Mindfulness is best described as the practice of paying attention to the present moment, with an open curiosity and without judgment. Mindfulness has gained recognition as a supportive tool for many people. For autistic individuals, mindfulness can offer practical ways to manage sensory overload, emotional intensity, and daily stress, while supporting self-awareness and well-being.

Rather than trying to “change” how someone experiences the world, mindfulness helps create space to understand and navigate those experiences more comfortably. Internal change tends to happen anyway, as a by-product of increased self-awareness.

At the time of writing this article, I am teaching an 8 week mindfulness course, in which an autistic young lady, suffers from pressure at college and from overwhelm, which has resulted in exhaustion and emotional outbursts. She told the group that she doesn’t normally recognise what feelings she is having until it is ‘too late’. She explains that through mindfulness she is able to recognise what is happening inside of her i.e. what emotions are arising in that moment and check inside for what she can do, that may help the situation and thus takes action based on that awareness. I feel deeply pleased that the mindfulness course is helping her in that way. Her experience of life is beginning to change, for the better, as a result of her increased awareness.

Let us understand Autism and the daily challenges

Autism, or Autism Spectrum Disorder, is a neurodevelopmental condition that affects how people perceive, process, and respond to the world.

Some common experiences include:

• Heightened sensory sensitivity (sounds, lights, textures)

• Difficulty with sudden changes or uncertainty

• Intense focus or repetitive thought patterns

• Challenges with emotional regulation

Mindfulness doesn’t remove these traits—but it can make them easier to manage.

What Mindfulness Offers

In Mindfulness, we delve into the mind and body, in each present moment, to see what is going on. We learn to be with the present moment experience, as it is. Rather than trying to empty the mind or forcing calm, mindfulness encourages:

• Awareness of thoughts and feelings

• Acceptance of sensory experiences

• Gentle redirection of attention

This can be especially helpful for autistic individuals who may feel overwhelmed by internal or external stimuli.

Key Benefits of Mindfulness for Autistic People

1. Managing Sensory Overload

Mindfulness helps individuals notice early signs of overwhelm—such as tension or agitation—before they escalate.

Simple grounding techniques (like focusing on breathing or physical sensations) can:

• Reduce distress

• Create a sense of control

• Support self-soothing

2. Improving Emotional Regulation

Emotions can sometimes feel intense or sudden. Mindfulness builds the ability to:

• Pause before reacting

• Experiencing feelings without being consumed by them

• Respond more calmly over time

This doesn’t mean suppressing emotions—it means understanding them.

3. Reducing Anxiety and Stress

Many autistic individuals experience co-occurring anxiety. Mindfulness can:

• Interrupt repetitive worry loops

• Encourage present-moment thinking

• Lower overall stress levels

Even a 5 minutes a day can make a difference.

4. Enhancing Self-Awareness

Mindfulness encourages curiosity about one’s own experiences.

This can help individuals:

• Recognize personal triggers

• Understand sensory preferences

• Build self-acceptance

Over time, this awareness supports independence and confidence.

5. Supporting Routine and Predictability

Mindfulness practices can be structured into daily routines, which many autistic people find comforting.

For example:

• A short breathing exercise in the morning

• A calming body scan meditation before bed

Consistency can make mindfulness feel safe and reliable.

Adapting Mindfulness for Autism

Some people may need to adapt the mindfulness techniques, so as to suit that person. Adaptations can make them more accessible:

• Short sessions (5 minutes to start)

• Guided practices instead of silent meditation

• Movement-based mindfulness (walking, stretching, yoga, Tai-chi, dancing)

• Sensory-friendly focus (holding an object, listening to a sound)

Simply be flexible and do those things that you feel drawn to do.

A Simple Mindfulness Exercise

The 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Technique:

• Name 5 things you can see

• 4 things you can feel

• 3 things you can hear

• 2 things you can smell

• 1 thing you can taste

This exercise gently brings attention back to the present and can be especially helpful during moments of overwhelm. It is important to come out of the mind, when overwhelmed, to stop the spiralling effect.

Important Considerations

Mindfulness is not a cure or a replacement for support services. It works best alongside:

• Therapy or professional guidance

• Supportive environments

• Understanding from caregivers, educators, or peers

Approaches supported by organizations like the National Autistic Society emphasize adapting tools to the individual—not forcing individuals to adapt to the tool.

A Compassionate Approach

Mindfulness can be a valuable support for autistic people—not because it changes who they are, but because it helps them navigate the world in a way that feels more manageable and self-directed.

In Conclusion

Mindfulness can help autistic individuals learn about the mind (thoughts and emotions) and learn how to deal with what arises within them, through increased awareness. They learn to observe what feelings are bubbling under the surface and what feelings are surfacing, so that they can pause and then respond skilfully in any given situation, where they may be triggered, instead of reacting. They can also benefit from learning how to practice self-compassion and learn self-acceptance. Through learning to meditate, autistic individuals can access a space of daily inner calmness and thus emotional regulation.

Contact Katarina at www.katarinatilley.co.uk to book on a mindfulness meditation course.

Fortunately, mindfulness meditation can be a powerful tool to help you break free from this cycle.  In this article we will take a look at how mindfulness can help you stop overthinking and regain control over your thoughts.

What is Overthinking?

Overthinking is the dwelling on thoughts, problems or situations, for much longer than necessary.  When you overthink, you cannot stop thinking about something, which happened in the past or that may happen in the future and replaying it, in your mind, over and over again.

This constant mental chatter can take its toll on your mental health, leading to stress, anxiety, and subsequently to physical symptoms e.g. headaches and/or muscle tension.

Common signs of overthinking include:

• Dwelling on a single decision or event for hours or days.

• Feeling stuck in your thoughts and unable to focus on anything else.

• Second-guessing yourself constantly, even on trivial matters.

• Worrying about things that may never happen.

• Overthinking can interfere with your ability to be present, often resulting in missing important moments in life.

What is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness is the practice of paying full attention to the present moment, without judgment.  It involves being fully aware of your thoughts, feelings, sensations of the body and surroundings, yet without getting caught up in them.

Instead of letting your mind wander to the past or future, mindfulness encourages you to focus on the here and now.

Research shows that mindfulness can help reduce stress, anxiety, and improve emotional regulation.  It helps you become more aware of your thoughts and teaches you how to detach from them, instead of getting caught up in their emotional charge.

How Mindfulness can help you stop overthinking

Mindfulness is effective in stopping overthinking because it encourages you to observe your thoughts, rather than engaging with them.

It works in the following way:

1. Recognise thoughts as just thoughts

One of the main principles of mindfulness is recognising that your thoughts are not facts.  When you practice mindfulness, you start to see your thoughts as they are - temporary, fleeting mental events that actually don’t define you.  In due course, you’ll stop taking your thoughts too seriously, which helps reduce the emotional weight they carry.

Try this practice:

Sit quietly and observe your thoughts, as they arise.  Instead of reacting or trying to control your thoughts, just observe them without judgment.  You can give them a label e.g. “thinking” or “worrying”, which will help you to distance yourself from the content of the thought.

2. Focus on the present moment

Mindfulness help you bring your attention to the present moment.  Overthinking often involves ruminating on the past or worrying about the future, which takes you away from the present moment.  Mindfulness training redirects your focus back to what’s happening right now, breaking the cycle of overthinking.

Try this practice:

Try a grounding exercise e.g. focus on your breath, notice the sensations in your body, or listen to the sounds around you.  You can also bring your awareness to something physical e.g. your feet on the ground, your hands in your lap.  This helps to pull your attention away from thinking.

3. Become aware of triggers

Mindfulness helps you identify the specific situations or thoughts that trigger your overthinking.  Once you become aware of these triggers, you can start to change your response.  For example, if you realise that you overthink, when you’re stressed about an upcoming event, you can practise deep breathing or self-compassion, before the event.

Try this practice:

Reflect on the moments when you tend to overthink.  Is there a pattern?  Are there specific situations or emotions that tend to trigger your overthinking?  Becoming aware of these triggers can help you prepare for them and respond more mindfully.

4. Accept thoughts without judgment

Overthinking often leads to a constant battle against unwanted thoughts, which can make them even more powerful.  Mindfulness teaches you to accept the thoughts that arise, without judgment or resistance.  When you stop judging your thoughts, you create space for them to pass, without attaching to them.

Try this practice:

When a thought arises, instead of labelling it as “bad” or “wrong”, simply observe the thought, with a sense of curiosity.  Allow it to come and go without trying to control or suppress it. This practice helps you detach from your thoughts and prevents them from spiralling out of control.

5. Use mindful breathing to interrupt the cycle

Mindful breathing is one of the most effective ways to break the cycle of overthinking.  When you focus on your breath, you direct your attention away from your thoughts and focus inside your body.  Deep, slow breathing can help activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which promotes relaxation and reduce the physical symptoms of stress.

Try this practice:

Try the “4-7-8” breathing technique: inhale for 4 seconds, hold for 7 seconds and exhale for 8 seconds.  Repeat this process for several minutes to calm your mind.

Mindfulness techniques to stop overthinking

Here are a few mindfulness meditation practices you can use to stop overthinking:

1. Body scan meditation

The body scan is a powerful mindfulness technique, which helps you become aware of physical sensations and release tension.  As you scan your body from head to toe, you bring your attention to each part, noticing any sensations, without judgment.  This practice can help you get out of your head and into your body, interrupting the cycle of overthinking.

2. Loving-kindness meditation

If you find yourself overthinking due to self-criticism or anxiety, loving-kindness meditation can help.  This practice involves silently repeating phrases like “May I be well”, “May I be happy”, “May I live in peace”.  It cultivates compassion and kindness toward yourself, which can reduce the mental chatter of overthinking.

3. Mindful Walking

Take a walk outside and pay close attention to your surroundings.  Feel the ground beneath your feet, notice the sights, sounds, smells and focus on each step you take.  Mindful walking helps you stay present and grounded, making it harder for your mind to wander into overthinking.

In summary, overthinking can be overwhelming, but mindfulness offers an effective way to regain control over your thoughts and stops the mental spiralling.  By practising mindfulness, you can learn to observe your thoughts, without getting caught up in them, redirecting your focus to the present moment, and create a more peaceful mental space.  With consistent practice, you’ll find that overthinking becomes less of a habit and more of a temporary lapse, which you can easily shift away from.

Give yourself time and patience and remember that the mind will always be doing its job, which to think and chatter but you can choose not to overthink by practising mindfulness.  Mindfulness is a long-term mind training and practice, which leads to mental clarity and peace.

The best way to learn mindfulness is from an experienced teacher.  Katarina Tilley offers mindfulness courses both in person and online.  If you are interested in finding out more, please click on the link below:

katarinatilley.co.uk/meditation

Stress and anxiety are among the most common emotional and psychological challenges faced in modern society. Whether due to work, relationships, or general life pressures, these conditions can take a toll on both mental and physical health. Traditional therapies like counselling and medication are widely recognised, complementary healing modalities, such as Reiki have been gaining attention for their ability to help manage stress and anxiety, for some time.

What is Reiki?

Reiki is a Japanese healing technique that involves the transfer of universal life energy through the hands of a practitioner to the client. The term “Reiki” comes from two Japanese words: “Rei,” meaning universal, and “Ki,” meaning life force energy. It is founded on the idea that energy flows through all living things, and when this energy is unbalanced or blocked, it can lead to physical or emotional issues, including stress and anxiety.

The goal of Reiki is to restore balance to this energy flow, promoting relaxation, emotional healing, and overall well-being. In the context of stress and anxiety, Reiki can help to release tension, ease mental strain, and create a sense of peace and relaxation.

How Does Reiki Help with Stress and Anxiety?

Reiki is a form of energy healing. Here’s how it can help reduce stress and anxiety:

1. Promotes Relaxation: One of the immediate effects of Reiki is a profound sense of relaxation. The gentle touch or near-touch technique used during a session helps to trigger the body’s relaxation response. This response counters the body’s “fight-or-flight” reaction, which is often triggered by stress, lowering heart rate, blood pressure, and calming the nervous system.

2. Balances Energy Flow: Stress and anxiety are caused by imbalances or blockages in the body’s energy field. These blockages can lead to emotional or physical symptoms. Through the hands-on healing process, Reiki helps to restore balance and clear any disruptions in the energy flow, allowing the body to return to a more harmonious state.

3. Alleviates Physical Symptoms of Anxiety: Anxiety often manifests in physical ways, such as muscle tension, headaches, tightness in the chest, or digestive issues. Reiki can relieve these physical symptoms by soothing the nervous system and relaxing tense muscles, which can contribute to a greater sense of overall comfort.

4. Enhances Emotional Clarity: Anxiety can cloud the mind and make it difficult to think clearly. Reiki helps to clear mental fog by helping to release emotional blockages. It supports emotional healing by encouraging the individual to let go of negative thoughts and emotions that contribute to anxiety. With improved emotional clarity, people can gain a new perspective on their worries, leading to a greater sense of calm and peace.

5. Supports the Body’s Natural Healing Process: Reiki is often seen as a complementary therapy rather than a substitute for medical treatments. When combined with other forms of self-care, such as meditation, Reiki can help accelerate the body’s natural healing processes, promoting mental and physical health.

What to Expect During a Reiki Session for Stress and Anxiety

A Reiki session typically lasts between 60 minutes. Here’s what you can expect during a session:

1. Setting the Intention: Before the session, the practitioner may take a consultation to find our more out you, such as your reason for seeking Reiki healing e.g. releasing anxiety, managing stress, or finding peace. This sets the intention for the Reiki session and helps focus the energy during the session.

2. Relaxation and Comfort: The recipient of Reiki lies fully clothed on a massage table, and the practitioner may place their hands lightly on or near specific areas of the body. The recipient are invited to relax and let go, allowing the body to open up to the energy flow.

3. Energy Transfer: The practitioner channels universal life force energy into the recipient’s body and aura. This energy may be felt as warmth, tingling, or a sense of calm or some other sensation. Reiki is non-invasive and gentle, so the experience is usually very pleasant and soothing.

1. Release of Emotional Blockages: During the session, you may feel emotions coming to the surface or a shift in your physical sensations. This is a sign that the energy is working to release blockages, helping to facilitate emotional healing.

2. Post-Session Calm: After a session, most people report feeling deeply relaxed, centred, and more at peace. While Reiki’s effects can be immediate, some people may need several sessions to feel a more sustained reduction in stress and anxiety.

Benefits of Reiki for Stress and Anxiety

1. Reduced Anxiety Symptoms: Reiki has been shown to reduce feelings of anxiety and promote relaxation. Studies indicate that Reiki healing can significantly lower anxiety levels and improve mood, making it a powerful tool for those struggling with chronic anxiety.

2. Improved Sleep: Anxiety often interferes with sleep, leading to insomnia or poor sleep quality. Reiki helps to calm the mind and reduce physical tension, which can promote a more restful night’s sleep.

3. Increased Self-Awareness: Reiki encourages individuals to tune into their body and emotions. By helping to increase awareness of where stress and anxiety manifest physically and emotionally, Reiki can empower individuals to make conscious changes in their lives that support their well-being.

4. Complementary Therapy: Reiki can work alongside other therapeutic approaches, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) or medication, to provide a more holistic approach to managing stress and anxiety.

5. Long-Term Stress Management: Regular Reiki sessions can be part of a long-term strategy for managing stress. Over time, Reiki can help individuals develop better coping mechanisms, emotional resilience, and a deeper sense of inner peace.

Incorporating Reiki into Your Stress Management Routine

Reiki can be a valuable addition to your stress management toolkit. Here are a few ways to incorporate Reiki into your routine:

• Regular Reiki Sessions: Schedule regular sessions with a qualified Reiki practitioner to address ongoing stress and anxiety. Consistency is key to experiencing the full benefits of Reiki.

• Self-Reiki: Learning how to practice Reiki on yourself can be an empowering tool. By learning Reiki yourself and using Reiki techniques, you can support your own healing process and reduce stress, in your own time.

• Complement with Mindfulness and Meditation: Combine Reiki with other mindfulness practices such as meditation, deep breathing, or yoga for enhanced results. These practices complement each other and help reduce anxiety.

Final Thoughts
While Reiki may not be a substitute for professional mental health care, it offers a complementary and holistic approach to managing stress and anxiety. By promoting relaxation, restoring energy balance, and supporting emotional healing, Reiki can help individuals feel more at ease and better equipped to face life’s challenges.

If you’re struggling with stress or anxiety, consider giving Reiki a try. Whether through an in-person sessions with a trained practitioner or by embarking upon a Reiki 1 training course, this beautiful healing practice can provide a calming, healing, and transformative experience for your mind, body, and spirit.

If you are interested in experiencing Reiki healing or learning Reiki, Katarina offers sessions and courses in her meditation centre, located in Point Clear, St. Osyth, Clacton-on-Sea, Essex.

Real spirituality is doing the inner work of removing our negative impressions, mind patterns, tendencies and habits and coming out of the false sense of separation (ego) that keeps us in ignorance of who we truly are.  It is a long and steady process, of purifying the heart and mind.  For this we need many tools and practices.  Some of these are daily meditation and mindfulness practices.  Learning to keep the body still, calming the mind, abiding quietly in yourself, as the Witness Consciousness.  So, it is not about escaping into another world, it is about being fully here, in and as your true Self - Infinite Consciousness.   Being totally alert and present to the drama of life but without being adversely affected, by the changing of the outer or inner circumstances of one’s life.

As you begin to relax and enjoy meditation then, you can begin to increase the meditation time, gradually.  Not too fast or your head can heat up and cause adverse symptoms.  Also not wasting valuable time in idle chatting, social media and instead using that time to train your mind.

Further more, one must  develop love and devotion to God, with or without form.  No spiritual practice is complete without devotion, as it would indicate that you are not aware of the reality of life, which is oneness.  How could you not feel devotion when there is only God?  Nothing before God and nothing after God.  Only God.  Formless God appearing as form.

Devotional practices such as prayer is often a request for worldly sense object, gratifications.  They increase the load of misery and suffering.  We are stressed before obtaining the desired object, as we are very anxious to fulfil our desire.  When we fulfil the desire, the mind relaxes but soon the restlessness of mind arises, due to another unfulfilled desire arising.  Desires cannot be fulfilled, one follows on from another, ad infinitum.    Since all objects are temporal, it won’t be long before we  feel sad at having lost the object, as the object breaks, becomes too old or a dear person passes.  Everything in the ‘outside’ world are passing objects, including your very body.  Either way, we lose our inner peace.  We are using our consciousness to fulfil our desires, when in fact, we should use our consciousness to become Self-realised.

Faith is another very important aspect of the path of love and devotion.  Without faith we can do nothing.  Faith is everything.  Think about this…you have faith in that you will reach your work place by car, safely or you would not get in the car each morning and drive to work.  So, you do have faith in some aspects of life but not in others.  Some people have faith in a Higher Power but not in themselves.  Others have faith in themselves but not in the Higher Power.  Those who don’t have faith in God, often feel overcome with emotions, when things don’t go well for them.  Those with faith are more resilient, as they trust in the Divine plan, in the natural order of things.  Having faith in oneself but not in God is not understanding that the body, mind and intellect cannot exist without the Higher Power, as it actually exists in It.  Conversely, having faith in God but not in oneself, is not enough because of who and what we are - we are That!  It indicates a lack of awareness of the Truth.

Every time we think, speak and do an action, we accrue merits or demerits (karma).  The repercussions of our activities return to us, in like kind.  Like attracts like.  It is the law of attraction.  We must train our mind to cultivate greater virtues, so that we accrue more merits, for the greater good.  Since, we know that we are all one, it is our duty to serve others and see God in them or at least see a spark of God in them.  We must look for the good in others, even when there is only seemingly a little good, in them.  In this way, we become good ourselves.  We see on the ‘outside’, what we see on the ‘inside’.  Of course, in reality there is no division between inside and outside, as life is one undivided wholeness.

We are to offer the fruits of our actions to God, prior to starting our work, in this way, we would not wish to give God anything less that the best, of us.  We are also to control our negativities and not express these, so that they don’t increase. What you ‘nourish’ grows….It is not easy to curb one’s weaknesses but this is the training - being mindfully aware of the weaknesses and improving our character.  As we are triggered, then not to react outwardly in a negative way and let the moment pass-by and then respond skilfully, in a way that does not hurt others, on the contrary, responding skilfully to benefit them.  We must never speak in anger towards anybody, it is better to walk away or be silent.  That way we do not hurt others with our words and create bad karma for ourselves.

Furthermore, we must read some ancient scriptures e.g the Bhagavad Gita or the Upanishads, to learn the truth about God, ourself and about the world.  We must imbibe the sacred utterances e.g. “Consciousness is Brahman” and “This Self (Ātman) is Brahman” and make them real to ourselves, by reflecting upon them deeply.  In this way we will understand the truth of who we are.  This is what spiritual practice is all about.

So, to summarise, we must do intense spiritual practice for as long as it takes, for us to wake up fully to who we truly are, to discover the Self, which is beyond the body, mind and intellect, to realise in the depth of our being that God and the creation are not two.  They are one and the same.  This should be imbibed to the deepest degree, so that it is reflected in our day-to-day life.  This is a true spiritualised life.  We are in the world but not of the world.  We live in the awareness of that there is nothing external to myself.  Then we will love everything and everyone equally.  This is called enlightenment or self-realisation and this is the purpose of true spiritual practice.  This is what liberates us from personal suffering.  It is the only thing that liberates us from the false identification with the separate sense of self (the ego).  So for now, we have more inner work to do.  

I pray that we all progress steadily on the spiritual path and experience greater and greater love, peace and joy.  Many blessings to you!

Research has shown that mindfulness meditation can increase your well-being, by altering the structure and function of your brain, positively, in just 8 weeks of practice. 

Studies show that it can reduce your negative mind wandering and help increase concentration, enhance your ability to manage difficult situations, lower your stress, anxiety and depression, lessen your emotional reactivity, change how you think and feel about your stressful experiences, strengthen your immune system, increase your clarity and peace, increase your concentration, productivity and creativity, improve your sleep, raise your self-confidence and increase your self-awareness.

MRI scans have enabled scientists to see the changes to the brains of mindfulness meditation practitioners and confirm that long-term practice of mindfulness meditation, can reduce the size of the amygdala in your brain, which may help to reduce anger, anxiety, fear and aggression. The amygdala are cells located at the base of your brain, which trigger the fight and flight reaction in your body, during stress. The amygdala is associated with fear and stress responses and when it reduces in size, so do the reactions to stressful situations. This enables you to respond wisely to stressful circumstances, instead of reacting, which can have a very negative impact on yourself and those around you.

Mindfulness meditation practice also increases the thickness of the hippocampus, which helps learning and memory. People with depression tend to have greater activation in the right prefrontal cortex than those that are not suffering from depression. The left prefrontal cortex is activated in mindfulness meditation practice and this reduces depression and improves mood. The above are just some of the benefits of mindfulness meditation practice, there are many more.

Your happiness depends upon the state of your mind.  Take this opportunity to train your mind and gain mindfulness and meditation skills that relate directly to your life.  Embark upon a more fulfilled life in the present moment, with a mindfulness course at Katarina Tilley | Meditation Centre, Point Clear, St. Osyth, near Colchester, in Essex. An 8 week mindfulness course may be the start of a peaceful way of being.

Spiritual development is the purification of the mind, since there is no development, in the spiritual Self. Spirit is already perfect but it is veiled by the illusions of the mind. When the illusions have been extinguished, then the real ‘I’ within, can shine in all its glory - beautiful, radiant, pure Spirit, shining through your vessel, in a tangible way. This is the purpose of spiritual practice…purification of the mind, leading to spiritual awakening and then finally to embodied liberation.

Spiritual awakening is the glimpsing of a direct awareness of your true Self, as formless Spirit, as opposed to identifying with the ego’s idea of a separate self. After an initial awakening, there are many transformations taking place in people. That is usually followed by many more glimpses, which eventually result in realising who you truly are, what the world is and what God is and being at one with all. This is called enlightenment, which means living life from a place of oneness. This process can take quite some time to complete.

Why would you want to seek this? Because you cannot be truly and authentically happy unless you do find it. Everything in the world is temporary and not fully satisfactory. Happiness is already within you, it is your true nature. Only oneness is the reality and fulfilment of life. Wholeness is experiencing life beyond personal suffering. It is a transpersonal experiencing of life.

What if if you are able to meet the present moment with wonder, able to live consciously, have genuine connectivity with others (they are none other than your true Self/God), experience true purity of heart, live simply from an elevated state? Suppose you can be present and alert to the unfolding moment? What if you could have a heart full of goodness, live in a state of love, have a peaceful mind and experience present moment joy? What if you could truly surrender and accept life as it unfolds? How about being a loving, peaceful and joyous presence, in service of others, for the greater good?

The truth is that you can. It depends on awakening to Universal Truth, through self-observation, by seeing through your illusions, purifying your mind through spiritual practices and by removing the overlay over your true Self - your Highest Self (God within), until you arrive at Wholeness, in due course. Experience shows that in the majority of cases, this cannot be done by ourselves, we need somebody who themselves have awakened and embody oneness, to guide us.

During my 19 year spiritual ‘journey’ with my Guru (at the time of writing), I learned the truth about my Self, the world and God. It was a gradual dawning that they are one and the same being - our true Self. Through the unconditional love from my Guru, the practice of meditation, purification of the mind, guidance, selfless service, devotion, study, listening to teachings, japa (personal mantra chanting), attentive awareness and living in the present moment - mindfulness, my heart opened. My Guru was the object of my meditation in all waking hours and gradually the Self’s qualities began to awaken in me and my personal suffering gradually dissolved. It was a beautiful yet intense ‘journey’ into Divine Love and Peace.

If you would like to begin to explore and awaken to the truth of your being, then consider booking some one-to-one sessions. Be sure that I will meet you wherever you are at and help awaken and guide you back, to your true Self. The one-to-one sessions have a proven record of being transformative in nature.

Everybody seeks happiness, yet it seems very illusive and fleeting.  One minute it is here and the next minute it is gone and once again it leaves us seeking.  If only we could press the pause button when we find ourselves in the state of happiness!  It seems like happiness is playing hide and seek, with us.  

What is more, happiness is hard to define with exactness.  Some people equate happiness with pleasure and others explain it as a range of positive emotions, such as joy, contentment, gratitude or elation.  Some say that good health is happiness.  Yet others describe it as flourishing.  Somebody else may explain happiness as the experience of joy, contentment, well-being, coupled with the inner feeling that all is well.  

We have a sense that all of the above contributes to happiness and yet often we still don’t feel totally content.  Worldly things always seem to leave us wanting…  

Have you ever asked yourself what is happiness and where is it to be found?  Not every one does, but sooner or later one does begin to wonder about these more existential questions, especially when life seems to go in the other direction than we had hoped for.

Meaning and Purpose

It would be hard to feel the fullness of life, without meaning and purpose.  It is vital that our life feels meaningful and that we feel we are useful to others in some way - this gives us the purpose and reason for living.  Serving others in some little or great way, most definitely adds to our happiness quota.  

In fact, we are told by ancient wisdom that true happiness is being free from personal desires, which cause expectation, disappointment and anger, if unfulfilled and instead focus on what we can give to others instead.  It is the act of moving from a grasping consciousness to selflessness.

When we search for happiness, if we look below the surface, we will see that there is a belief that we are not happy already, in the here and now or we would not be looking for it.  We never search for what we already know we have, we only search for what we think is missing in our life.  Reflecting on the actions of the billions of humans on this planet, we can see that there is a constant external search for more and more things that we think will give us happiness.  We also seek happiness in our relationships.  All of those are external seeking.  

Seeking for happiness within

Scriptures say that we are not wrong in searching for happiness but that we are looking for it in the wrong place and that the cause of this relentless search for happiness is due to the fact that we don’t know the truth of our being.  These ancient teachings say that we are to look within our own selves for the happiness that we seek and that this happiness is the actual core fabric of our true nature.  So if happiness is within and it is our true nature then how do we find it? 

Here are 3 tips to get you started:

• Spend 20 minutes per day doing some form of sitting meditation.  Rise above your thoughts and rest in stillness and silence and reflect on your deepest aspirations. 

• In your daily life, come into the present moment whenever you can, by being totally present with what you are seeing, feeling or sensing, in that moment i.e. your inner and outer world. 

• Allow your mind to remain free from thinking for periods of time, during your day or evening, by concentrating on something that requires your full attention e.g. mindful drawing, singing, mindful movement such as yoga or Tai Chi or your bike ride.

Happiness is something that we cultivate moment-to-moment over time, through contemplation (meditation) and present moment living (mindfulness).  Through close examination, we need to be honest with ourselves, as we observe our thoughts, words and actions.  We must come to know which of those contribute to suffering and which lead to well-being.  Furthermore, this observation must give rise to a deep desire for change.  A desire for change is a natural consequence of seeing that the ego, which leads us to suffering, is seen as a great burden.  Next we must start the process of eliminating those thoughts, words and actions, which cause suffering.  

In addition, we are also encouraged to practice a form of contemplation, to become aware of our deepest aspiration, which includes us and yet extends beyond us, such as love, peace, wisdom and joy for all beings. 

In the end, we must withdraw our own projections, that we have projected onto the world and see and accept things and people as they are.  This is how to cultivate happiness.  We can then become conscious co-creators and bring forth something beautiful for the world, in our unique way.  

Cultivating happiness

So to conclude, happiness is a natural urge that arises from within but let us be wise and seek for it where it can be found.  Let us be willing to apply ourselves wholeheartedly to the cultivation of happiness, for the greater good.  If we do this in the correct manner, as described above, we will one day be able to let go of the exhausting and relentless pursuit of external happiness, as we discover that happiness exists already within our core and it is not dependant on anything external.  

We then remain content within ourselves, in the here and now and experience happiness as life unfolds.  We also become a conscious presence and all people and beings that we come in contact with, will profit from our state of consciousness.  This is the art of how to cultivate happiness.

If you would like to know more about the cultivation of happiness, then please contact Katarina Tilley at www.katarinatilley.co.uk

With love and blessings

Katarina Tilley, Living in the Light, Meditation Centre, Little Clacton, (near Colchester, Ipswich and Chelmsford), in Essex.

Text copyright Katarina Tilley 2020

Sometimes life presents us with unexpected blessings…  In the midst of the second lockdown, in 2020, I had the most surprising discovery, which was the emergence of my now high pitched singing voice.  I have loved female sopranos’ operatic voices for a long time and after watching a young lady sing opera on TV,  I was very inspired by her.  Her voice sounded so beautiful.  I have wanted to be able sing high notes for many years but was not able to do so.  One day soon after seeing that young lady sing opera, as I was enjoying trying to sing the same song, suddenly a very high pitched and powerful voice emerged out of my throat.  I was totally stunned.  I could not believe that this voice had been living inside of me all these years, awaiting expression.  I kept singing over and over, not quite believing what I was witnessing, because I clearly have not done any practicing.  I recalled that I had done some singing when I was a child and had taken a few singing lessons many years ago, in my early twenties but it was nothing like this.  

The moment that voice came through, it opened my throat chakra and since then I can no longer say that I cannot sing.  I did not think I could or would sing, nor did I think I could remember even part of the melodies.  I have not attempted to remember whole songs yet but currently learning parts of songs, as and when I feel like it.  The extraordinariness of that moment was that I truly realised that everything is truly within us, even if we may not be aware of it.  Many of our gifts lay dormant within us for years.  You, the reader also have skills and abilities awaiting your discovery…

I have always been focused on spirituality and work and not given much of my life to pleasure.  However, now singing for me is pure pleasure.  I cannot tell you, the immense enjoyment I derive from singing, especially since there is nothing, I feel I need to do with it.  What I mean is, that I am obviously not going to become a professional singer, but nor am I trying to become better and better.  I just sing happily, whilst enjoying the act of singing, in the moment that it is happening.  I liken it to walking meditation, in which you walk for the sake of walking.  It has no other purpose or goal.  So, I sing for its own sake and get huge amount of enjoyment from it.  

Singing is also similar to meditation in that you have to be very present, to be able to follow the music, lyrics and breathe properly, in order to reach the high notes (at least that is the case for me).  I suspect that one of the secrets to the enjoyment is the being in the present moment.  Anything done in the present moment releases its magical qualities.  In my case, in the midst of the difficulties, restrictions of lockdown and the necessity to practice immense patience, my higher Self provided me with this huge blessing - a singing voice.  It is such a beautiful gift because it is simply for me (and my husband and a few friends).  I can do it on my own, when cooking or cleaning etc.  

The act of singing for me is an outlet for Self (divine) expression. When I allow the sound energy to flow out of my throat, I feel a real sense of freedom and that my Source is infinite intelligence.  At that time I am sure that its power lies within me too.

When I hear the voice of a female soprano, it touches me deep in my soul.  I feel the perfection of the divine in the voice.  For me, it is the energy of the divine, in sound form, which flows through the female soprano and it reaches my soul.  In the of listening to such beautiful music and in the act of my own singing, as well as other moments when I am present and connected to the divine, right there is the gift - our own innate bliss.  I sometimes wonder how people can argue and fight so much with each other, when there is such beauty within and without.  It is such a waste of precious life, when there is such beauty in this world and even more so within ourselves.  This inner beauty unveils itself gradually, as we open our heart more and more.  

The divine is in all of us

I experience the divine in people, as immense beauty, the beauty of the one Self, which is within all of us.  I really wish that people would hear and see without labelling or judging and come purely into the present moment and enjoy the present as it appears, in whatever form.  That said, to reach a place of open heartedness, fear needs to be released first and this can take some time.

If people only knew that it is the one formless Self appearing as the diversity of forms and that it is everywhere they look.  We have all heard of omnipresence but most of us don’t realise that this omnipresence is everywhere and that it is here and now and all around us.  It shows up in every single form, including ourselves.  

If you would like to experience the divine in someone, look beyond their physical form, to the place where you are the same, rather than different and then you will be able to feel the underlying reality of oneness with this person or animal.  This is the reason I love people and my work so much, I get the opportunity to experience so many different expressions of the divine, in each and every student and client. It makes my work so enjoyable to see students that come for Reiki courses, clients coming for Reiki treatments and also mindfulness and meditation students, heal and awaken to their spirituality. It enables me to form a small part of their spiritual journey.

I feel it is a privilege to welcome all kinds of people, to Living in the Light, who come from many parts of Essex, such as Colchester, Chelmsford, Tiptree, Frinton-on-Sea and Clacton itself and many other nearby areas, in Essex, for mindfulness courses, Reiki courses and Reiki healing treatments and share a heart to heart connection with them. It is not difficult to see our interconnectedness and shared essence. It adds beauty to my work.

In oneness

Katarina Tilley

www.katarinatilley.co.uk

Nick embarked upon his healing journey in November 2016.  In 2020 he came to me, to do his Reiki Masters.  As he had studied a different form of Reiki (in Colchester), I advised him to redo Reiki 1 and 2 because he had not learned Original Usui Reiki and there were too many gaps to bridge.

Nick completed his Reiki journey, with Katarina Tilley, in Clacton, in Essex.

I tailor-made a combined Reiki 1 and 2 course, to suit Nick's needs.  On the course itself, all that Nick needed, was imparted and he learned a great deal.  He discovered Original Usui Reiki.  The course expanded his healing skills and capacity.  He also learned more about himself.  Nick enjoyed exploring the new healing techniques, energy exercises,  Gassho meditation, Kotodama and the increased healing energy.  

Some months, after the course, he began to prepare for Reiki Masters.  The Reiki Masters course is very involved, especially day 1 and Nick did all the necessary preparations. 

Finally, his long awaited course date arrived.  He felt a mixture of excitement and trepidation. I went through the Reiki Masters material, methodically and highlighted the responsibility of Reiki Mastership, to ensure the 'birth' of a mindful Reiki Master that will take care of his students. 

We approached the learning of initiating others, step-by-step, making sure that Nick understood the entire process and gave him plenty of time to practice.  Day 1 is a very busy day, with much information to be absorbed and then implemented.  Day 2 is usually very welcomed and it is generally experienced as an easier day.  Nick was no exception, in this regard.  

Nick did very well on the course.  He learned new symbols and practiced chanting the additional Kotodama, he demonstrated understanding of the initiation process throughout the practical sessions and Nick also learned new healing techniques and much more.  Nick met all the objectives. It is fair that Nick loves the Reiki energy. 

By the end of the Reiki Masters course, Nick's Reiki vision was complete and a great sense of fulfilment was felt, on both our parts.  It is truly a joy and a blessing to be part of somebody's spiritual and healing 'journey'.  

As a result of Reiki, we each also have the additional benefit of a lovely friendship that is rooted in spirituality, mutual respect and kindness.

Much has been said about Reiki but few have mentioned the fact that Reiki is love.   In one sense Reiki is a process of growth, into a more genuine, expansive and loving human being.  Love always transforms the giver and the receiver. 

Such is Reiki... Finally, Reiki leads you towards wholeness.

For more information about Reiki courses, please click here www.katarinatilley.co.uk/reiki

Difficult times

Reiki came into my life at a difficult juncture.  At that time, we were trying to have children and children did not materialise.  It is funny how one takes certain things for granted and when life takes a different turn, you can in hindsight realise that it was the best thing that happened.   Of course, in those days, I was not aware of so many spiritual truths, as I have come to realise over the years.  I now know, that what happened, happened according to my deepest beliefs.  I did not attract children into my life for very specific reasons that are completely known to me, today.  My life was meant to move in a different direction…

So, leading up to discovering Reiki I was very sad, depressed and lost and I did not know how to heal myself from this.  

Discovering Reiki

My Early Reiki Journey: One day in 1997, I went to a mind, body and soul festival in London and there was a stall there with people offering mini Reiki treatments, to try it.  I was attracted to the stall.  It seemed like a good idea, as I was so sad and felt so helpless.  I sat down to have my treatment.  The treatment brought up so many of my emotions, yet it felt very calming, soothing and healing at the same time.  That was the start of my interest in Reiki.  I wanted to learn it for my self.  The only thing was, that I had a feeling that it would occupy a great space in my life and I was at that time on a 9 month Reflexology course and decided with this intuition that I would wait until I finished the course or else I may never complete it.  I qualified in Reflexology on the 14th of February 1998 and I booked my self on a Reiki 1, on the 28th of February.  The course of my life had been set in that moment…

Reiki 1

As the Reiki course date arrived, I felt excited and yet nervous at the same time.  The course was held in a venue, in Colchester, Essex.  There were several of us on the course and the Reiki Master, Peter was very nice. He proceeded to tell us about Dr Usui, the founder of Reiki, the history of Reiki, how it worked and we also did meditation.  We learned that Reiki works through intention and that energy follows thought.  We were all nervous and excited when the time came to receive our initiation into Reiki.  Peter gave us 4 attunements.  During the initiations I had many feelings and had some psychic visions.  We learned how to do self-healing and we did partner healing and many relevant things pertaining to Reiki.  We all really enjoyed the course.  Peter explained the 21 day cleansing process to us, whereby the lower energy gets replaced by the higher Reiki energy and it would take a little time to settle and that it may bring on flu-like symptoms, we may cleanse through the bladder and the bowel, we may feel more emotional than usual, feel like being on our own for a while in nature.  All those things were normal during the cleansing process, he said.

I felt I had received a beautiful gift.  I left the 2 day course on a high.  It felt as if I was walking on air.  As I came out of the course, I noticed the clouds and felt very connected to them, bizarrely, as if we we were one.  I was in a state of interconnectedness, that I years later realised, is the state of enlightenment, only I had received a glimpse of that state.  A new world was opening up to me…

The cleansing process started immediately but it had a more powerful effect than I could ever have imagined.  From the day of leaving the class, I did not drink alcohol or coffee ever again.  The same happened to tea, except for many years later, on the rare occasion when I was somewhere where there were no herbal teas, then I would have weak black tea.  Reiki also made me lose the taste for eating red meat, and I subsequently became vegetarian for 6 years.  The taste for all those things literally fell away upon being initiated into Reiki.  I have no explanation for this, other than it was a cleansing process.  I had never thought of giving any of those things up prior to Reiki.

Peter had told us to not get out of bed until we had done a 1 hour Reiki treatment and I followed his advice.  He told us that there was no need to set the alarm for 1 hour because if we intended it, he said that we would naturally finish within the hour.  When I did my first self-treatment that was exactly what happened.  I marvelled at how this could be so.   Best of all, it was lovely to feel so peaceful.  Reiki also helped my back, I have mild scoliosis and my back was aching also from stress, whilst in my previous job.  One day when I looked down at my feet, I realised that my bunions had disappeared.  It also had a tremendously positive effect on my mind and my emotions. 

As time went by, I became fascinated with Reiki.  I became calmer, less emotional, more balanced and harmonious.  Gradually Reiki had also awaked me to spirituality.  I connected with Reiki at a very deep level.  After 3 months, I learned Reiki 2, on a one-to-one basis, with Peter and the mental/emotional energy within Reiki 2, became my best friend.  It really helped me to keep my emotions balanced and together with meditation, it was the start of becoming much more peaceful.  Many people perhaps don’t value peace above other things but I do, due to the household I grew up in.  I seeked peace above all else.  In fact since my teens, being peaceful, has been my ambition in life.  Now I had the tools with meditation that I had been and still practice since 1996 and with Reiki.  I was well on the way to become my inspired vision of a peaceful person.   

Reiki 2

Reiki 2 inspired me to set up a Reiki healing practice, which I did.  There were so many mystical things that I began to experience, in connection with Reiki, that made me reflect deeply on the Universal Energy, we call God.  I witnessed so many wonderful healings in my clients, including healing from a life threatening condition, worked with people who had severe mental trauma, to back pains, shoulder injuries and all the range of psychosomatically symptoms.  I could not get enough of Reiki, I needed to do more courses and learn more.  I really wanted to understand deeply how it worked.

Reiki Masters

The next step was Reiki Masters but I did not feel I knew enough to become a Reiki Master.   I began to seek out other Reiki masters and came across another course, which was an advanced course in Reiki, with another Reiki Master, who had helped me with a pertinent question early on.  I booked myself on the course.  When I got there, this Reiki master’s style was very different from Peter’s.  I never expected that Allan’s teachings would be so different from Peter’s.  He imparted a huge amount of information that helped me to understand healing on a deeper level but at the same time it caused confusion, as they almost seemed like two different topics.  I thought if I do his Reiki 1 and 2 then perhaps everything would make more sense.  I did these courses and I decided to stay with Allan as my Reiki master and continued to the Reiki Masters course, which I did and also Karuna Reiki.  Following all these courses, my clients experienced very good results.  

Original Usui Reiki Training

As I was still confused by the differences in the two Reiki styles, in February 2000. I attended Japanese Reiki Training, near Scotland.  This course helped enormously because this Reiki master had learned with Allan’s Reiki master and also understood Peter’s ways.  In truth, this course bridged the gap and enabled me to understand both sides and led to the setting myself up, as a Reiki teacher.  I started teaching Reiki and loved and still love every minute of it.  In October 2002, I learned ‘Original Usui Reiki’ and thus completed my Reiki learning.  This course opened up insight into Usui’s original form of Reiki, which is very different from Western Reiki.  Since then I teach both styles, on my 2 day Reiki courses.

The Impact of Reiki

In my 22 years of involvement with Reiki (at the time of writing), I have met many lovely students and clients.  It is a privilege and joy to put students on the spiritual path and to see them grow spiritually, get strong mentally and emotionally.  Some stay with Reiki and some use it as a stepping stone to something else.  Reiki can be helpful towards your spiritual evolution.  In either case, it is lovely to see the impact of Reiki in people’s lives and I am still in contact with some of my early students, which is lovely, as it has enabled me to witness their life unfold in marvellous ways.  Reiki has also empowered me to listen deeply to peoples’s energy field and has along with meditation contributed to my deep insight and intuition. Insight and intuition allows me tailor the courses to my students’ needs and in addition it facilitates the service I can give to clients.  What is marvellous is that the courses that I run enable me to play a small part in people’s life journey and help them towards their self-healing.

Reiki made me increasingly interested in spirituality and subsequently led me to my spiritual teacher Amma, and from there to my authentic Self and to the embodying of love, peace and joy.  I am very aware that one has in truth, no idea where things will lead, when one starts out with something.  Often it has far reaching effects…The thing that I know for sure is, that if you hold a clear vision of your heart’s desire consistently for a long period of time, then it will begin to manifest your vision.  

Today I am delighted to say that I am the person, I seeked to be.  Today I am a peaceful being, thanks to meditation, Reiki, Amma, all the consistent application of the teachings and thanks to my diligence, in adhering to my vision.  I wanted to be peaceful so fervently, that I never lost sight of this vision, since my teenage years and gradually worked towards it and here we are…

Reiki is a lovely healing art that is very nurturing, gentle and balancing to your entire being.  If you have never tried Reiki, then you may just have missed something that could benefit your entire being.  Reiki works on all levels of a person’s being and can be of great benefit to release stress - the precursor for many diseases. I offer Reiki treatments and Reiki courses, for the good of your entire being, at Katarina Tilley’s meditation centre, in Point Clear, Clacton, near Colchester, Harwich, Ipswich, Essex.

For more information about Reiki healing and Reiki courses, please click here www.katarinatilley.co.uk/reiki

It is my sheer joy and pleasure to be writing about Reiki.  Reiki feels like a very old friend, as over the years Reiki has helped me so much, on all levels of my being.  So it is lovely to be writing about it and sharing its benefits with you.    

Usui Sensei

The founder of Reiki was Mikao Usui.  Sensei is the title given to a teacher. Usui was born in Kyoto, Japan in 1865. He was a Tendai Buddhist, who would have practiced projection healings.  He was also a very competent martial artist, who practiced Samurai Swordmanship.  He was extremely powerful and a very learned person.  He had knowledge of traditional Chinese and Western medicine and attended various spiritual/healing groups. He associated with many people with very high spiritual values.

Usui Discovers his Healing Powers

During a fasting meditation Usui felt the air mysterious and then became aware that he had received healing power.  So he had not received the healing power from anyone or studied in order to gain healing power.  Evidence suggests that Dr Usui was already teaching Reiki by 1915. 

Mikao Usui was a Well-known and Popular Healer

In 1922 Usui opened his first ‘Seat of Learning’ school in Tokyo.  Usui taught over a thousand people Reiki. His students started out as clients and received Reiki themselves before embarking upon Reiki training.

Mikao Usui was a great healer, who lent his hands to help the surviving victims of the Kanto Earthquake, which took place 50 miles from Tokyo and destroyed Tokyo and Yokahama, in 1923.  Usui Sensei received an honorary doctorate in recognition of his services to the people, during this emergency.  

How Reiki Works

Reiki works holistically.  This means that it includes your whole being.  You are more than just your physical body.  You are made up of 4 aspects: the physical, which is the most densest part of you.  You have a mind, which consists of your thoughts and emotions.  Then you have an intellect, which is your reasoning power and decision making faculty.  Beyond those aspects is your spiritual part, your most etherial aspect.  This is your higher Self - the real you.  Reiki works on the whole of you and not just the symptoms.  Physical symptoms often arise as a call for attention, to a dis-ease within your being.  It calls for attention to some imbalance within your being, which is likely to have started in the mind.  

These days many people know that the mind (thoughts and emotions) have a great impact on us.  At the time of writing, we are currently living with the effects of Covid-19 and many people are deeply stressed about the impact the virus has had and continues to have on all areas of their lives - family, work, finances, social life and their mental health.  What starts out as seemingly innocent thoughts, then soon enough become looping thoughts, which generate emotions such as worries, anxiety, depression, irritability, insomnia and more.  Finally these emotions manifest in the physical body, as e.g. hypertension.  The physical body is the landing place for things going on in your mind.

Scientists today agree that everything is made up of energy, including us humans.  So when we are stressed, it weakens our spiritual, mental, emotional and physical energy.  We become imbalanced and our energies become suppressed, what is known as energy blocks.  When the stress has passed, then we begin to feel lighter in ourselves, more energised and return to balance.

One way to explain Reiki to the lay person, is to liken it to electricity.  We all know that this unseen force exists because we are able to listen to the radio or watch the TV etc. In a similar manner Reiki is a universal life force, a healing energy that can be harnessed for self-healing.  This was its main intention and yet it can also be used for the healing of others, in person or at a distance.  Healing of others is a by-product of self-healing.  Although the Reiki energy is not visible to the naked eye, it can produce healing on all the levels of your being.  

Reiki’s aim is to return you to inner harmony and peace, which it does very well, by calming your nervous system.  When you are stressed then your sympathetic nervous system is active.  This system has an excitatory effect on certain organs e.g. it speeds up the heart and breathing rate.  This makes it hard to relax.  Reiki activates your parasympathetic nervous system.  This system controls your sympathetic nervous system and reduces your heart rate and slows your breathing down.  This makes you feel relaxed. This is what happens under normal and non stressful circumstances, when you are about to fall asleep.  The parasympathetic nervous system takes control and calms you down, relaxes you and you begin to feel sleepy.  So you can see why sometimes people fall asleep during their Reiki treatments. This is one way that Reiki can help release your stress.

As well as being relaxed during a Reiki treatment, some people have insights during the treatment itself.  As Reiki works on those parts of us that we are conscious of, as well as unconscious of, it can help us release any unresolved issues from the past or anxieties about the future.  During the treatment, Reiki can bring up one or more layers of an issue into our conscious mind.  It can bring up part and/or all of the information that we need, in order to resolve that issue.  The solution can just dawn on our mind.

Most people that have experienced Reiki, would agree that it is a gentle nurturing energy that is very calming and balancing.  Essentially, it makes you feel good and at ease.

What is unique about Reiki is that it has its own innate wisdom.  That means that although the client may present with a specific issue, something else which is more important for the welfare of that client, at that time, may resolve instead.  

During my 22 years of involvement with Reiki, I have seen many incredible Reiki healing miracles, some which complementary practitioners sadly are not allowed to write about, because of the restrictions placed upon us.  Of course one cannot guarantee that the same result will be had by all and this is why the restrictions have been put in place, as well as, due to some misleading advertising.  

A Real Reiki Healing Case

I would however like to share one case that I witnessed with a client, who suffered with a leg ulcer but who presented for treatment with a mild but stubborn sore throat.  

The client had not disclosed the leg ulcer issue, to me, prior to the treatment.  During the treatment, I was guided to lay my hands more on her left leg than on the throat.  It was only after the treatment and at my prompting, of if she could think of a reason of why I would be guided to work on her left leg so much.  This is when she mentioned that she had a very large leg ulcer.

When the client returned on the second week, she reported an improvement in the leg ulcer but not in the throat. During the treatment I once again was guided to lay my hands more on her left leg than on her throat.  At the end of the treatment my client showed me the ulcer and it was still rather large.

On her last visit, she reported that her leg ulcer was practically healed, whilst the throat remained the same.  She showed me her leg and it was incredible to see such a marked improvement.  I did hear later that the ulcer had completely healed up.  This is one example of what can happen during a Reiki treatment.  

The beauty of Reiki is that it does what needs to be done, at the time of the treatment and no amount of directing of the energy by the practitioner can or will influence the energy, unless it is for the highest good of the client.  Personally, I have found that the best results occur when the practitioner doesn’t get involved in the treatment and simply allows the energy to flow unimpeded.  The practitioner is simply the conduit for the energy.

What Does the Reiki Healing Energy Feel Like?

During the Reiki itself, Reiki can be felt as a subtle tingling sensation, warmth, heat or even sometimes as a cooling energy.  It may also produce a sensation in the area where the client has a physical problem.  Some people have visions when they receive reiki.  They may see colours or other type of imagery, such as seeing a white light. 

The client can have a ‘felt-sense’ of some things, too, as well as awareness of something relevant to their healing.  Most sensitive clients are able to experience any or all of the previously mentioned sensations.  Having said that even those people who don’t experience any of these things, can still have amazing results with Reiki.  So experiences as mentioned above are not related to the outcome.

Reiki with Katarina, in Clacton, Essex

Katarina Tilley offers Reiki treatments and Reiki training courses.  At this present time with Covid-19, PPE will be worn, to ensure safety.

Reiki Treatments

Typically, the first time you attend for a Reiki treatment, I take a consultation, which lasts up to 30 minutes.  The treatment itself is for the duration of 1 hour.  For the treatment you would lay fully clothed on a comfortable couch and simply relax.  

During the treatment, I channel either a physical or a mental/emotional energy, deepening on your need.  As you receive the reiki energy, this allows any less than light energy that you may be currently holding, to leave you.  This creates room for a more positive and beneficial energy.  This new energy often strengthens your own energy and you may experience a greater well-being.  The entire experience of receiving Reiki is unique to each and every person.  However, most will agree that often, it is a very gentle and loving experience.

Reiki Courses

The courses taught at Katarina Tilley’s meditation centre are both Western and Original Usui Reiki, as received by Usui Sensei’s original disciples.  The courses are built around you and your needs, even though there is a set criteria to cover during each course.  Reiki consists of three levels; Reiki I, Reiki II and Reiki Masters.  During a Reiki course you will receive the relevant initiations for each level, both for Western and Original Usui Reiki.

At Reiki 1 you will learn how to use Reiki for yourself, friends and family.  You will learn the in-depth history of Reiki, Reiki Principles, hand positions, scanning, Kenyoku, Joshin Kokkyu Ho, Gassho meditation, introduction to mindfulness, auras and chakras and much more. Reiki I can be the start of a beautiful healing journey.

Reiki 2 is a practitioner’s course and this course will enable you to use both the symbols and Kotodama of Reiki II, for yourself and others.  You will be able to set up your own healing practice after the attendance of this course. 

The Reiki Masters Course can be simply for yourself, doing healing on others and to further your spiritual growth but without wanting to become a teacher.  More commonly, this course is to help you set up as a Reiki teacher and run your own courses.  You will learn to empower yourself with an energy ball.

Conclusion About Reiki

So, to conclude Reiki is a natural healing energy, which is gentle, nurturing and feels lovely to receive. Reiki is a hands-on healing therapy, from Japan that can benefit you on all levels of your being.  I would really recommend that you try it, if you would like a new experience, are feeling worried about something, overwhelmed, stressed or anxious, as the Reiki energies are very calming.  

At Katarina Tilley Meditation Centre, Point Clear, Clacton, Essex, you can relax, unwind and calm your inner being, with a Reiki treatment. A Reiki treatment allows you to go into a quiet place within you, which is so important for the quieting down of your nervous system.  It is in stillness and silence that you can truly heal yourself.  Reiki’s energies are restorative.  

Furthermore, at Katarina’s meditation centre you can also attend a Reiki course.  A Reiki I course can be the start of a beautiful spiritual journey, a means to heal yourself, give Reiki healing to others.  With a Reiki II course you can become a Reiki practitioner and at the highest level of Reiki Masters you will be able to initiate others into Reiki and run your own courses. 

Perhaps the best explanation of all, about Reiki, are the following words from Usui Sensei: “Reiki is love, love is wholeness, wholeness is balance, balance is well-being, well-being its freedom from disease.

If you would like to know more about how Reiki can benefit you or you would like to attend a course, then please do not hesitate to contact me on katarinatilley@gmail.com or click here www.katarinatilley.co.uk/reiki to learn more.

Katarina Tilley, Reiki Master Teacher and Mindfulness Meditation Teacher, is now based in Point Clear, Clacton (near Frinton-on-Sea, Harwich, Colchester and Ipswich) in Essex.

Covid-19 is forcing us to be more present with what is happening moment-to-moment.  Since we became aware of the virus, we have had to be very alert and present in our daily life, in order to prevent us from catching it.  How many of us were truly present when we washed our hands before the pandemic?  Yet now we have become more present with our hand washing, we even make sure we do it for the length it takes to sing Happy Birthday twice!  

Even if one hasn’t been very mindful previously, how can we avoid being present to the smell of the alcohol based hand sanitisers, Dettol and bleach?  The other day my therapy room smelled like a hospital clinic, after two days of continuous use of hand sanitisers. Most of us are learning mindful living, in the midsts of a pandemic. 

Learning Appreciation

Whereas we were free to enjoy any amount of outdoor exercise.  Suddenly the government said “Only 30 minutes of exercise once daily”.  Suddenly we had to begin to clock watch when we exercised outdoors, in order to remain within the guidelines.  We had taken for granted, the freedom to exercise as long as we wanted.  Covid-19 has taught us the appreciation for freedom to exercise.  Never had we questioned that before.  During lockdown, some people took up exercise for the first time, just to be able to go out.  In a certain country people even bought dogs, so that they could take them out for a walk twice daily, such was the boredom and the desire to go out!  

Before the pandemic, when young people were with friends many of them had their heads in their mobiles, but then when lockdown was enforced they were no longer allowed to see their friends.  They soon began to value social connection and began to miss their friends’ actual presence and longed to see them again.  Suddenly their mobile phone was not so interesting, as they learned the value of Presence.

Previously we dashed here, there and everywhere and our partners were somewhat neglected but during lockdown we were forced to spend 24/7 with them.  This soon helped us to refocus on our relationship and on the truth that our partners are usually the ones that stand by us in thick and thin over the years and help us get though so many life events.  Even if we had had some issues with them, now we were forced to spend every minute of our day with them, so we had to get along with them and for many people, this sorted out their earlier relationship issues.  In some cases being forced to be together all the time without distractions had terrible consequences and it is likely that the abuse that ensued will lead to separation.  Perhaps the virus was a catalyst for a new life and healthier self esteem. The virus highlighted the fact that changes were due.  Signs that had been there for a long time could no longer be ignored, as Covid-19 forced people to face a harsh reality. 

Before the virus, those people who did not appreciate their job began to miss going to work, as having continuous free time and no obligations was realised as not perhaps as fun as they may had thought, not least because of the reduction in earnings, which has an impact on social life.  A new appreciation for work arose in some people. 

What about the liberty to eat what you want when you want?  In the early stages of the pandemic, we had to be very mindful of how much we ate, as it seemed like the food may run out or we were too frightened to go to the shops, which in any case only let us buy 3 tins of soup, beans or fish etc. at any one time. 

When we did eat something we were very appreciative.  Some of us were so much more present with the food and its taste.  So all this taking things for granted became a thing of the past and true value and appreciation arose in most of us.  We realised how lucky we had been to have such great opportunities in life, such bounty, such wonderful families and friends, a regular job, a garden, the freedom to do what we want when we choose to or anything else that has been given freely to us by life itself.  

True admiration arose for the unsung heroes.  Many people expressed genuine appreciation towards the essential workers, those people who previously had laboured without being valued as they should be.  Most of us where humbled by how they have risked their lives, in order to keep the rest of us safe. Most of us learned the true value of these wonderful people, only during the pandemic.

Increase In Kindness

It took the pandemic to increase the kindness quota in people.  So many people rose to a community spirit and to exceptional kindness, during this difficult phase of our lives.  Some people became truly helpful to others and brightened people’s lives in so many ways and will no doubt continue to do so.  It is truly staggering how the virus has shown us that we are interdependent.  All life is interdependent and it took a virus to teach us directly what spiritual teachings have been expounding for thousands of years.

The Two Sides Of Covid-19

Covid-19 has undoubtedly a very devastating aspect to it and has brought with it so much tragedy and pain for thousands of people around the world.  At the same time it has also forced us to draw upon some perhaps previously unseen inner strength and courage.  We have had to look deep within and search for courage and inner strength to help us survive the uncertainty of the moment.  Many have found that it is there, within us but that it needed a certain situation for us to really dig deep, in order to find it.  As we know many people have had to draw upon their inner resources  in order to pivot their work situation and finances.  The reality is that we are stronger than we realise.

Optimistic Faith In Uncertainty

Even in this very moment of continuous uncertainty, we have to be optimistic that we won't catch the virus or that we will survive the virus, whilst adhering strictly to governmental rules.  Furthermore, if money is scarce right now, then we must ‘keep up’ our optimistic faith.  We must believe that things will work out well in the end, even if we don’t know how or when.  It is typical to want to know what is happening and what will happen but Covid-19 is showing us that we have to learn to live in the present moment, with uncertainty, because that is the reality of life.  Life is uncertain and it flows in its own way.  We only have partial control.  Yet this does not mean that it is necessarily negative.  We must hold on to the message that we have been told.  “We can get through this”.   This is not the first time in history that life has presented us with difficulties and yet mankind continues.  We need to hold on to optimistic faith, whilst living in the changeable present moment and whilst responding to what appears in in our lives, as it happens.  This is mindful living. 

Learning To Live In The Present Moment

So far with the pandemic, we have been forced into the present moment, in order to avoid huge anxiety attacks about our health, work and financial situation and the future in general.  Covid-19 has reorganised our priorities for us and helped us value that which was meant to be valued and shown us in an abrupt way, the stress of living in the mind i.e. the past or future.  It has furthermore taught us how to live in the ‘now’, which is always uncertain.  The virus has taught us that we are not able to escape these two fact about life - life is changeable and uncertain and that we must flow with the changes, in order to avoid personal suffering. 

In many ways the virus has forced us to accept the unacceptable and shown us how to be with boredom, be with our loneliness, be without work, be without our extended families and friends and have less money and things and live a simpler life.  Part of this experience has been very devastating and the other part has been an eye opener and a deep learning about ourselves and life.   

Covid-19 brought about an exceptionally challenging time for parents.  They were forced to ‘step up' and become teachers for their children, whilst the schools have remained closed.  This naturally has brought many difficulties and extra responsibilities for the parents and yet in one way or another most managed to get through those difficulties.  Life has shown them that they have more inner resources than they initially thought.   

Learning To ‘BE’ and Enjoying The Present Moment

The virus has also forced many of us to learn to slow down, to even stop, to sit, with nothing to do and this has triggered anxiety within those who already suffer from anxiety.  During lockdown we have had to simply ‘be’, with no special aim and with no purpose - just ‘being’.  This was initially very difficult for many, as they had to accept the inevitable - facing their anxiety.  Eventually a greater relaxation arose within some of these people.  

At some point we started to enjoy being more present, noticing nature more, listening to bird song, we started eating together, two partners alone together, focusing on each other more than previously and families focusing on the family with no external distractions, spending quality time together.  All of us amusing ourselves in simplistic ways, such as going for walks, bike rides, being creative and playing games together - all the things that we did not have time for previously.  We also took to our computer screens to watch our loved ones through Zoom and other online applications.  This situation teaches us to learn to be with what is happening in each moment. 

We have been made to become more mindful.  Life itself has shown us what is valuable, how to live and how to be, it has slowed us down and removed much of our external busy lives and repurposed our lives. 

Life Is Uncertain

In one sudden moment, life showed all of us that life is uncertain and that it is a constant change and that the best way to live one's life is simplistically, that we don't need as many things as we thought we did. It has taught us to be brave, to live for and to take care of each other and that we are part of a greater whole - a global family of beings.  Through the more tragic events that have occurred during the pandemic, it has taught us to value others and the beauty and value of living gently and peacefully with each other.  Whilst much anger and hatred has erupted, it has also united many of our hearts, by making our hearts grow fonder, appreciating nature and being grateful for everything that has been given us and it has taught us how to live in the moment - the only moment there ever is.  Seeing the fish returning to the Venice canals and the animals returning to the cities and roaming so freely, we learned that life does very well without us.  Lockdown has demonstrated that we are in truth quite destructive and that we are supposed to care for all beings and not just think about ourselves.  We are supposed to co-live in harmony, with other and with our environment.

All nations have learned to live a little more mindfully and together we are taking baby steps in the direction of ‘one for all and all for one’.  Most of us have at least, to some degree realised our interdependency.  This has raised our world’s consciousness to encompass a greater degree of the reality of life - uncertainty, change and interdependency.    

Learning To Embrace Uncertainty

We may not have realised this before, but it is only by embracing uncertainty that we can relieve ourselves of the burden of controlling most aspects of our lives, which is a source of constant stress.  We now know that certain aspects of life cannot be controlled (no matter how good you are at applying the law of attraction) and that is a fact.  Some things are totally beyond our control and they come directly from life to teach us what we need to learn and to embrace, in order to grow in unity, love and peace, for highest good of the greater whole.  We would do well, in living in the now and rejoicing in those things that life presents us with, that can be enjoyed and be patient with the difficult things such as Covid-19, whilst knowing that this too shall pass, as the saying goes.  

Let Us Continue To Live Mindfully

Let us continue learning mindful living, in the midst of a pandemic and after the pandemic has ended. Let us continue to try, to live mindfully, by living attentively in the present moment and work towards becoming harmonious and joyous co-creators with life.  Even right now, we have the choice of what to allow in our minds, what to say and how to act.  Covid-19 is not an obstacle to create a loving, peaceful and harmonious life for ourselves and for our loved ones.  If we follow our hearts, we can create immense beauty and goodness and a better life for all our fellow beings.

I would like to end this article with the beautiful loving kindness meditation sentiment:

“May you be well, May you be happy, May you abide in peace, May you feel safe and secure, May you feel loved and cared for.”  

My deepest blessings and well-wishes to all beings.❤️

Om Shanti

Katarina Tilley

For more information about mindfulness courses, please click on the following link: www.katarinatilley.co.uk/meditation

Many people are not aware that one of the main issues that is going on within them is that, if they are e.g. very successful in business they often don’t make time for other things. It can become a one sided focus and as such they are often not as connected with themselves, as they could be and one of the reason may be the apparent lack of time but another could be, that it is not a priority or that they do not realise the value of meditation. To quote my teacher “Meditation is worth gold”. On the other hand many spiritual people often suffer from lack of prosperity. This is also not desirable especially for those living a householder’s life.  Often there is a misunderstanding about money. Money is essential in our Western society but we need not be attached to it, to the exclusion of other things. Anything we are attached to makes us suffer.

In either case, neither are fulfilling their true potential. Every being here on earth are in truth, both spiritual and material beings i.e. our vehicle - the body is made of matter and our life force is energy or spirit.  Science has already confirmed this fact. So we need to find a way to live a balanced life. 

So this being the case, how can we create balance in our lives, so that we can thrive?   To thrive we need to meet our material needs and also be aligned inside.  How do we do this?  Meditation is the key to create a balance between your inner and out life. By spending some time each day in stillness and silence i.e. meditation.  For those of you who have not tried this yet, I would really like to say that you have missed something incredibly enriching.  People who meditate have an inner sense of contentment.  They have self-awareness, which enables the practitioner to take better care of themselves and their needs and be more productive in their work. For those of you who have tried it but not pursued it, this is a good time to take it up again. Meditation helps us to become much more balanced.  

By starting your day with meditation, you begin the day, in a fantastic way, with clarity and focus and it sets the scene for the day ahead.  Perhaps you start work early and cannot do this in the morning, in which case, you can do it in the evening.  This will enable you to empty your mind of work stress and you may be more relaxed and sleep better. Clearing your mind before going to sleep is a wonderful way to wake up refreshed. Did you know that what is in our mind when we go to bed, we wake up with in the morning. If you have ever been depressed then you will have experienced this.

Meditation will pay dividends many times over.  It is like a holiday for the mind.  Only by mind training, which is what meditation is, can we ride the waves of this material world successfully.  In order to thrive, we must make time for inner silence and peace.  To simply sit with yourself in the present moment, can be seen as a very ordinary experience yet at the same time, it can be completely extraordinary and transformative. Meditation can reveal many insights. It is beautiful to listen to our inner voice and follow its guidance. It saves untold misery and solves many problems that our conscious mind could not solve. The reason for this is that we have access to the ‘universal mind’. The universal mind is the Divine Mind that we can all access if we can get still enough and this Mind has all the answers to everything that could ever arise. It is the pool of total knowledge.

Meditation is an act of self care and can be the balancing element in our lives.  Meditation benefits us physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. It is the one practice that has the potential to awaken us to a greater reality about ourselves and our purpose in life. It has been proven scientifically that mindfulness meditation alters the structure and function of the brain with a mere 20 minutes of practice daily for 6 - 8 weeks. In addition it can help to stabilise our emotions, improve our mood and can reveal our oneness with all beings.

Meditation is beautifully transforming in nature. Gradually and little by little our awareness of ourselves, others and our surroundings grow and we begin to feel interconnected. Meditation is a beautiful gift you can give to ourself that will create a balance between your inner and outer life. It truly is one of the best things that you can do for your wellbeing and spiritual growth.

For more information on how mindfulness meditation can help you, to create a balance in your life, please contact Katarina Tilley today on 07707207290, katarinatilley@gmail.com or click on the following link: www.katarinatilley.co.uk/meditation

Face-to-face mindfulness meditation courses, one-to-one mindfulness sessions and meditation classes are available with Katarina Tilley, at Point Clear Clacton, near Colchester, Harwich and Ipswich, in Essex. In addition you can also learn mindfulness and meditation online, with Katarina Tilley.

Permalink

]]>Create a Balanced Life with MeditationKatarina TilleyWed, 01 Jul 2020 20:52:15 +0000https://www.katarinatilley.co.uk/blog/self-enquiry69b6ab47ec213049fe27f531:69b6ab48ec213049fe27f584:69c27af0b43f337354eb304aThe Cause of Suffering

The true cause of our suffering is the ignorance of who we truly are. Our mind’s construction of a separate entity, namely the ego is not who we are in the depth of our being. This false identity is an illusion, albeit a convincing one. This illusion is known as Maya. Most people believe they are a separate individual and when the thought of ‘I’ arises then the thought of ‘you’ arises as well and then everything is either ‘I’, ‘me’ or ‘mine’ and this causes suffering because the separate individual has so many hopes, wishes, dreams, desires, attachments, anxieties and fears etc. in relation to the ‘I’, ‘me’ (body, mind and intellect) and to all that it considers as ‘mine’.

Whilst there is nothing wrong with that, we will one day come to see that everything in the world is not wholly satisfactisfying. The dissatisfaction we feel leaves us wanting more and whilst we want more, we are not at peace or content in our own self. This is why we constantly yearn for happiness. There is only one solution to this problem and that is to realise our true nature.

The Practice of Self-Inquiry

The spiritual practice of self-inquiry is the doorway to your true nature and as such has been practiced for thousands of years. This process enables you to wake up to the reality of who you truly are. Self-inquiry is a direct investigation of your personal experience. It is a means of looking deeply within, at whatever is arising, in an honest way, to find the truth. It involves reflecting deeply on the sensations arising in your body, your thoughts, feelings, personality structure, your beliefs, conditioning, limitations and all that you are identified with, in order to come to see that in reality, you are none of these.

Inquiry also involves reflecting on your darkness: your suffering and inquire as to who it is that is actually suffering. In addition it also involves reflecting on the light within you: the unlimited power that flows through your body, mind and intellect, which is pure awareness. Inquiry is a deep and thorough investigation of all aspects of your being. By looking at what causes you to suffer, you come to the light, whereby nothing is hidden and you have clarity about who you are and subsequently live from this state of awareness.

Self-Inquiry with spiritual teacher Katarina Tilley

The First Stage of the Inquiry Process

The first step in the inquiry process is to see what you are not. This process is called ‘neti neti’ and in Sanskrit and means “not this, not this”. This initial step is the path of exclusion, whereby the subject (the real you) differentiates him or herself from the body, mind and intellect and realises that his real nature is consciousness. Through this process of inquiry you realise that you are the witnessing background of all experience, like the movie screen on which the movie is projected.

The Second Stage of the Inquiry Process

The second step in the process of inquiry is to see what you actually are. Here you explore your experience of yourself as consciousness i.e. conscious Presence. You will come to see that consciousness (your true nature) is always present, timeless and limitless. However, it is not enough to have an understanding of this, you must realise this for you self, in all of your being. Once you realise the unlimited nature of consciousness, you return to the world of objects (people and things) and realise that everything is made out of the ‘fabric’ of consciousness and that there is nothing outside of consciousness. This is the path of inclusion. You realise that you are the body, thought, feelings etc. and yet you are also so much more than that. You are in fact the entire world.

So the process of inquiry enables you realise that you are pure consciousness, which arises in every moment, everywhere, in everyone and in everything. You realise that there is nothing outside of pure consciousness. Consciousness is always aware and conscious. It is one indivisible whole. Consciousness is the limitless, formless, impersonal and timeless being that some people call Self or Spirit. Consciousness is that pure potentiality, which arises from the invisible and comes into manifestation for a time and then withdraws into invisibility again. Its nature i.e. your true nature is that of pure love.

A Summary of the aim of Self-Inquiry

So, to summarise, the aim of self-inquiry is to free yourself from all that baggage that you have acquired and identify with, which causes you to suffer. In addition its aim is to discover the deeper timeless dimension within you. Once this has been found, you are then free to live authentically from your deepest unified impulse i.e. oneness and allow that oneness to inform all of your actions. This Presence is a light unto Itself and unto the world.

Come out of the Darkness and into the Light

If you are willing to come out of the darkness and into the light then I can assist you in the investigation, into the truth of who you are. Whether you are new to inquiry or have been doing this kind of inner work for some time, you can receive my support, through my one-to-one services. It is however essential, that you either practice meditation already or learn to meditate, in order to be able to go deeper within yourself.

As every case is different, I would need to talk with you, to find out where you are at, so that I can ascertain how to best assist you. Contact me today, to start the process of spiritual inquiry.

Katarina Tilley at Living in the Light, meditation centre in Little Clacton, Essex or Online.

www.katarinatilley.co.uk

Origins of mindfulness

To find the true origins of mindfulness (or awareness) we must look back to ancient times.  Mindfulness or sati, as it is called in the Pali language is often quoted as originating in Buddhism and it is true that mindfulness was practiced by the early Buddhists. 

However, the earliest recordings of what we now call mindfulness, was named smrti (awareness) and comes from the Sanskrit word, smara.  The practice of smrti was recorded in ancient Vedic scriptures, such as the Chandogya Upanishad. (dated to 800 BCE - 500 BCE, in India). 

Both sati and smrti mean remembrance.  It is about being alert enough to remember to pay attention to the present moment. 

What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness is the act of being aware of what the body and mind is doing in every moment.  When we are being mindful we observe and are aware of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations and our surroundings, without any judgment. Being present in every moment is vital, because life happens in the now and if we are not present to the now, then life passes by without us being aware of it.  

It sounds very obvious that life happens in the now, but if we reflect deeply we will see that our mind is more often than not in the past or in the future and that both are not reality but simply thoughts.  We are very much in the habit of thinking, in fact we are addicted to thinking and find our thoughts very interesting, so much so that we don’t realise that every time we are thinking, the present moment is lost to us.   

When we live our lives in our head, we tend to do things automatically, as if on automatic pilot.  Have you ever driven to work and wondered how you got there?  Have you left home and wondered if you unplugged the iron or if you switched the cooker off?  Those types of moments happen because we are not present and instead our mind’s attention is distracted with something else, we are thinking about.  Mindfulness is about stepping off the automatic pilot and being present.  Most problems arise because of our lack of awareness in a given moment and therefore it is vital that we learn to be truly present.

Mindfulness is also about developing greater compassion for all beings

Mindfulness is also a quality of the heart.  It is an open heartedness and the growing in empathy and compassion, which can be cultivated through a mindfulness meditation practice, called ‘Loving kindness meditation’ (metta meditation).  In this practice we send first love to ourselves, then to a loved one, after that to a stranger and then to somebody with whom we have an issue with.  This practice leads to the development of compassion for all beings and the feeling of oneness.

How do we practice mindfulness?

Formal practice

Formal mindfulness practice consists of meditation.  It can be done sitting, walking, standing or lying down.  One formal sitting down mindfulness meditation is the becoming aware of the sensations in the body, as they arise.

Informal practice

Informal practice relates to all other moments in our daily life, in which we are aware and fully present. It is a moment to moment’s practice e.g when you wash the dishes, try to simply being present enough to simply wash the dishes.  Come out of the mind and notice the temperature of the water, see and feel the soap suds, see and hear the water roll off the dishes as you rinse them etc.  When you sweep the floor, be aware of the movements of your arms as you sweep, listening to the sound of the floor being swept.  The aim is to be totally conscious of the action in that moment.  

Also when you have your morning tea or coffee, then notice yourself holding the cup or mug, become aware of the temperature of the drink and of the taste of that drink.  Be fully present with the actual experience of drinking your tea or coffee.  If you do this then you will find that a new quality enters your experience.  It is a form of aliveness of the present moment.  It can be quite an amazing moment.  It can transform the ordinary to the extraordinary.  

Mindfulness slowly teaches us that we need not run anywhere else for better conditions in order to be happy.  When we are fully present, then this moment as it is, is simply enough.  We experience happiness when we are not thinking and are fully present in the now.

Naturally the present moment is not always pleasant and yet we are invited to still be present even our more difficult moments.  If we continue practising mindfulness even we experience pain, then studies have shown that changes take place within our brain so that we no longer feel the same level of pain.  Pain levels decrease through mindfulness practice. 

Mindfulness although an ancient spiritual practice has gained in popularity since Jon Kabat-Zinn relaunched it and repackaged it into a secular 8 weekly practice.  Mindfulness is now taught in some schools and workplaces such as General Mills, Apple, Nike and Google, in hospitals and practiced by many people all around the world in their homes on a daily basis.  Mindfulness delivers a positive return on investment for companies, as it lowers staff absence, due to stress and sickness, which in turn reduces the health care cost of the company and increases the company’s income, as employees practicing mindfulness are much more productive than other employees.

Benefits of mindfulness

Mindfulness has a lot of benefits, not least of all the fact that it changes the structure and function of the brain within 8 weeks of practicing mindfulness for 20 minutes daily.  Furthermore, science has proven that mindfulness meditation shrinks the amygdala.  The amygdala has been classed as the fear centre of the brain, which is causes the fight or flight response, in stressful situations.  It plays a crucial role in anger, conditioned fear and in sadness and which in turn causes one’s aggressive behaviour.  Mindfulness causes the amygdala to shrink, the pre-frontal cortex thickens and this in turn lessens the negative emotions such as anger and anxiety and instead our awareness, concentration and decision-making process increases.

Mindfulness also reduces stress and tension, negative mind wandering, helps us manage our emotions, improves sleep, can help us improve our relationships, can contribute to weight loss through mindful eating habits and increase our focus and concentration and more. 

In short, mindfulness can have a huge positive impact on our wellbeing and increase the quality of our life.

Where can I learn mindfulness?

Katarina Tilley runs face-to-face mindfulness courses in Point Clear, Clacton (near Colchester, Harwich and Ipswich, in Essex. She also runs online mindfulness courses, as well.

For more information about mindfulness courses, please click on the following link: www.katarinatilley.co.uk/meditation‍ ‍

Text copyright Katarina Tilley 2020.

An explanation of meditation

Meditation is a very ancient eastern spiritual practice and a process of stilling the mind.  Its aim is to enable you to reach your own source of being - your true Self.  Your true Self is verily the source of infinite happiness.  

#katarinatilley.co.uk #meditationkatarinatilley

There are many different kinds of meditation, they include guided meditation, mindfulness meditation, mantra meditation, transcendental meditation, chakra meditation, zazen (zen) meditation, vipassana meditation (insight), metta meditation (loving kindness), self-enquiry meditation and more. All these different types of meditation have one thing in common, which is the practice of focus and concentration on something specific, to that meditation. 

Brief history of meditation

The earliest evidence of the practice of mediation dates back to 5000 BC, from the wall arts, in the Indian subcontinent, which illustrates people seated in meditation postures.  The earliest written evidence of dhyana i.e. meditation practice, can be found in the Hindu scriptures, the Vedas and date back to 1500 BCE.  From there it spread to many other parts of the world.

Reasons to meditate

Research has shown that people who do daily meditation are happier than those who don’t practice this wonderful art.  The reason being is that meditation alters the structure and function of the brain, within 8 weeks of daily practice.  

Scientists have confirmed that each of us has a happiness set-point.  This set point explains our average level of happiness and is determined mostly by heredity and personality characteristics ingrained in us at a very young age. Whilst external events may affect this base level of happiness, those changes tend to be transient and for most people their prevailing point of happiness remains the same throughout their entire life.

In addition, we lead very busy lives and live in stressful times, so it is not uncommon that most people find it hard to relax and experience a lack of inner peace.  Most people’s life seems to be in a constant rush.  This is not a healthy lifestyle.  By being externally focused you are rarely connected with your inner being - your true Self.  Even if your body is sitting, your mind is constantly in action, thinking about so many things, thinking about the past and worrying about the future.  You are then not in harmony with yourself.    The nature of the mind is wayward and in truth never stands still.  We may be able to do many things but we have great difficulty in establishing control over our mind.  In fact, our mind controls us. This really isn’t good news because that is an indication that, rather than living your life from your true Self, you are in fact living life from your ego and the ego is not your friend.  The ego is the loveless voice within you and that causes you to suffer by making you appear separate from others.  

When you feel separate from others, then problems appear.  The reason for this is that you feel that you need to protect and defend ‘I’ from ‘others’.  You may also feel that you are somehow inferior to others, which then causes you to have to improve the ‘I’.  Also when there is a ’me’, then ‘my’ arises.  The feeling of ‘my' causes attachment and expectations and this gives rise to a lot of suffering, as people don’t always act according to your wishes and expectations.  This leads to disappointment or anger and so it goes.  I am sure that you are familiar with all that is being said here, as this is the story of humanity.  Yet through meditation we can slowly begin to gain control over our mind.

Meditation is a way to slow down your breath and when you slow down your breath, then you slow down the flow of thoughts in your mind and this in real terms means greater inner peace.  Meditation is the answer to manage the river of life, which moves in its own mysterious way.  

As you may have noticed, we only have limited control over the events in our lives.  Meditation can help us accept life as it comes.  By meditating you may be able to accept life’s constant changes, with greater ease.  Meditation can calm and balance your emotions, so that you are able to respond instead of always reacting, in the difficult moments of your life.  This will greatly improve the quality of your life.  

Besides, life actually takes place in the present moment and yet we are locked in the mind.  This in effect means that we are not making the most of our life and life passes by, without our awareness. By learning to meditate you will be able to live with greater awareness of the present moment and as such enjoy life more.  Think about when you are on holiday, you seem to be living every moment of the day fully.  Why?  Because you are fully present.  Imagine if you learned to be fully present in your life…

Through meditation, we can perhaps for the first time come to know what is happening within us.  Knowing what is happening within you is very important, because it can enable you to notice the starting point of inner disturbances i.e. your thoughts starting to become negative, negative emotions arising, your mood sinking etc. this allows you to address your situation, at an early stage, so as to avoid ending up in a very stressful state.  By being the witness to your thoughts, emotions, sensations, beliefs etc. you can take a distance from them and that changes your perspective.  

Your thoughts create your emotions and your emotions affect your physical body.  During the meditation you can become aware of your thoughts, observe your breath, feel your emotions and the sensations which arise within your body.  Meditation causes you to become more objective and in this way you can become more detached about the things that bother you.  Meditation can get to the root of an apparent problem.  When the mind is relaxed and empty, the answer to your ‘problem’ can pop up into your mind. Meditation can provide long-term solutions.

Meditation can also increase your awareness of your innermost beliefs, your past conditioning and the limiting patterns of your mind, that hold you back.  By discovering your habitual mental thought patterns you can let go of all that is not true and come to realise that you are not what you thought we were.  You are in fact, the witness of all that occurs in your life. 

The fantastic benefits of meditation

The benefits of meditation are truly numerous.  Here you will find some of them:

Relaxation, release of stress and tension.  Increased harmony, calmness and inner peace.  Greater clarity, concentration, creativity and productivity.   Reduction in depression, fear and anxiety. 

In addition it can slow down the heart beat, deepen the breath and lower blood pressure.  Furthermore, it can increase appreciation, gratitude, love and compassion.  You can gain deeper contentment, presence and equanimity of mind.  Additional benefits are increased inner connection, intuition and insight.  Greater sense of meaning and purpose.  It can also assist you in gradually moving you closer to your true Self and bring about spiritual awakening.

How to practice meditation

In order to be able to meditate you need to find a quiet location in your house, where you will not be disturbed.  Keep that area clutter free.  The most common way to practice meditation is sitting with your eyes closed or half closed.  Sit with your legs crossed on the floor or sit on a chair, without leaning back, if possible.  If this is not possible, then sit normally, on a chair.  Place your hands on your thighs, with the palms uppermost and keep your spine straight.  Then begin to practice the meditation of your choice e.g. mindfulness of breath meditation.  The object of this meditation is to become aware of your breath and to follow the breath with your awareness, for the entire duration of the meditation.  

The best time for meditation is early morning or late night, when the world is quiet.  You can gain greater concentration at then.  If you are unable to meditate at those times, then find a time that suits you and know that you will not be disturbed.

In conclusion, it is clear that meditation is invaluable in today’s modern and stressful world.  It enables you relax your body, release tension, calm your mind and manage your emotions, so that you can respond to life’s circumstances in a balanced way.  Meditation increases your awareness, including awareness of your ‘inner world’.  It helps you to live life in the present moment, which is the only reality there is.  Meditation can alter the structure and function of your brain for the better and give you a greater perspective on life and increase the quality of your life.  It may also slowly awaken you to the truth of your being. 

Text copyright Katarina Tilley 2020.

For more information about mindfulness courses, please click on the following link: www.katarinatilley.co.uk/meditation