Learning to live in the here and now is a powerful tool for coping with the stresses of everyday life and van bring peace of mind. LET each mouthful of food be a celebration of life. Experience that roast leg of lamb and potatoes served for Sunday lunch with all your senses: feel the texture on your tongue, savour the aroma and taste.
When I decided to take up meditation, it seemed so easy – slip on a pair of yoga pants, force your legs into a half lotus, and “On” your way to serenity and bliss. Forget that my hips are too tight for even a quarter of a lotus or that the last time I felt truly serene, prescription drugs were involved.
THE head of human resources at SA’s biggest health and life insurance company, Discovery, sets her alarm clock 20 minutes earlier than she has been used to. Not to hit the gym or to jog around the block, as might be expected from someone working for a company whose executives run marathons, but to sit still.
There is a story about William James, the foremost American psychologist who was lecturing at Harvard in the early 1900. James suddenly stopped when he recognized a visiting monk coming from Sri Lanka in the audience. Directing his attention to the monk he is reported to have offered his chair, “You are better equipped [...]
This being human is a guest-house
Every morning a new arrival
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
Some momentary awareness comes
As an unexpected visitor
Welcome and entertain them all
The time will come
When, with elation,
You will greet yourself arriving
At your own door, in your own mirror
And each will smile at the other's welcome
And say sit here. Eat
Stand still. The trees ahead and the bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you go is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen.
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time
Through the unknown, remembered gate
I said to the wanting creature inside me;
What is this river you want to cross?
There are no travellers on the river, and no road
Do you see anyone moving about on that bank or resting?
Until one is committed, there is always hesitancy
The chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness.
Concerning all acts of initiative and creation
There is one elementary truth.
Run. Don't think about the report that has to be finished by Friday, the kids that have to be picked up from school, the idiot who drove behind you in this morning's school run, or the car that has to go in for a service. Don't even think about the next 10km. Just run. [...]
EXERCISING mindfulness is not just another instant magic bullet or self-help fad for remnants of the flower power, hippy generation. It is a technique that is a growing part of mainstream medicine – with over 200 training units affiliated with medical centres and hospitals.
Two years ago we were offered a contract to facilitate workshops at one of South Africa’s leading Petrochemical companies. Our brief was to improve safety and build relationships between the employees on the plant and to build stress resilience.
The UCT Graduate School of Business has taken an unprecedented step and become one of the first business schools in the world to introduce mindfulness meditation as a part of one of its core programmes - the Executive MBA. The Executive MBA (EMBA) is the only programme of its kind [...]