Author: Vinod

I feel very privileged to be a part of a non-profit organisation that has been providing retreats in Assisi since the 1980’s and was founded by Bruce and Ruth Davis. I lead retreats alongside a wonderful team of facilitators including Marianne Niesen and Liam Murphy. You can access the retreats I lead with Assisi Retreats by clicking this link.

Assisi is a magical and sacred place that I feel very blessed to call my second home, after London. I hope that the photos below will bring you to Assisi, giving you an opportunity to see it through my eyes whilst giving you a glimpse into some of the pilgrimage sites in Assisi that are a part of the retreat. The retreat usually includes between one and two meditations daily in our meditation room followed by walks to pilgrimage sites and through nature. All retreats begin on a Sunday evening and end on a Friday morning.

Meditation is practice and a process whereby we begin discovering that our mind is a tool, separate from who we are, just like the cars that we drive. It can be used as a nurturing and lifesaving tool or become disruptive and destroy when out of control. 

Mindfulness is the practice where we discover and experience that we we are NOT our minds, but are so much more. As we learn to become more conscious and aware of our thoughts, this creates gaps of space between ourselves and our thoughts so that we no longer identify with the mind and begin the process of choosing the thoughts we wish to use that will allow us to experience the world in a happier, more peaceful and joyful way.

This effects the way we feel because the whole world that enters into our experience is neutral and beautiful until it is translated through our our mind. Our mind is a filter unlike a sponge that has soaked up words, memories, teachings, and experiences since childhood that now lead to the definitions we give the people and world around us.

Through Meditation and awareness, as space is created between ourselves and our thoughts, we also begin to develop the ability to choose the thoughts that will enhance our lives. We will begin to notice how all that we see, hear, taste, smell and touch are collectively or individually filtered through our thoughts and then experienced as an emotion, positive or negative. This that old saying about seeing a glass of water as either half full or half empty. The same glass of water, but translated very differently depending on the thought.

Please do join in on one of the daily online meditation practices, for which there is no charge. You can also sample some of the meditations through the audio section on this website’s menu.

The Covid virus pandemic in many ways turned our homes into little desert islands, where we have existed for the past weeks and months with family members, friends (and now some ex-friends). It can be the worst of times as it is for many, or transformative tools which we can use to enhance every aspect of our life from this point onwards.

Mindfulness in relationships can take so many dimensions right from the very simple act of being present and simply listening  to the other person, be it through language or even body language to the act of forgiveness. Language is always limited in what it can convey because it is simply a combination of various sounds, hence presence and awareness can bring tremendous positive energy into any relationship. Being present when communicating can make a big difference in how you and the other person feel.

Mindfulness in our relationships allows every moment to turn into a new one, where forgiveness lets go of the past over and over again. A letting go of the past over and over again and from moment to moment – forgiving others and more importantly yourself of expectations and past mistakes. A 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th chance, in the full realisation and knowing that we are all evolving and always changing for the better with every experience showing us either what we like or dislike so that we can choose over and over again until we are happier and happier, just like the main character in the film Groundhog Day.

Mindfulness is about letting go of our expectations, both of other and of ourselves. Expectations involves the mind, which is never concerned with the present moment and always projecting itself into the past or future. With expectations, the mind projects images built from memories and it’s hopes and mental constructions of what it wants others and ourselves to be in the present moment. This usually involves a rejection of ourselves or the other as we are right now, a complete overlooking of the perfection within the present moment.

Imagine meeting someone who has the ability to completely let go of the past and the future, a selective form of mental amnesia of sorts. There is perhaps less need for imagination if we look at our pets. Noticing how present they are as you look into their eyes. A meditation of sorts on the ability to totally let go of the past and future, affecting the way we feel when in their presence. A knowing on our part that all past mistakes are forgiven and long gone. A peaceful and loving acceptance of us, a love devoid of conditions that loves and shows affection purely for the sake of loving. Similar to the love of a young child before society conditions them to think and be taken over by the past and future. That innocent trusting, accepting and forgiving that only a love without conditions can bestow. As we feel this love and acceptance of the child and pet, we get our glimpses and feel of the freedom that mindfulness brings.

Mindfulness involves a complete and whole presence and awareness of being in the present moment. Every moment becomes a fresh one devoid of past trespasses and “mistakes”, that is, if there actually is such a thing as a mistake. For all action and words are simply that – action and sounds. How we interpret these actions and sounds is really up to us. The practice of mindfulness can give us the space between our inner stillness and thoughts that filter the “drama” unfolding around us.

Mindfulness creates space between who we really are and our thoughts and emotions. It is our mind and emotions that usually take us on the roller-coaster of ups and downs, likes and dislikes, happiness and sadness. The practice of mindfulness allows us to treat our mind and emotions

If you would like to go directly to the daily live mindfulness meditation sessions, please click here. For instant access to recordings of meditations, you will find them here.

We have all had what would appear to be a challenging start to 2020, with the Cornovirus (COVID-19) Pandemic appearing to threaten the very fabric of the lives we once took for granted as “normal”. This has brought changes to the lives of every single human being on the planet in ways we are only just beginning to see and understand.

In these early days of the pandemic, most of us being bombarded by the news and social media reports, many designed to elevate our fears and anxieties in order to sell more stories and reach wider audiences. We have entered a period where the private lives of celebrities no longer seem as relevant, with each news network, website, and newspaper attempting to outdo the other in sensationalising, more often in a more negative light, the effects of this virus on our physical health and on our economies, our job security and way of life including the way in which we socialise, exercise, shop, eat and entertain ourselves.

As the virus seemingly spreads from body to body through some form of direct and indirect contact, there is a different type of threat that travels through the internet waves, television and radio waves. It is that which we have come to know as mental illness, anxiety, fear, loneliness, despondency and depression. This is as serious a threat as the physical virus because this virus has been understood by medical practitioners and scientists everywhere to have more adverse affects on those with lower immune systems, a reason why it has been seen to have killed more older and those with underlying physical problems more than the “healthier” children, younger and fitter people.

Anxiety, fear, loneliness, stress, fear, despondency and depression have all been known to lower immune systems which are in actual fact the best defence against the COVID-19 virus or a quick recovery.

Meditation and Mindfulness practices such as the ones that you will find on this website are designed to allow your immune systems to resurface so that you may never even find the need to go through any of the symptoms associated with the virus, and at the very worst, experience the symptoms in their mildest and most gentle forms were you to be affected by it.

The Essence of all meditation, especially Mindfulness techniques is to help you make peace with your present moment so that you can see things more clearly and find solutions, answers, opportunities and most importantly, Hope where there was once none.

Mindfulness is about embracing the present moment and allowing changes that we are unable to control. With such allowing and acceptance of change comes a stillness and peace that allows us to see more clearly solutions that would otherwise have been clouded in our fears, anxieties and stress. With such stillness and peace also comes a stronger immune system and the ability to bring hope, smiles, kindness and solutions to not only ourselves but those who surround us.

You will find guided meditations and reflections in this website along with links to videos, museums, galleries, book and music recommendations and the theatre. I do believe that creativity and all ideas that are original and new come from the Mindfulness Zone that we tap into when practicing meditation. Please do get in touch with me on vinod@mindfulness.zone with any requests for guided meditations on particular challenges that you might be facing and I would be happy to create and add them to the list already available.

There are also a number of live free guided meditations that you can attend online with me by clicking here