The Maverick Bluestocking Meditates

Onwards and upwards with thinking less and being present. Knowing that my mind was very busy and this was causing stress and even physical ill health, I started to learn to meditate seven years ago. I read books, attended classes and workshops and listened to recordings. I learned a lot and there is absolutely no doubt that I reaped huge benefits. I became calmer, less stressed and more positive.

I would particularly recommend anything you can learn from Deepak Chopra; in fact, there is yet another wonderful 21 Day Meditation Challenge about to start on 11th August. I will be taking part and loving the feeling of connection with meditators all over the world. One of the most important – but seemingly prosaic – things I learned from these Challenges was the value of having your meditation timed by someone else. It really helps if you are not having to steal a glance at the clock. So I downloaded an app onto my phone that times my meditations and now I would never be without it!

Anyway, during my first six years meditating, every now and then I would experience a wonderful sitting during which I felt peace, space, bliss and all those things that meditation is supposed to give us. I loved that but I never knew when it was going to happen. I thought perhaps I was doing something wrong or that maybe my mind was really too busy to meditate successfully.

Then I started to learn Mind Calm. Developed by Sandy Newbigging and based on ancient wisdom and practices, Mind Calm is a meditation method that fits well into modern society and doesn’t ask us to believe anything in particular, sit in any special position or do anything else that ordinary developed world people might feel uncomfortable with. You can find out a lot more by reading the book.

Mind Calm provides a reliable strategy to access our own, permanent inner peace whenever we want to. It teaches ‘peace with mind’ rather than ‘peace of mind,’ meaning that we don’t have to wait for our minds to clear and our feelings to be peaceful before we can benefit. I began to experience that sense of peace – bliss, even – on a regular basis.

I liked it so much that I decided to go to one of Sandy’s workshops, and from that moment I was hooked. I saw people who had never ‘successfully’ meditated light up when they realised they could access their inner peace whenever they wanted to. I immediately stated an intention to learn to teach this method to others.

Much of this year has been taken up with training to teach Mind Calm. And, as so often happens, intending and learning to teach has brought me unimaginable benefits. I have deepened my practice, knowing that I am practising not just for myself but for anyone else who might need the message that I am so enthusiastic about communicating. I have got to know my real self and developed a much less attached and easier relationship with my ‘outside self,’ my personality, thoughts, feelings and all the other trappings that make me look like Harriet. I am more peaceful and more joyful than I have ever been before.

The original idea was that, because of my background, I would seek to teach solicitors, accountants and other intellectual professionals how to practise Mind Calm. That is the intention I have set but we will see what actually happens when I am ready to move forward with this. I believe that if I make myself available the people who can benefit will show up, as long as I communicate clearly and visibly to the world to start with.

So, watch this space! I am so excited to be moving towards this sacred and privileged mission. I am grateful to have grown (and am continuing to grow) through the process and most of all, first, last and importantly beyond this world, that ‘I am.’