to visit her every day and it can be difficult to know what to talk about. She has little occurring in her present, and her future is uncertain. Talking of the past can sometimes become distressing. She likes to hear what is happening with the family and sometimes I take in photograph albums for us to look at. We also talk about what we can see: noticing the lovely sky blue colour of the window curtains, the texture of the blanket over her knees, the sky - my mother still has a great capacity to appreciate through her sense fields if prompted to have this awareness. She is a remarkable person in many ways.

Kindle and 'an odd boy'

2011-06-27T21:59:00.000+01:00

For my birthday in May I received a Kindle. I have been so delighted with this gift and have been reading much more than I was previously and thoroughly enjoying that. It is so easy to download books and such a convenient way to read. I am now working on converting Relaxing into Meditation into Kindle format so that I can make this available for download.

I have just finished editing the latest Aro Books worldwide publication: an odd boy by Doc Togden. This is the first of four volumes. The (hopefully) final draft copy will arrive tomorrow and if it is approved by the author we will then launch it. Here's some information about the book from the Aro Books worldwide blog.

Midnight / late September 1964 / Surrey, England / a naked 12 year old schoolboy
cycles to a country crossroad . . . with a plastic guitar on his back / he
wants to be a Bluesman like Robert Johnson / he’s heard about the deal he made
with Papa Legba (the devil) – Johnson’s soul for the mastery of guitar / the boy
needs a similar arrangement.

An odd boy is a roman à clef – a memoire (1957—1975) of a Blues musician, poet,
and art student – written in the form of heart-warming romantic novel. At the
age of five—when the story begins—the family doctor described him as ‘an odd
boy’ – and in so doing, adventitiously depicted something of his precocious
obsession with the Arts and romantic chivalry.

This portrait of the artist as a young man – is a coming-of-age adventure set in
the cultural ferment of the 1960s. A high-spirited escapade—humorous and
poignant by turn—of an era when the arts set a generation’s imagination on fire.
It was an epoch of volatile excitement, naïve hope, and reckless
experimentation. Music was the revolutionary edge and its protagonists saw no
limits.

The author’s voice is whimsical, entertaining, yet insightful. The narrative is
a roulette wheel of vicissitudes: childhood wonderment and traumatic debacles;
debilitating childhood stammer and a powerful singing voice; emotional
exhilaration and near despair; outrageous good fortune and plain bad luck;
surprising encounters and untimely deaths. This optimistically nostalgic work
paints emotional panoramas entirely bereft of maudlin sentiment. It is a
surrealistic voyage – rather than a diary of hallucinogenic chaos. The narrator
is occasionally a victim of circumstances – but never a victim of
self-destructive impulses. He throws himself at life and love with verve. He
meets with triumph and disaster – but picks up the pieces and takes to the road
again with an irrepressible grin.

The primary readership will remember the ’60s fondly—or wish they had been
there. It might be described as Kerouac’s ‘On the Road’ meets ‘Under Milk Wood’.
The best comparison may be with Bob Dylan’s ‘Chronicles’. An odd boy is similar
in form: an engaging narrative as the vehicle for a quixotic extravaganza within
the world of the arts.

bookbuzzr.com - author interview

2011-06-16T12:38:00.000+01:00

Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I am 56 years old, have just celebrated 26 years of marriage, and have two grown up sons. I live in Cardiff with my husband. I have been a Buddhist for over 30 years and have been a teacher for all my professional life. I teach Buddhism, Tibetan yoga, meditation and relaxation. I also practice pulse diagnosis and reflexology. I was brought up in the West Midlands of England but moved to Wales at the beginning of the 1980s after completing a design degree.

Describe your book ‘Relaxing into Meditation’ in 30 words or less.

It describes practices of relaxation, breathing and meditation. Learn to relax the body and calm breathing. Then take that quietness into meditation and discover relaxation of mind.
What was the hardest part of writing your book?

Deciding on the final layout - it went through a number of forms before its final manifestation as short chapters, each describing an aspect of practice.

What books have had the greatest influence on you?

The books by my Buddhist teacher, written under the name 'Ngakpa Chögyam', such as 'Roaring Silence', 'Spectrum of Ecstasy', 'Wearing the Body of Visions', and the books of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, such as 'Shambala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior', 'Transcending Madness', 'Journey Without Goal', 'The Lion's Roar'.

Briefly share with us what you do to market your book?

I teach Relaxing into Meditation workshops. I have a blog: http://ngakma-nordzin.blogspot.com. I write articles for newspapers and magazines. I have had the book reviewed on blogs, in magazines, etc.

How do you spend your time when you are not writing?

I am currently quite busy attending events in my role as Chairperson for the Buddhist Council of Wales (http://www.buddhistcouncilofwales.org.uk/). I also teach at the Aro Ling Buddhist Centre in Bristol (http://aro-ling.org/) and answer correspondence from our students.

What are you working on next?

I am doing the research for a new book on Vajrayana Buddhism.

This interview and other information about me as an author can be viewed at the bookbuzzr site

Opening of the Fourth Assembly government

2011-06-12T20:42:00.001+01:00

On Tuesday June 7th HRH Queen Elizabeth II, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall came to Cardiff to officiate at the opening of the Fourth Welsh Assembly government at the Sennedd. I was fortunate to be invited to attend in my role as Chairperson for the Buddhist Council of Wales. It is the first time I have ever attended such an event and was rather amazed by all the pomp and ceremony.

The only people I knew at the event were colleagues on the Interfaith Council so I innocently sat with them in the front row on one side of the hall. I did not realise that this would mean that I was part of the 'meet and greet' at the end of the ceremony. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, led by the Presiding Officer, Rosemary Butler, approached one side of the hall and Prince Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall, and the First Minister Carwyn Jones shook hands with those of us in the front row on the other side. Prince Charles asked me about my Buddhist robes and shook my hand.

After this we had lunch at the Millennium Centre in the presence of the Royal party - though my table was a long way away from them. I had the great pleasure of sitting next to John Clifford, Mayor of the Vale of Glamorgan for the meal. He is a delightful gentleman. Nearby also was Katie Dalton, the President of Wales NUS. We enjoyed interesting conversation. The food in three courses was delicious, beautifully presented and its serving was expertly executed.

Faith, Poverty and Development Seminar

2011-06-12T19:58:00.000+01:00

Onn 2nd May I attended a seminar on Faith, Poverty and Development at City Hall, Cardiff. It was organised by Cyfanfyd, the Welsh organisation supporting ESDGC (Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship). It was attended by representatives from many organisations:

The seminar began with a highly personal and moving keynote speech by Omer Williams a white Welsh convert to Islam. After this there were three short speeches from representatives of Christian Aid, Islamic Relief and Oxfam. It was inspiring to hear of their work and aspirations.

There then followed a choice of two out of three workshops. These were:

Faith and development - looking at the influence of faith in the past and how it can contribute in the future with regard to international development;
Faiths in the Media - how the faiths are represented in the media;
Faith Tools and Resources - faith as a tool and resource for development in schools and communities.

Choosing two was difficult as they all sounded interesting, but I decided on Faiths in the Media before lunch and Faith Tools and Resources after lunch.

Faiths in the Media was a slightly misleading title, as only one faith was looked at: the Muslim faith. It was an interesting and informative workshop and I was shocked to discover quite how biased media reporting has been towards a negative view of Muslims. I was a little disappointed however that no other faiths were considered, though perhaps this was unrealistic to expect in the time available.

Faith Tools and Resources focused on One World Week. It was more interactive than the previous workshop and included an exercise to guess from which religion came a set of scriptural quotations. Working with my partner we only got three correct and I did not guess the Buddhist quotation correctly! It was fascinating to see how similar were the messages of all the quotations.

I enjoyed the seminar and valued meeting new people from different organisations and faith groups.

Schedule for June and July 2011

2011-06-01T23:32:00.000+01:00

Here is my schedule for June and July. Items in red indicate practice or teaching events. Items in blue indicate events I am attending as Chair of the Buddhist Council of Wales.

I was at Aro Ling today, 1st of June, instead of my usual Thursday slot.

Thursday 2nd June - attending Faith, Poverty and Development Seminar

Saturday 4th June - Open Day at Aro Ling in Bristol (I will give a demonstration of sKu-mNyé and a talk on Relaxing into Meditation; together with Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin we will offer 'an interesting talk')

Monday 6th June - attending the Vigil at the Senedd, Cardiff (representing the Buddhist Council of Wales, Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin and I will sing Dorje Tsig Dün)

Tuesday 7th June - attending the opening of the Senedd

Tuesdays 7th and 21st June - tsog'khorlo practice for Buddhist practitioners

Thursdays 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th June - leading lunchtime meditation (12.30 - 1.30) and teaching an sKu-mNyé evening class (Tibetan Yoga: 6 - 7.30) at Aro Ling in Bristol

Tuesdays 14th and 28th June - Relaxing and Meditation Group

Friday 17th June - attending the Interfaith Forum meeting

Monday 20th June - attending a ceremony and luncheon to celebrate the installation of the Archbishop of Wales

Tuesdays 5th and 19th July - tsog'khorlo practice for Buddhist practitioners

Tuesdays 12th and 26th July - Relaxing and Meditation Group

Wednesday 27th to Sunday 31st July - Surya Eco Yoga Camp, near Falmouth, Cornwall. (I will be teaching sKu-m-Nyé and leading relaxation and meditation sessions. I will also be offering pulse diagnosis and reflexology.)

It is likely that I will not be volunteering at Aro Ling every week from the end of June, but doing slots of several weeks which include a series of evening classes (such as the Thursdays in June), and then having a few weeks off. If this idea goes ahead I will most likely not be at Aro Ling on a Thursday in July. I will update my calendar accordingly if this proposal is adopted.

2011-05-30T21:32:00.000+01:00

On May 26th, in my role as Chair of the Buddhist Council of Wales, I attended the annual Interfaith Network meeting. This year the meeting was hosted by the Inter-Faith Council for Wales and held at the South Wales Baptist College in Cardiff. The meeting was attended by representatives from the Northern Ireland Inter-Faith Forum, the Scottish Inter Faith Council, the Inter-Faith Council for Wales, and the Inter Faith Network for the UK. The meeting was expertly chaired by Dr Harriet Crabtree, the Director of the Inter Faith Network for the UK.

This gathering is a valuable opportunity for representatives of the various UK interfaith communities to meet and share their experiences.

It was a long meeting—four and a half hours—but conducted throughout with great courtesy and respect, and with an informal and relaxed atmosphere. I feel delighted to have made contact with such a dedicated group of people. It was most interesting to hear of the different approaches and initiatives of the various regional interfaith organisations. I was particularly moved by hearing of the difficulties experienced by the Inter-Faith Forum in Northern Ireland. Their representative, Edwin Graham, has invited me to go and speak in Northern Ireland and I have accepted.

Apprentice Retreat part III

2011-05-19T17:39:00.001+01:00

I had not intended to post again about the retreat, but could not resist adding these few photographs from Ngakpa Samten.

The composting toilets.

Airing the drums.

The storm kettles (kelly or gilly kettle) - a fast and efficient way to boil water.


A view from Caer Caradoc.


The sheep broke like a wave across the hillside.

Apprentice Retreat part II

2011-05-18T18:12:00.000+01:00

The final day of our apprentice retreats is always celebratory. In the morning we practise tsog'khorlo. This is a practice of sharing food and company. It is an opportunity to view one another purely as dakas (pawos - heroes, warriors) and dakinis (khandros - sky-goers), to enter the dimension of non-duality, and to renew vows. It is a practice that wishes everyone and everything everywhere to be happy and fulfilled.

Often in the afternoon we engage in an expedition that challenges us a little physically and offers the opportunity to engage with practice through the opening of the sense fields. This time we climbed Caer Caradoc. It was the first time I had attempted such a climb since damaging my knees a few years ago coming off my horse, Red. I wondered how I would cope. Part of the walk was seriously steep and the only way I could manage this was to tack back and forth across the path. This worked well.

We arrived at the first crest and rested for a while. The views were wonderful. From there it looked like an easier walk up to the peak . . . but Caer Caradoc is one of those hills with a sense of humour. Three times we climbed to 'the peak' only to find that there was another bit of hill still to do. Eventually we did arrive at the peak and relished the magnificent 360 degree panoramic view. The wind was blowing a gale and it felt as though we might take off. Ravens circled above us effortlessly riding the wind. We found a spot slightly out of the wind and sat down. We sang Dorje Tsig Dün to the tune of the Flight of the Vulture and meditated together for a while.

Going down was much faster than going up and very hard on the knees. My legs felt quite wobbly and my knees we hurting by the time we reached the more level track at the bottom of the hill. The walk back to the car was gentle and level however, and my legs and knees gradually recovered.

In the evening we had our celebration, entertaining one another with performances of songs. And so the retreat was over. It was an inspiring and enjoyable week and we are all looking forward to being there for retreat again - even those who had been uncertain about a camping retreat.

Apprentice Retreat part I

2011-05-17T15:41:00.000+01:00

The encampment.

I have just been on retreat for a week with our students. This was our first camping retreat on the land in Shropshire belonging to one of our student's, Ngakpa Samten. He is creating a forest permaculture on 2½ acres of land previously used for horse grazing. His partner is converting the stables to grow exotic mushrooms. An area of the land is being left as pasture for occasional camping and for one or two retreats a year.

The gazebo/motordome practice tent.

It was an international event as we have a highly international sangha. Two came from Germany, two from Austria, one from France and the remainder from the UK. Some of them are not too keen on camping and had been looking forward to this retreat with a degree of trepidation. As the weather had been sunny and dry in the UK for around eight weeks, I felt pretty sure that we would have some wet weather at least. I was not wrong. The weather was extraordinary: high winds, rain ranging from gentle to torrential, thunder and lightening, amazing cloud formations and unusual sky phenomena. We had it all and it was cold in the mornings and evenings.

The marquee kitchen/diner.

A large yurt had been ordered for the event but unfortunately was not ready in time. Consequently the combination of our motordome (aka Tharpa Ling) and a new gazebo had to function as our practice room. This was mostly successful, though the join between the two could not be made secure enough to keep the rain out and it was not as snug as a yurt would have been. It had been intended that the gazebo and motordome would be the kitchen/dining area. The yurt makers had lent Ngakpa Samten a marquee as some recompense, but this was not big enough to use as a practice room, so this was used as a our kitchen/diner. We had to add a tarpauline lean-to so that water could be boiled in storm kettles when it was raining without filling the marquee with smoke. The kitchen/diner was most civilised with a table to eat at, bottled gas cooking and storage.

People slept in a number of tents and no one (except for a married couple) had to share a room. Ngakpa Samten slept in his camper van, and we had a campervan/awning with bedroom combo. Composting toilets were provided. In all it was most comfortable. The weather did not inconvenience us too much and sometimes being rather cold was the only problem. We may move the retreat a couple of weeks nearer to summer next year, though it is unusually cold in the evenings in the UK at the moment.

Sun dogs and a circle round the sun.

Ngakpa Zhal'mèd led trulkhor practice.

The format of the days was: morning practice 7 - 9, then breakfast; teachings after breakfast till lunch on Vajra Romance; after lunch (weather permitting) physical practice and craft work till dinner; after dinner more teachings and an empowerment one evening. The Monday of the retreat was my birthday, so we went to a restaurant for a meal that night.

Lovely sunsets every evening.

An extraordinary rainbow around the sun.

On the last day of the retreat we practised tsog'khorlo (gana puja) in the morning and climbed Caer Caradog near Church Stretton in the afternoon. More on this in the next post

Big Little City Exhibition

2011-04-17T21:55:00.000+01:00

Last year I wrote an article for the 'We Are Cardiff' blog. The article was illustrated with a photograph taken by Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin of me with my mare, Dee. Currently there is an exhibition taking place in The Old Library on The Hayes in Cardiff city centre called 'Big Little City'. A selection of six articles from the We Are Cardiff blog have been included in the exhibition and my article is one of the chosen six.

'ö-Dzin's photograph is fantastic - a happy accident, catching Dee and me just at the right moment.

The article is copied below:

“In Cardiff they name roads as salutations to angels”

My first impression of Cardiff was somewhat romantic. My dearest friend – later to become my husband – lived in ‘Hail Gabriel’. How fantastic I thought – in Cardiff they name roads as salutations to angels. I later learned that ‘hail’ was in fact ‘heol’ and simply meant ‘road’, but by that time I was already in love with Cardiff and it mattered not.
It was an interest in Buddhism that brought me to Cardiff. I had been attending weekend events at the Lam Rim Buddhist Centre in Raglan for two or three years and had developed friendships with people living in Cardiff. On first moving to Cardiff as a newly qualified teacher, I worked in many schools throughout the city providing supply cover. I struggled with the children’s names. Rhiannon, Angharad and Iwan were new names to me, and even familiar names were spelt strangely, such as Dafydd, Alun or Huw. I never did get used to children telling me that they had ‘been to England’ for their summer holiday. It had been quite usual for my family to go to Wales for a holiday, but it just sounded really odd to hear people saying the same about England. For me England had always been where I lived, not a place you went to for a vacation.
I have taught in Community Education since I first moved to Cardiff in 1983. At first I taught pottery as I had trained in art and design, particularly ceramics. The health problems of my children when they were little led me into studying homoeopathy and so I taught this for a while. Underlying all my experience and work is my life as a Buddhist practitioner and I am now ordained as a ngakma, and so in more recent years my community education teaching was meditation and Tibetan yoga. My second book has just been published which draws on my experience of these classes. Relaxing into Meditation offers a gentle and pragmatic approach to the practice of meditation through relaxation and breathing exercises. We also run a weekly meditation class in Whitchurch which anyone is welcome to attend.
Cardiff is both spacious and compact. It is spacious with the many wonderful areas of open parkland where you can cycle or walk and feel part of nature. It is compact in that the main shopping centre is easily covered in a single expedition whilst still offering a great range of shops. We call our local Whitchurch shopping area ‘the village’ and indeed there are many such areas surrounding the city centre and each has its own personality. I also love that I need only travel a few miles north from my home in Whitchurch and be in beautiful and scenic countryside.
My two sons are Welsh like their father, and I now feel rather more Welsh than English. Although the sound of a Brummy accent makes me feel warm inside and brings a smile to my face, Cardiff, and Wales are my home. I have tried to learn the Welsh language with some success – I can read and write simple Welsh, but I have never succeeded in tuning in my ear to hearing it. I pick up words here and there, but I cannot follow the flow of a conversation. I hope to get back to this soon and improve my understanding.
I revitalised a love of horse riding at Pontcanna riding stables and eventually, in my middle age, realised a childhood dream of owning my own horse by purchasing a mare from them. We now have two horses and livery them at the splendid Briwnant Riding Centre in Rhiwbina. It still amazes me that I can keep my horses five miles from the city centre and yet ride for hours on woodland trails, hardly needing to touch a road.
Ngakma Nor’dzin Pamo grew up in the Midlands of England and moved to Wales as an adult. Her training in meditation began in the early 1980s and in 1989 she was ordained and became the first Western woman to take ordination into the non-monastic tradition of Nyingma Tibetan Buddhism. Her first book, Spacious Passion, was published in 2006. Her most recent book, Relaxing into Meditation, is available now through Aro Books Worldwide. Follow her online through her blogs, ceffylau.blogspot.com, transport-of-delight.blogspot.com, ngakma-nordzin.blogspot.com or spacious-passion.org. She currently lives in Whitchurch with her husband and has two sons.
Nor’dzin was photographed with her mare, Dee, at Briwnant riding stables in Rhiwbina. She was photographed by her husband, ‘ö-Dzin Tridral

Relaxation Meditation

2011-04-05T17:21:00.000+01:00

The next Relaxing into Meditation evening will be next Tuesday 12th April in Whitchurch, North Cardiff. The evening will include relaxation techniques, breathing exercises and guided meditation. I will lead the practice and teach how to meditate, and explain why it is important to be relaxed when meditating. Relaxation and meditation can help with stress relief and enable us to live our lives with a sense of well being.

Relaxing into Meditation

Tuesday 12th April

7 pm – 8 pm

Whitchurch, Cardiff

Come along and enjoy an evening of exercises to relax the body and calm the mind.
No previous experience necessary. Everyone welcome.
No charge – donations welcome.

At this practice group Nor’dzin Pamo will lead short sessions of
relaxation, breathing exercises, and meditation.
She is the author of ‘Relaxing into Meditation’, and has
25 years practice experience.

If you would like to come along to the group please contact me via Facebook or Twitter, or leave a comment on this blog and I will get back to you with full details of the venue.

April/May schedule

2011-04-03T14:24:00.001+01:00

Spring is fully sprung - although it is still pretty cold here in Cardiff. The sunshine and blossoms are most enjoyable.

You may have noticed that I have added a few pages to the blog: About, Calendar, Teacher, Author, Therapist. The 'About' page replaces the profile at the top of the blog. 'Calendar' takes you to a calendar of upcoming events with just me, or with me and Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin as a teaching couple. The three pages 'Teacher', 'Author', 'Therapist' are taken from the three-fold leaflet I produce to tell people about who I am. I have also added links to my Facebook page and Twitter - please do befriend and follow!

Here are my events for April and May:
Tue 5 Apr - talk at St Martin's School, Caerphilly, 14:00
Tue 5 Apr - tsog'khorlo, 19.00, practice for Buddhists, Whitchurch, Cardiff
Thu 7 Apr - Lunchtime meditation, 12:30 – 13:30, Aro Ling, Bristol
Thu 7 Apr - sKu-mNyé (Tibetan yoga), 14:30 – 16.00, Aro Ling, Bristol
Thu 7 Apr - Relaxing into Meditation class, 18:00 – 19.30, Aro Ling, Bristol
Tue 12 Apr - Relaxing into Meditation Group, 19:00 – 20:00, Whitchurch, Cardiff
Thu 14 Apr - Lunchtime meditation, 12:30 – 13:30, Aro Ling, Bristol
Thu 14 Apr - sKu-mNyé (Tibetan yoga), 14:30 – 16.00, Aro Ling, Bristol
Thu 14 Apr - Relaxing into Meditation class, 18:00 – 19.30, Aro Ling, Bristol
Thu 14 Apr - Mon 2 May - We Are Cardiff exhibition, Old Library, The Hayes, Cardiff, featuring Ngakma Nor'dzin
Sat 16 Apr - Meditation through Sound and Music, 10:00 – 17:00, Aro Ling, Bristol, day of teaching with Ngakma Nor'dzin and Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin
Tues 19 Apr - tsog'khorlo, 19.00, practice for Buddhists, Whitchurch, Cardiff
Thu 21 Apr - Lunchtime meditation, 12:30 – 13:30, Aro Ling, Bristol
Thu 21 Apr - sKu-mNyé (Tibetan yoga), 14:30 – 16.00, Aro Ling, Bristol
Thu 21 Apr - Relaxing into Meditation class, 18:00 – 19.30, Aro Ling, Bristol
Tue 26 Apr - Relaxing into Meditation Group, 19:00 – 20:00, Whitchurch, Cardiff
Thu 28 Apr - Lunchtime meditation, 12:30 – 13:30, Aro Ling, Bristol
Thu 28 Apr - sKu-mNyé (Tibetan yoga), 14:30 – 16.00, Aro Ling, Bristol
Thu 28 Apr - Relaxing into Meditation class, 18:00 – 19.30, Aro Ling, Bristol

Tue 03 May - tsog'khorlo, 19.00, practice for Buddhists, Whitchurch, Cardiff
Thu 5 May - Lunchtime meditation, 12:30 – 13:30, Aro Ling, Bristol
Thu 5 May - sKu-mNyé (Tibetan yoga), 14:30 – 16.00, Aro Ling, Bristol
Thu 5 May - Relaxing into Meditation class, 18:00 – 19.30, Aro Ling, Bristol
Fri 6 May - Fri 13 May - Apprentice retreat, Maes Myfyrio, Church Stretton -
private retreat for students of the Aro Lineage
Tue 17 May - tsog'khorlo, 19.00, practice for Buddhists, Whitchurch, Cardiff
Thu 19 May - Lunchtime meditation, 12:30 – 13:30, Aro Ling, Bristol
Thu 19 May - sKu-mNyé (Tibetan yoga), 14:30 – 16.00, Aro Ling, Bristol
Thu 19 May - Relaxing into Meditation class, 18:00 – 19.30, Aro Ling, Bristol
Tue 24 May - Relaxing into Meditation Group, 19:00 – 20:00, Whitchurch, Cardiff
Thu 26 May - Lunchtime meditation, 12:30 – 13:30, Aro Ling, Bristol
Thu 26 May - sKu-mNyé (Tibetan yoga), 14:30 – 16.00, Aro Ling, Bristol
Thu 26 May - Relaxing into Meditation class, 18:00 – 19.30, Aro Ling, Bristol

Relaxing into Meditation group and class

2011-03-29T17:28:00.000+01:00

A week has gone by already since the first meeting of the Relaxing into Meditation Group. It was a most enjoyable and successful evening. There were seven of us altogether and another four people who sent apologies for the first meeting but want to come to another one - so this is a good beginning. We practised Tense and Relax, Refreshing Stretch, Singing Om, A'a and Hung and two ten minute periods of Letting Go. Then we had a cup of tea with biscuits and a chat so that everyone could get to know each other.

We have decided to meet twice a month on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month from 7 till 8, so the next meeting will be on 12th April. Do contact me for details if you would like to come along and join us for this hour of practice.

The first evening last Thursday of my 7 week course on Relaxing into Meditation, at Aro Ling Buddhist Centre in Bristol, also got off to a good start. It was a lively and intelligent group of people who asked great questions.

The flower is from my garden. The spring sunshine has been replaced with gentle refreshing rain today which sparkles on the perfect camellia flowers.

Buddhist Council of Wales

2011-03-28T23:09:00.001+01:00

Yesterday was the meeting of the Buddhist Council of Wales. Myself and my husband, Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin Tridral have been attending the meetings for a few years as Aro Lineage representatives. I have been working on their website a little as well. Yesterday I was elected as Chair – a post that lasts for up to three years.

My first duty as Chair was to attend a function at Cardiff Castle this evening. This was described as a 'meet and greet' with Jon House, the Chief Executive of Cardiff Council, Judith Woodman, the Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Communities, Housing and Social Justice, and a representative of Cardiff Police whose name I did not catch, with representatives of various faith communities in Cardiff.

The main part of the evening took place in the magnificent banqueting hall of Cardiff Castle. Judith Woodman and Jon House gave information on the work of Cardiff Council to benefit the communities of Cardiff and invited those of us present representing faith communities to keep in touch with them to voice the needs of religious communities in Cardiff.

After their presentations and questions and answers, we were treated to a short tour of the castle. We visited the Marquis of Bute's bedroom, the small dining room, the drawing room and the library. Our guide was most informative and entertaining.

The photograph of Cardiff Castle was taken by 'ö-Dzin in December. I believe that we walked up the steps of the circular tower to access the Marquis of Bute's bedroom.

Today!! Relaxing into Meditation

2011-03-22T14:36:00.000Z

Evening group today 22nd March

Still a couple of places left for this evening of relaxation and meditation. Contact me now for venue details.

Contact me via this blog, Facebook (Nor'dzin Pamo) or on Twitter (nordzin).

Relaxing into Meditation

Tuesday 22^nd March

7 pm – 8 pm

Whitchurch, Cardiff

Come along and enjoy an evening of exercises to relax the body and calm the mind.
No previous experience necessary. Everyone welcome.
No charge – donations welcome.

At this practice group Nor’dzin Pamo will lead short sessions of
relaxation, breathing exercises, and meditation.
The author of ‘Relaxing into Meditation’, she has
25 years practice experience.

________________________________________________________________

Relaxing into Meditation by Ngakma Nor'dzin
Aro Books worldwide ISBN 978-1-898185-17-8 http://bit.ly/nrprim

Available from Lulu.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, and other bookshops worldwide.

Janet Fitch's 10 rules for writers

2011-03-14T13:31:00.001Z

I recently joined the Books and Writers group on Linkedin. Sometimes they offer links to helpful articles. I particularly liked 'Janet Fitch's 10 rules for writers' published in the LA Times last summer by Carolyn Kellogg.

Janet Fitch is the author of 'White Oleander' and 'Paint it Black'. The full text of her writing guidelines can be seen on her blog, but the headings of the rules are here to whet your appetite:

Write the sentence, not just the story.
Pick a better verb
Kill the cliché.
Variety is the key.
Explore sentences using dependent clauses.
Use the landscape.
Smarten up your protagonist.
Learn to write dialogue.
Write in scenes.
Torture your protagonist.

The article also has a useful group of references to other writers for further research.

Original artwork: 'Spring Daffodils' by Nor'dzin Pamo, available at Zazzle

________________________________________________________________
Relaxing into Meditation by Ngakma Nor'dzin
Aro Books worldwide ISBN 978-1-898185-17-8 http://bit.ly/nrprim

Available from Lulu.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, and other bookshops worldwide.

Evening group 22nd March

2011-03-10T23:57:00.000Z

I am holding an evening meeting for relaxation and meditation on 22nd March, 7 - 8 pm.
I am hoping this will become a group that meets regularly once or twice a month.
If you live in South Wales, UK, do come along and join us.

Contact me via this blog, Facebook (Nor'dzin Pamo) or on Twitter (nordzin) for details of venue. Hope to see you.

Relaxing into Meditation

Tuesday 22^nd March

7 pm – 8 pm

Whitchurch, Cardiff

Come along and enjoy an evening of exercises to relax the body and calm the mind.
No previous experience necessary. Everyone welcome.
No charge – donations welcome.

Jane Austen Award competition

2011-03-10T13:47:00.000Z

I discovered the delightful blog Crumpets and Tea via a tweet by the illustrious Stephen Fry.

Earlier this month the editor of Crumpets and Tea, Ashley Harnett, informed readers of the second Jane Austen Short Story Award. The award is given by Chawton House Library and the entry fee is only £10.

They say that their intention "is to publish the very best short fiction."
For full details go to their site, but briefly, they are looking for "short stories of 2,000-2,500 words in length" and the theme is "the heroes and villains in Jane Austen’s novels." First prize is £1,000 with two runners up of £200 each, plus all winners win a week’s writers’ retreat at Chawton House. Also "seventeen other shortlisted authors will receive £40 plus publication in the winners’ anthology".

The closing date is the 31st March 2011 so time to start scribbling. If you are a fan of Jane Austen—like me—then this could be the competition for you.

Good luck if you enter.

Ancient wisdom

2011-03-09T10:20:00.001Z

An interesting post by Amy Harrison of Copyblogger about Aristotle and the Ancient Greek philosophers and their relevance to us today. Extract below.
To see the full post go to: http://www.copyblogger.com/aristotle-copywriter/.
I think it offers helpful guidelines for both writing and promoting our written work.

“Rhetoric is the art of using language for persuasive ends. Not unlike copywriting.

Aristotle was ... well-versed in rhetoric and persuasion ... and came up with his own rules of persuasion.

And despite these rules being more than 2300 years old, when you apply them to your copywriting, you’ve got something that persuades as well as being authentic and having integrity.

Ethos (show off those lovely morals of yours)

Aristotle pretty much said that having good morals and an above-board character wasn’t enough; you had to establish this to your audience. In other words, it doesn’t matter how wonderful and ethical a person you are if you don’t communicate that.

This is not about putting on a front, but revealing your character in ways such as:

Sharing personal experience, (prove you know what your audience is going through)
Avoiding inaccessible language (no jargon, or fancy speak, just plain talk please)
Showing you have a genuine desire to help (such as a generous money-back guarantee if you can’t)
Showing you have the expertise and knowledge for what you say you can do (give testimonials, and list any credentials you may have)
Showing that you are personally experienced in what you say you can do. (been where your readers are now and found the success they want? Let them know your story)

Ethos is a powerful persuasive force — don’t ignore it.

Logos (give them proof, not piffle!)

Aristotle was pretty hot on the use of Logos. (Not the brightly-colored corporate image kind, but the Greek word for “word” or “reason,” and connected to our own word logic.)

To put it simply, logos means if you want to make a point, you’d better back it up with proof. You can’t just go out there making pie-in-the sky promises.

It was what really set him apart from the Sophists, and it can set your copywriting apart if you:

Avoid ambiguity (trade in your “things” and “stuff” for specific language, and swap out superlatives for rock-solid benefits and results)
Don’t use hyperbole (don’t tell them their life will be awesome after reading your eBook, inform them what they will actually learn from it, and what they will be able to do with the knowledge)
Follow every point you’re making with proof (watch out for phrases like “we all know that…” or “ it’s important to…” research it, prove it and win them over)

Pathos (get them feeling something)

To trigger those emotional points in your persuasive and authentic copy, you’ll want to:

Use stories to enhance visualization (be descriptive about your readers’ pain or problem and use vivid examples of what their life could be like)
Ask questions to engage (particularly when a response proves your argument or gets them to articulate their problem)
Make your writing flow naturally (write in your own voice, build suspense, and pull your reader’s attention along)
Save the end of your argument for a big push of pathos — of emotional drive — that moves your audience (to take action!)

So if you fancy following in Aristotle’s footsteps (beard and tunic optional) double-check your copy to make sure it displays your robust character, is backed up with plenty of proof, and stirs your audience’s emotions enough to take action.”

Thank you Amy for a thought-provoking post.
________________________________________________________________

Relaxing into Meditation by Ngakma Nor'dzin
Aro Books worldwide ISBN 978-1-898185-17-8 http://bit.ly/nrprim

Available from Lulu.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, and other bookshops worldwide.

Encouraging message

2011-03-04T13:36:00.003Z

I have received a nice email from a lady called Kristine Goldynia. She wrote:

“I am reading your book Relaxing into Meditation. I have always struggled with sitting meditation, seems like I could sing hours of mantra, yet to sit for 2 minutes was so very difficult for me. I am really finding your book [and the] recordings that go along with it to be very helpful and practical, thank you for writing it!”

Thank you Kristine for taking the trouble to write to me. I wish you all success with your meditation practice, and it is good to hear that Relaxing into Meditation is doing its job.

The audio files that accompany the book can be bought as a CD or downloaded at Lulu.
________________________________________________________________

Relaxing into Meditation by Ngakma Nor'dzin
Aro Books worldwide ISBN 978-1-898185-17-8 http://bit.ly/nrprim

Available from Lulu.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, and other bookshops worldwide.

Not so busy as expected

2011-03-02T13:34:00.001Z

Sometimes things work well and sometimes they don't . . .

The day at Holland and Barrett health store was a little disappointing. They kept telling me that they were always ‘really busy’ on a Saturday – but ‘really busy’ never materialised. The shop was quiet all day. My position was right at the back of the store and a lot of people never even made it that far into the shop. The staff were most friendly and obliging and have offered me another Saturday there – which I’ll think about. I will need to carefully consider whether it is the right type of venue for me.

Of the people I did chat to on Saturday however, quite a few did express an interest in a Relaxing into Meditation group in Cardiff, so I hope that I can get something going from that.
_________________________________________________________________________

Relaxing into Meditation by Ngakma Nor'dzin
Aro Books worldwide ISBN 978-1-898185-17-8 http://bit.ly/nrprim

Available from Lulu.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, and other bookshops worldwide.

Pagan Spirits blog

2011-02-18T20:00:00.001Z

The same article as featured in the previous post also appeared as a guest blog entry on Erin O'Riordan's Pagan Spirits blog on 6th February.

Holland & Barrett

2011-02-16T23:36:00.000Z

Following on from their review of Relaxing into Meditation in their magazine Healthy, Holland & Barrett have invited me to their store in St David's Centre, Cardiff for a day to talk to customers. I have designed the following flier for the event.

Holland & Barrett

St David’s Centre, Cardiff

Saturday 26^th February

Ngakma Nor’dzin

Relaxing into Meditation was reviewed in the January/February
2011 edition of Healthy, the Holland and Barrett magazine.
The author will be in store to talk to customers on Feb 26^th.

‘Ngakma Nor’dzin, a Western Buddhist believes that regularly practising relaxation and
meditation is essential for a totally stress-free life. This book provides a step-by-step guide
to the various methods that can help relieve stress and leave you feeling more calm. It is
easy to follow, with illustrations that help you understand the techniques suggested – it will
leave you feeling at peace in no time. A good book for beginner meditators.’

Healthy is published bi-monthly and costs £1.75.
It is available from all Holland and Barrett Shops.

For more info: arobooksworldwide@gmail.com 07092984691

If you are in Cardiff on the 26th February, come in and say hello.

Asana magazine article

2011-02-15T23:21:00.000Z

Asana, an international Yoga journal, asked me to write an article for their magazine and it was published in their January 2011 edition. They asked for a particular layout and format with numbered points.

Relaxing into meditation teaches us how to live contentedly with a sense of well-being. We discover spacious peace of mind even when our life circumstances are far from ideal. Relaxation teaches us how to relax the body and meditation teaches us how to relax the mind. We discover that total relaxation of body and mind is our natural condition.

1. Relaxing the body.

Stress and unhappiness manifest in the body, so we begin by relaxing our muscles. We can achieve this by systematically tensing muscle groups throughout the body and then relaxing the tension on the out-breath. We can stretch the body and move into various postures, relaxing as we breathe out.

2. Relaxing the breath

When we are agitated our breathing becomes faster and more shallow. When we slow and deepen our breathing we become calmer. We can harness awareness of the out-breath through visualising tension streaming out of the body as we breath out; and we can cleanse the breath through alternate nostril breathing.

3. Relaxing the voice

When we are happy we may spontaneously burst into song, but it is hard to sing when we are sad or stressed. We can therefore learn to relax through free energetic sound. We can sing yogic syllables and give ourselves permission to make as much noise as we wish without caring about the harmony or disharmony of our voice. We sing the sound Ahhhhhh for the length of an out-breath and release energetic tension with the sound.

4. Ready for meditation

Having relaxed the body we wish to retain this sense of comfort and calm when we start to meditate. It is therefore essential to find a sitting posture for meditation in which we can be relaxed but alert. Relaxing the mind is more difficult than relaxing the body so we want to be as physically comfortable as possible so that the body does not distract the mind. The body should be upright, balanced and unrestricted. The spine should be erect but relaxed. The body should be balanced and not twisted or placed in a position that requires effort to maintain. Blood needs to flow freely to all parts of the body and in particular to the limbs without constriction or pressure.

5. Relaxing the mind

Meditation relaxes the mind through letting go of thought to experience mind without thought. Thought is an intricate conceptual mesh that surrounds the still deep quietness of empty mind and acts as a filter for everything that we experience. To relax the mind we need to loosen and let go of this mesh in order to discover and understand mind when it is no longer defined by thought. Thought is a natural process of mind but thought is not the essence of mind. We can only discover ultimate relaxation if we learn to become familiar and comfortable in the empty essence of the nature of mind. We begin by using the breath as a focus and letting go of thought as we breath out. Over time we can let go of the breath as a focus and simply let go of thought whenever it arises. Gradually spaciousness develops in the mind and it becomes easy to dwell in the space of mind without thought.

6. Daily practice

Learning to let go of thought and relax the mind requires commitment and effort. Meditating every day gradually allows the mind to settle and let go of thought, and increases our capacity to concentrate and experience spaciousness of mind. It is more productive to meditate for a short period every day than it is to meditate for a longer period more occasionally. The length of our daily practice must be realistic and easily achievable so that it does not become a burden or a chore. Ten minutes of meditation a day is all that is required for meditation to become a life skill that is simply part of who we are. At first we will continually lose our focus and we may find this frustrating, but we must not develop self-deprecation. Whenever we realise that we have lost concentration we must celebrate this as a moment of re-emerging awareness. To recognise loss of awareness is to have regained awareness. Over time a commitment to practising Letting Go every day will produce startling results. We will start to understand our relationship with thought and develop increased awareness. We will start to feel more relaxed about who we are. We will start to feel less pressured by our life circumstances. We will begin to let go of self-centredness and find joy in being kind to others.

7. Further practice

When we have established a daily practice of Letting Go we can experiment with contemplative practices that change our ordinary view. We can examine our relationship with others through looking at how we interact with a friend, an enemy and a stranger. We can practise purification visualisation to discover clarity, and we can practise methods of developing loving kindness to enrich ourselves and develop openness and generosity.

Through relaxing the body we feel refreshed and invigorated. Through relaxing the mind we discover openness and clarity. Over time the moments of experience of mind without thought will lengthen and occur more frequently and this spaciousness of mind will start to sparkle in our everyday lives. We will start to notice our habit patterns and cease to be their victim. We will discover that we have a choice about who we are and how we live our lives. We will discover emotion as naked energy and sensory experience will become enlivened. We will find that we become more open, patient, tolerant and kind people through the spaciousness of mind we have realised. We discover open appreciation and enjoyment and awaken to our natural state of well-being.
_________________________________________________________________________

Relaxing into Meditation by Ngakma Nor'dzin
Aro Books worldwide ISBN 978-1-898185-17-8 http://bit.ly/nrprim

Available from Lulu.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, and other bookshops worldwide.

Bobbing

2011-02-05T23:02:00.000Z

It has been fascinating watching Relaxing into Meditation bobbing up and down the list of the top 100 books in the Tibetan Buddhism category on Amazon UK. At one point it was 5th on the list – up there with as illustrious names as the Dalai Lama, Pema Chödron and Trungpa Rinpoche.

I have not received any sales figures from my publisher, Aro Books Worldwide, as yet, so I do not know what the bobbing indicates – hopefully sales and swimming on to success (and not treading water or drowning!)

Relaxing into Meditation – illustrations

2011-01-24T23:39:00.000Z

Illustrations can often be something of a tricky question for an author. They do add an enjoyable extra dimension to a book, but they can also be a distraction. In Relaxing into Meditation the illustrations are entirely pragmatic – they illustrate the text. They are functional rather than decorative. They are essential to clarify points of the exercise descriptions. Hence the illustrations needed to be clear and easy to understand.

To enable Relaxing into Meditation to fall within a reasonable price bracket for that type of book, the illustrations could not add expense to production of the book – so they had to be in black and white, or greyscale. Most of the illustrations are of people so black and white photography was an option I considered. I feel that photographs in a work of reference need to be of exceptional quality. Poor quality photographs reduce the sense of value of the whole work. I did not have skill to produce photographs of the necessary quality and paying to have so many photographs created would be expensive – so I rejected this as a possibility.

The obvious alternative to photographs is drawings. I particularly like the line drawings that are created prior to the skilled work of painting a Tibetan thangka. Some of these can be seen on the Aro Buddhism Encyclopædia website and an example is shown here of Guru Rinpoche. Although I would not claim to have the consumate skill of a thangka painter, I do hold a degree in design and felt that I could produce reasonable line images. I rarely have time to be creative with pencil or paint nowadays but have produced an occasional nice piece in days past. Some of my artwork can be viewed on Zazzle.

The pictures of figures in Relaxing into Meditation began with photographs. They were then imported into the Gimp (GNU Image Manipulation Programme). I used bezier curves to create drawings from the photographs. The simplicity of the lines is deliberate. I felt that the addition of shading would only complicate the images and obfuscate their message. I feel the line drawings successfully do the job they are meant to do. I also like that there is a uniformity of style of drawings throughout the book so that even when I use Khandro Déchen's drawing of Yeshé Tsogyel, and Ngak'chang Rinpoche's calligraphies there is a similar feel to the images.

The set of drawings illustrating rhythm breathing are intentionally the same image adjusted to indicate the movement. This means that if you flick the pages of the book showing this set of images you can almost get a sense of the movement of the exercise.

I believe the line drawing illustrations in Relaxing into Meditation do their job and are fit for their purpose. Friends can recognise the members of my family who posed for the original photographs from which the images were created – so I feel this reflects an accuracy of their depiction. I am pleased with them and like their crispness and cleanness. I hope you like them as well.

Tanzin Rinpoche review

2011-01-19T20:00:00.000Z

I am delighted to hear from Zorba Publishers that they have received a review of Relaxing into Meditation from Lopön Ogyan Tanzin Rinpoche. He wrote the foreword to my first book, Spacious Passion, so I am thrilled to receive his endorsement of my second book. Many thanks to him.

The picture is of me with Tanzin Rinpoche and his wife Jomo Chöku Wangmo during their visit to Wales in 2004. I accompanied Tanzin Rinpoche on a number of talks in various venues. Here we are with the Religious Education 'A' level group at my son's school. (He is the long-haired lad in a grey top directly behind Rinpoche and his wife.)

The text of the review follows:

In Relaxing into Meditation, Ngakma Nor’dzin, an English-born Buddhist lama with many years’ experience teaching meditation in community education, takes her readers on a journey, a journey of self-discovery through greater openness and awareness.

As she points out in her introduction, many people come to meditation seeking relaxation and relief from the stress of daily life. However, the discipline required to practise meditation may itself seem incompatible with such a goal. Furthermore, trying to learn meditation at times of great personal strain, as often happens when people approach the subject after facing bereavement, illness or other problems, may prove difficult. That is why she begins the book by introducing her readers to various techniques of relaxation, such as tensing and relaxing different parts of the body, using the experiences of listening to music or of singing, and breathing exercises. Other methods, such as gazing at a candle flame or singing sacred syllables, are gradually introduced in order to enhance the practice and as a transition to meditation per se. Indeed, it is only out of a state of profound relaxation of body and mind that the fruits of meditation can ultimately be reaped.

Meditation as understood here has nothing particularly exotic about it, but is rather a simple way of developing greater awareness and mindfulness. As the author notes, we can thereby learn to step aside and take a look at the roller coaster of our lives, or else enjoy riding the roller coaster with keener awareness. Here, readers are taught to let go of the thoughts arising in their mind. The meditation progresses from first counting the out-breaths to merely focusing on the out-breath until one engages with formless practice.

Other methods explained in this book include meditation on loving kindness and sounding and visualizing a white A syllable. Visualization is indeed a powerful method of meditation, as it allows one to transform the mind. The author is right to emphasize that it is necessary not just to have a mental image, but indeed to have a felt awareness of the deity visualized. For all these meditation exercises, our body’s posture is a great support in our practice, so that an entire chapter is devoted to the subject. Generally speaking, the posture should enable us to engage with the practice in a way that is relaxed yet alert. Meditation cushions and belt can be helpful in this regard, and the book contains several appendices with practical instructions to fabricate them.

Rather than being a dry scholarly treatment of the subject, it is that of an adept who shares her own experience and know-how with her readers – it is certain that this hands-on approach will be much appreciated by practitioners. Of course, in learning an art as profound and subtle as meditation, a book, however well written, cannot act as a replacement for a living teacher, who will guide students according to their particular needs and faculties. However, this book, written in clear and simple prose, certainly provides a useful starting point for beginners interested in learning meditation. The wealth of methods it offers may also serve as a memory-aid to more advanced practitioners.

Approached as a technique for well-being, meditation no doubt may help us find a greater sense of peace and fulfilment in our lives. But as a method of spiritual development, it can yield far profounder benefits, ranging from the physical through the emotional and intellectual to the spiritual: it can indeed allow us to tap into our deepest human potential and uncover the spacious and luminous nature of our mind.

Lopon P. Ogyan Tanzin (Ogyan Chokhor Ling, Sarnath, Varanasi, India).

Western Mail – How to: meditate

2011-01-11T22:52:00.000Z

The Western Mail—a prominent South Wales newspaper—features a ‘how to . . . ’ article in their Lifestyle section every Tuesday. Today they featured my article ‘How to : meditate’. They shortened and altered the text slightly for publication. Below is the full article in its original form:

how to . . .

… relax into meditation

Many people want to learn how to meditate because they believe it will help them with stress and teach them to live contentedly with a sense of well-being. It is true that meditation has the potential to achieve this in our lives, but this will only be possible if meditation becomes a regular activity – preferably a daily practice. Trying to meditate even for as long as half an hour when you have little experience can become a daunting prospect.

So how can we start to meditate and establish a practice that is enjoyable and sustainable? A good place to begin is with relaxing the body:

Either lying down or sitting in a chair systematically tense muscle groups throughout the body and then breathe away tension on the out-breath. Tense the arms and then relax them as you breathe out. Tense the hands and then relax them as you breathe out. Then do the same with the legs and feet. Next move to the shoulders tensing them forwards and then relaxing, backwards and then relaxing and bringing them up to your ears and then relaxing. Always relax on the out-breath. Then follow the same procedure with the stomach muscles and then the buttock muscles, tensing and relaxing. Finally stretch the neck muscles relaxing into the stretch on the out-breath: gently roll the neck first to the left and then to the right; lift the head back to stretch the neck under the chin, and then bring your chin to your chest to stretch the back of the neck; tip your head first to the left and then to the right trying to bring your ear to your shoulder to stretch the sides of the neck. Relax into the stretch on the out-breath.

Repeat this process of tense and relaxing until your body feels heavy and relaxed and your breathing is slow and regular. Remain for a few moments focusing on your breathing and luxuriating in the experience of warm relaxation.

Once your body is relaxed and your breathing calm, you are ready to move into meditation. Slowly and gradually adjust your posture so that you are sitting with the back upright, the body supported, and in a position that the blood can flow freely around your body. This may be a cross-legged position or in a chair – whatever is comfortable for you. You want to take the relaxation of the previous exercise into your sitting posture.

Meditate by bringing your attention to your breathing, particularly noticing the out-breath. As you breathe out let go of thought – let go of whatever is in your mind. If you find this difficult count the out-breaths from 1 up to 21 and then back down to 1. If you get lost in a thought story—planning your next shopping trip, revisiting a memory, going over a problem at work—just let it go on the next out-breath. Every time you realise that you have lost focus this is a moment of re-emerging awareness. Gradually it will become easier to let go of thought and remain focused, and you will start to experience moments of mind without thought.

Practice this meditation of letting go of thought for ten minutes every day and you will start to discover the quality of mind when it is no longer dominated and defined by thought. Thought is a natural process of mind but thought is not the essence of mind. The nature of mind is spacious. It is clarity. As spacious clarity is discovered in meditation it will start to sparkle in everyday life. Habit patterns lose their power to dominate our responses. Sensory experience becomes enlivened.

Meditate every day for just ten minutes and you will become more open, patient, tolerant and kind through the spaciousness of mind you have discovered. Relax the body, and then take this into meditation to discover relaxation of mind.

Relaxing into Meditation by Ngakma Nor'dzin
Aro Books worldwide ISBN 978-1-898185-17-8 http://bit.ly/nrprim

Available from Lulu.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, and other bookshops worldwide.

Indian review – Spiritual Lounge

2011-01-08T00:54:00.000Z

The first Indian review of Relaxing into Meditation has appeared in an online magazine called Spiritual Lounge, January 2011 edition [PDF].

It is a nice, full page review – here are a few extracts:

"Nor'dzin starts off with the techniques, which allow the students to arrive at a starting point to meditation. There are chapters on the best position for meditation, the technique of breathing with alternate nostril, the skill of just 'listening in', the essential breathing patterns and the actual posture while meditating etc."

"The book also carries a gentle warning against sitting in a room with incense sticks burning when the students are engaging in breathing exercises. The resulting deeper breaths will mean smoke is inhaled deeply into the lungs and will lead to coughing. For today's several New Age enthusiasts who are more concerned about the props that accompany any such practice, this advice should come handy.

"Nor'dzin's writing is practical and, as she takes you through the steps, all of it seems like the most natural thing to do. I particularly liked the chapter on 'Walking Meditation' which is not very commonly known and which uses the physical process of walking as the focus instead of the breath. "

"Nor'dzin's approach is simple and direct... it's friendly, down to earth and, most importantly, useful."
_________________________________________________________________________

Relaxing into Meditation by Ngakma Nor'dzin
Aro Books worldwide ISBN 978-1-898185-17-8 http://bit.ly/nrprim

Available from Lulu.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, and other bookshops worldwide.

New Year radio

2011-01-05T12:14:00.001Z

Tuesday evening I appeared on Toginet radio, The Way of the Toddler Hour, to broadcast a New Year message as part of their slot on Creating Meaningful Holiday Traditions. Thank you to Leta Hamilton for inviting me.

There is a short article about me in their Recent Guests section and a podcast of my new year message (2011-01-04 from time index 4:40 to time index 10:30).

Here is the transcript of my new year message:
"At the end of the old year and the beginning of the new year people are often more open to greeting one another and being friendly. During the Christmas season we make an effort to be jolly, and for the first weeks of January even strangers will greet us with 'Happy New Year'. Generally there is an air of greater open-heartedness and goodwill.

Then when the festivities are over and we return to our usual routine; when we are faced with the enduring months of winter, we forget that we can always live with an open and friendly approach and that it is possible to be warm towards one another throughout the year continuing to encourage cheerfulness of spirit.

In the northern hemisphere the ancient festival at this time of year was the winter solstice – recognising the death of the old year and celebrating the birth of the new year. Impermanence is a key teaching in Buddhism, so it is useful to be reminded of this. The past cannot be changed or revisited however much we might wish to. The future cannot be predicted or foreseen and it will unfold as it will. All we can ever know and enjoy is the present moment – and present moments are infinite. If we can learn to live in the present moment and appreciate everything it has to offer, we will discover happiness and contentment.

There is much to enjoy about the winter – the iridescence of a snow-swept landscape with rainbows glistening in ice crystals; the stark beauty of naked trees silhouetted against a clear cold sky; snuggling in front of a warming winter fire; tucking into hot soups and stews; hearing the laughter of children playing in the snow; deciphering the tracks of creatures that have traversed the garden; enjoying the softness of winter woollies and cosy hats and gloves.

The new year is often a time for making resolutions. If our children wish to make a resolution it is good to encourage them, but it is important that they choose a resolution that is sensible and achievable so that they can keep it. People who can keep the promises they make to themselves are then more able to keep the promises they make to others. Commitments inevitably become inconvenient at some point, but if the promise can still be kept despite this, then our children will discover a great sense of achievement and self-confidence. The capacity to make a promise and hold to it develops integrity and honour so that our children grow up to be reliable and trustworthy individuals who believe in themselves.

For adults our resolutions are usually about shuffling or adjusting the pieces of our life – we resolve to lose weight, or to work towards changing our job, we promise we will take more exercise, or we decide to start a new hobby. . . These may all have value and be worthwhile, but it is useful to recognise that such alterations to our lifestyle will not bring lasting fulfilment and happiness. We will not miraculously be a totally happy and content person if we get slimmer or fitter. The new job or new hobby will not bring everlasting satisfaction. The benefits of such resolutions are superficial and transitory.

I would like to suggest that we resolve to begin a daily practice of meditation in 2011. This is something we can do with our children. Daily meditation enables the development of greater awareness and this can bring lasting fulfilment and happiness. Developing awareness illuminates the patterns that dominate our lives that cause us to feel unhappy and dissatisfied. Through regular meditation practice increased clarity begins to sparkle through into our everyday life and we become happier and more fulfilled. Through being happier and more fulfilled we become kinder people. Through becoming kinder people we bring happiness to those around us. Meditation practice—just ten minutes every day—has the potential to benefit everyone and everything everywhere.

Happy New Year to you all!"