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Hello! This Tuesday 6pm UK session is a chance to plug into the Mindsprings methods for soothing the nervous system and unpicking the mechanisms of anxiety. We'll be practicing body-based techniques, breathworks and energy psychology each week. There'll be clear instruction each session so anyone can join - even (or especially) complete beginners. We practice for about 30 minutes and then have some time to talk and discuss what's going on. Many people find sharing their anxiety a great boon. Come along and finally do something about your shredded nerves.

Hello! This Thursday 8am UK session offers anyone a chance to experience some Buddhist-flavoured practice. It's ideal for people who are interested in Buddhism but don't know all the jargon. And it's a chance for the Mindsprings community to anchor their dharma practice. There'll be clear instruction each session so anyone can join - even (or especially) complete beginners. We practice for about 30 minutes and then have some time to talk and discuss what's going on. I'll use the last portion of the session to chat about some of the Buddhist ideas and clarify any questions people have.

Hi everyone! Make a date to practice with the Mindsprings gang every Monday morning at 8am UK time. This is a chance to use the mind-cleaning Beingfulness practice to steady our awareness, see all the phenomena that are making up our experience and learn to love them! There'll be clear instruction each session so anyone can join - even (or especially) complete beginners. We practice for about 30 minutes and then have some time to talk and discuss what's going on. It's a lovely communal way to start the week.

Are you battling with high levels of stress and anxiety? Alistair's online course Mastering the Monsters of Anxiety might be the way to tackle your anxiety in 2025. It's a self-paced online course you can work through from the comfort of your own home. And find the body-based solutions that can reduce those horrible sensations of panic and fear. Click through to access the course for just £50 this year. Use code MMA25 to get that discount. https://mypersonal.mind-springs.org/courses/mastering-the-monsters-of-anxiety-selfstudy

Alistair Appletons Mindsprings Videos VIDEOS Dive into this library of video teaching from Alistair. Guided meditations (usually around 30-40 minutes) Teaching on various topics: body-based meditation, compassion, internal family systems and much more Alistair's answers to students We've organised the 150+ videos into different channels and categories. You need to be a supporting member to access the golden ones! Films and Fun Things Good for Beginners Tips and Talks on How to Meditate Bringing the Body Online Untangling Thoughts & Thinking Soothing & Centring the Body-MInd Maitri: Loving Your Inner Parts Opening the Heart to Others All the Guided Meditations All the Teaching Community Favorites Films and Fun Stuff This is a collection of some short films and documentaries Alistair has made: An Introduction to Holy Island Green Tara Island Thoughts on the Sea Sitting the Downs Reproducir video Reproducir video Kapalabati unpacked Another nuts and bolts explanation of a practice we often do in Mindsprings sessions, Skull Brightening Breath (Kapalabati). This is potential energy clearing breath practice #pranayama #explanation #kapalabti #meditation #short Reproducir video Reproducir video Is meditation in the real world better than meditation at home? Is meditation another thing you do or is it part of your everyday life? From the car park of M25 Services at Cobham, whilst away filming for Escape to the Country, .From the carpark of M25 Services at Cobham, I answer Jane's question about the benefit of formal practice vs. everyday practice. #short #meditation #practice #dzogchen #shamata Reproducir video Reproducir video Images for suffusing awareness As we practice the rising-descending torus meditation, the question of how to describe the process of 'suffusion' in energy leads to discussion of various images #short #imagery #awareness #meditation #suffusion #Pali #Tripitika Reproducir video Reproducir video The purpose is not to be calm Jane speaks about John Kabat-Zinn's refutation of meditation as a 'calming' thing. And I agree... It's much more powerful than that. Reproducir video Reproducir video Intro to the Practice of Five The introduction to my shamata-vipassana meditation called 'The Practice of Five'. This involves an alternating practice of calm abiding and beingful awareness, measured out by the fingers of each hand #explanation #practiceoffive #shamata #vipassana #meditation #teaching Reproducir video Reproducir video Practice of Fives unpacked From the car in Pembrokeshire, I unpack the practice of fives, which combines shamata and vipassana in an alternating sequence. #teaching #shamata #vipassana #explanation #meditation #guide Reproducir video Reproducir video The aerated sense of self Following on from Valerie's description of her experience in the four fields practice, I talk about the 'aerated' sense of self which comes when we learn to see our self as constructed of discrete phenomena. #fourfields #beingfulness #noself #self #teaching Reproducir video Reproducir video The Three Stages of Shamata Following Dameon's question about the shamata / self-soothing practice (without mantra) I go through the three stages of the practice and outline some of the benefits. #teaching #meditation # shamata #soothing Films & Fun Stuff Reproducir video Reproducir video 01:55 Without string a violin is just a box A snippet from our Tuesday evening live sessions where the focus is on stress-reduction and anxiety. This was a wonderful exploration of grief. Come and join us - the first month is completely free : https://www.mind-springs.org/online-live Reproducir video Reproducir video 06:55 The Island For those who have never been to Holy Island, Alistair gives some introductory pointers and a little taste of why it's so magical... Reproducir video Reproducir video 07:32 Green Tara Island Alistair speaks from Holy Island about the need for clean, compassionate action in the world, represented by the Tibetan figure of Green Tara. Reproducir video Reproducir video 07:23 Caves Alistair continues his exploration of Holy Island. In this video he ponders the magic of meditating in caves. Reproducir video Reproducir video 05:40 The Sea! The Sea! Alistair ponders the role of the sea in spiritual practice Reproducir video Reproducir video 23:12 Mindsprings - Sit the Downs Alistair Appleton teaches us how to open to the landscape below us using somatic meditation Reproducir video Reproducir video 07:49 Head-in-the-Sand Land Alistair speaks to the psychological underpinnings of climate change denial. We can find a way of empathising with that desire to dissociate the unthinkable. Beginners Good for Beginners Here are a dozen practices that give you a good taste of embodied meditation. Many of them done standing up: Starting with a lovely set of energy practices, bring energy into the standing body Then moving into the classic Mindsprings relaxation, Polyvagal Tuning . Then a brace of practice looking at tracking the energy around the somatic circuit And three practices working with awareness and stillness: 3 Objects , Mantra and the Practice of Fives Then there are two tasters of Beingfulness and Tonglen Finishing with a recap of the energy workout with my dog, Ben. Reproducir video Reproducir video 32:06 Fighting Festive Frazzle The Annual Mindsprings session giving some tips and tricks from the world of therapy and meditation to navigate the ups and downs of Christmas #fightingfestivefrazzle #XmasFirstAid #holidaystress Reproducir video Reproducir video 22:09 Festive Do's and Don'ts A list of 10 Dos and Don'ts for getting through Xmas in one piece #FightingFestiveFrazzle Reproducir video Reproducir video 39:37 GM Kaleidoscope Returning to a classic Beingfulness practice, in this Monday session from Spring 2024, we enjoy sitting in the four fields like a child playing with a kaleidoscope. #kaleidoscope #beingfulness #guided Reproducir video Reproducir video 42:23 GM Expanding Through the Senses Reproducir video Reproducir video 39:38 Three Objects 2024 Starting 2024 with the classic meditation for sharpening our experience of awareness and how we have the power to move it at will. A wonderful practice for any occasion. #threeobjects #Beingfulness #Monday #awareness Reproducir video Reproducir video 36:59 The Four Ingredients From January 2024, we take a fresh look eat the Beingfulness practice of the Four Fields. A great meditation for sorting out all the elements of our life in order to live more joyfully. #beingfulness #fourfields #joy #clarity Reproducir video Reproducir video 35:33 GM Three Objects III Continuing our exploration of the first Being, Being Aware we look more deeply into the mysterious quality of awareness and how we can move it around. #beingfulness #threeobjects #awareness #guided Reproducir video Reproducir video 40:55 GM Three Objects II From the Coronation Bank Holiday in May 2023, we look again at the crucial experience of awareness in our life. How phenomenon + awareness = experience. #threeobjects #beingfulness #guided Tips and Talks on How to Meditate After and during many of the live Mindsprings sessions, Alistair talks about some of the misconceptions and common questions arising for meditators. These 13 short talks address a potpourri of subjects: Eyes shut or open during meditation? Not identifying with our thoughts The goal of the 'aerated' self Meditation on the cushion vs. meditation in the 'real' world Not falling into the pitfall of looking for calm Some practical unpacking of practices like kapalabati and the practice of fives How to Meditate Reproducir video Reproducir video Kapalabati unpacked Another nuts and bolts explanation of a practice we often do in Mindsprings sessions, Skull Brightening Breath (Kapalabati). This is potential energy clearing breath practice #pranayama #explanation #kapalabti #meditation #short Reproducir video Reproducir video Is meditation in the real world better than meditation at home? Is meditation another thing you do or is it part of your everyday life? From the car park of M25 Services at Cobham, whilst away filming for Escape to the Country, .From the carpark of M25 Services at Cobham, I answer Jane's question about the benefit of formal practice vs. everyday practice. #short #meditation #practice #dzogchen #shamata Reproducir video Reproducir video Images for suffusing awareness As we practice the rising-descending torus meditation, the question of how to describe the process of 'suffusion' in energy leads to discussion of various images #short #imagery #awareness #meditation #suffusion #Pali #Tripitika Reproducir video Reproducir video The purpose is not to be calm Jane speaks about John Kabat-Zinn's refutation of meditation as a 'calming' thing. And I agree... It's much more powerful than that. Reproducir video Reproducir video Intro to the Practice of Five The introduction to my shamata-vipassana meditation called 'The Practice of Five'. This involves an alternating practice of calm abiding and beingful awareness, measured out by the fingers of each hand #explanation #practiceoffive #shamata #vipassana #meditation #teaching Reproducir video Reproducir video Practice of Fives unpacked From the car in Pembrokeshire, I unpack the practice of fives, which combines shamata and vipassana in an alternating sequence. #teaching #shamata #vipassana #explanation #meditation #guide Reproducir video Reproducir video The aerated sense of self Following on from Valerie's description of her experience in the four fields practice, I talk about the 'aerated' sense of self which comes when we learn to see our self as constructed of discrete phenomena. #fourfields #beingfulness #noself #self #teaching Reproducir video Reproducir video The Three Stages of Shamata Following Dameon's question about the shamata / self-soothing practice (without mantra) I go through the three stages of the practice and outline some of the benefits. #teaching #meditation # shamata #soothing Bringing the Body Online Bringing the Body Online Mindsprings grounds a lot of the meditation we do in the body and this is a great selection of somatic practices: We start with two simple energy exercises which you can use before any practice session. Then there's little talk on the specific nature of somatic practice. Two practices introduce Alistair's Polyvagal Tuning which is a great somatic practice for bringing us into a positive body-mind state. Then there is a suite of practices introducing the Somatic Circuit - a great way to find your way back into the body. Next, are practices opening up this space: the Somatic Tent . Followed by a more advanced energy practice known as the Torus . Finally, there is the classic practice of Earth Breathing and some somatic practices opening the heart for Compassion work. Reproducir video Reproducir video 39:29 GM Energy Workout & Tune Ups Starting a new sequence of Tuesday teachings looking at energy psychology, Alistair explains the concepts of online/offline and guides us through Donna Eden's energy workout #energypsychology #tapping #online #tuneups #guided Reproducir video Reproducir video 42:07 GM Being with the Body Following the May Cliffhouse retreat with the subject of "Sitting with the Body", this Monday morning session took up the same theme. #4fields #7cycles #body #beingfulness Reproducir video Reproducir video 39:18 GM Earth Breathing & Ego Loop From our Tuesday evening session in late March 2024. Combining the classic earth breathing practice with an exploration of the source of our anxiety - the ego loop. #earthbreathing #egoloop #tuesday #meditation Reproducir video Reproducir video 34:56 GM Voo & The Jellyfish From our Tuesday session in April 2024. This was in 2 parts. The first using the VOO breath to calm the nervous system and then a lying-down practice exploring the vagus nerve. #vagus #nervoussystem #calming #guided #breathing Reproducir video Reproducir video 42:43 GM Shamata on Sounds From our 2024 season looking at Shamata - Vipashyna. This Shamata practice uses sound as the anchor. #shamata #sounds #guided Reproducir video Reproducir video 33:15 GM Polyvagal Tuning The classic stress busting exercise from Mindsprings. Lie down and let the ventral vagal tone take over. #PVT #Stress #guided Reproducir video Reproducir video 33:36 GM The Blind Body From our Monday session in mid June 2023, where we were exploring the body-from-within. #beingfulness #body #somatic #guided Reproducir video Reproducir video 43:12 GM 8 Cycles of the Body From our Monday session on 3rd July 2023, looking at the body field in our exploration of Beingfulness. This is a lying down practice exploring the 8 interlocking and inter-nested cycles of somatic phenomena. #beingfulness #somatic #cycles #guided Thoughts & Thinking Untangling Thoughts & Thinking After and during many of the live Mindsprings sessions, Alistair talks about some of the misconceptions and common questions arising for meditators. These 13 short talks address a potpourri of subjects: Eyes shut or open during meditation? Not identifying with our thoughts The goal of the 'aerated' self Meditation on the cushion vs. meditation in the 'real' world Not falling into the pitfall of looking for calm Some practical unpacking of practices like kapalabati and the practice of fives Soothing & Centring the Body-Mind Central to all meditation is the ability to calm and soothe the body-mind. Without this, all further therapeutic elaborations tend to disappear in a morass of fizzy distraction: The soothing practice of Earth Breathing Shamata or calming practice: the practice of Fives Working with mantra Frond breathing Tonglen and compassion for our own experience Soothing & Centring Maitri: Loving Your Inner Parts Before we can love others we have to be aware of and love the multiplicity of parts within our own psyche. The practice of maitri (of self-compassion) explores this with the help of Richard Schwartz' Internal Family Systems. Beginning with a short overview, we dive into the crucial experience of the 'backspace which gives us the somatic field of loving-kindness into which our parts can peep. we can explore the parts that Schwartz identifies as firefighters, managers and exiles in our practice and bring some kindness and clarity to them. These parts often manifest in specific somatic ways as explored in the teaching around cylinders Two more talks about the wider ramifications of this work in our lives. Maitri Opening the Heart to Others Ultimately all our practice comes back to how we relate to others. The cast-iron patterns of selfishness are hard to soften. But therapeutic meditation turns a lot to Buddhist practice here: Guided practices to feel the embodied 'backspace' essential for compassion practice Embodied versions of the Buddhist practice of tonglen Explorations of the awakened heart or bodhicitta Discussing the practical challenges of loving others Compassion All the Guided Practices The Mindsprings Video library contains more than 50 guided meditations ranging from 10 to 50 minutes. Please use the search function to pinpoint the practice you want or look through the categories to find inspiration. All GMs All the Teaching The Mindsprings Video library contains more than 100 recorded teachings. Some are short answers to questions Alistair gave during sessions. Some are longer teaching on meditation, therapy or Buddhism. Please use the search function to pinpoint the practice you want or look through the categories to find inspiration. All Teaching

Mindsprings was set up by Alistair Appleton to explore the benefits of meditation in the modern world. Much clinical research these days concentrates on working with addiction and depression. We’re interested in working with wellness and the promotion of mental health before the illness sets in. HOME What We Do Course Trio CONTACT Mindsprings Meditation with Alistair Appleton Brighten your mind. Put the spring back in your life with therapeutic meditation. Learn to Meditate with Alistair In-Person Retreats Self-Study Courses Live Online Classes GET THE MEDITATION HABIT FOR 2025 Join the Mindsprings Zoom sessions by getting the Baobab membership FREE for the first month and then just £10 until June 2025!. Use code MEDITATE2025 at the checkout here . What We Do Courses Online courses to access immediately. Tackle your anxiety. Brighten the mind. Read More > Retreats Whether a city weekend or a glorious weekend in nature. Meditate with Alistair in person. Read More > Classes Join Alistair on Zoom for weekly hour-long sessions. Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Read More > Videos Read More > Browse hours of free recordings and teaching. Subscribe for the full amazing library. "Can I trust you? My mind is sore, vulnerable. Sometimes I'd rather not look." You don't have to trust me with your precious human mind. Mindsprings is only here to help in your own exploration and development. Ultimately, you are the sole proprietor of your mind. That said it's good to have someone to hold your hand. I've been meditating for more than 2 decades, teaching for more than 15 years. I'm a qualified psychotherapist with lots of clients. Most importantly, I know first-hand what anxiety and mental anguish feels like. You can experience the relief and liberation of meditation straight away with our powerful self-study courses. Take a look below: Beingfulness Bring some joy back to your whole life with Alistair's foundational mediation course. Read More Mastering the Monsters of Anxiety Part one of the Mindsprings Anxiety course. Read More Tapping into Freedom Unblock the unconscious patterns that weigh down your life. Read More Course Trio Any questions? We'll try and get back to you within 24 hours! Submit Thanks for submitting! CONTACT

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