Part 2 of 5: In the second part of his Edinburgh talk, Alistair runs through the history of our relationship with the body from early hunter-gathers to the Instagram age.
The Body as a Battlefield
Meditation is Growing Up and Not Growing Up is Donald Trump
A student at the 2018 Summer Retreat asked if meditation can be guaranteed to make you calmer, more self-confident and stronger. His answer was an emphatic “No”. Meditation helps us grow up and take on the full remit of being human. Something we all – including the POTUS – have to work at.
The Ego is Not A Problem (Except the Fifth Bit…)
Alistair Appleton reveals that much of what we think about the ‘ego’ being a problem is wrong. Much of the ego is not a problem – just one aspect of it… Taken from the Summer 2018 Retreat on Holy Island. To find out about 2019’s retreat look here: mind-springs.org/courses/summer-m…y-is-the-ground/
Crappy Thoughts are a Result of Bodily Tension
Exploring the interface of neurobiology and meditation, Alistair explores some of the ‘koans of the soma’, the nuts and bolts of our human bodies and how they effect our being. This is an extract from the 2018 Summer Retreat on Holy Island. To book for this summer’s retreat, click here: mind-springs.org/courses/summer-m…y-is-the-ground/
Our Addiction to Busy-ness
In his opening comments to the 2018 “Being Still, Still Being” retreat Alistair outlines the neurobiological underpinnings of our obsessive busy-ness and how we need to work with that not against it. The Summer Retreat on Holy Island, suitable for all levels, is open for booking here.
Sitting as a Tool For Not Exiting Life
Most of us exist in a frenzied haze of continual distraction from our real experience of life. The traditional posture of sitting meditation creates a framework that makes the distraction fade out, and life appear.
Out Terror of Stillness
Most of us are compulsive do-ers and actually afraid of being still and silent. Alistair explores the three interlocking states of being-enjoying-doing and how they can help us relax.
Introverts and Extroverts
In an excerpt from the 2018 Summer retreat on Holy Island, Alistair explores some of the current thinking about introverts ruling the world and how discomfort can often bring wisdom.
Entering The Realm of Non-Thought
Alistair starts to explore with the retreatants on Holy Island the realm of “non-thought”. If we no longer identify with our thoughts then what is left? What is our true identity?
Thoughts Are Not Emotions
In this excerpt from the 2018 Retreat ‘Being Still Still Being’, Alistair looks at the experience of thinking as a phenomenon. What is thinking? And how does it feel?