Mindfulness Reflections

After a long period of heads down, focused concentration on the craft of teaching adults, two milestones will be taking place for me this year - all things being equal - and I'm very excited to share them with you here today. 1) Mindful ELT online workshops Late last year I ran a Mindful ELT online practice workshop pilot called "Introduction to Mindful Teaching" for teachers wanting to incorporate mindfulness practices into their classrooms, private lessons and day to day lives to enhance the quality of their teaching and overall experience. I received full support for this undertaking from British Council Mexico, especially my line manager, as I explained the vision of offering a series of online workshops to English teachers worldwide. She then put me into contact with a Norwegian web designer with whom I'll be working from end of February. The pilot was attended by volunteer teachers in Mexico and the UK and the feedback I received throughout and aft...

Now that Marie Kondo is all the rave worldwide, let me share the aspiration I had, some 10 years ago, to become a home stager. Home Staging (a term coined by Barb Schwarz in Seattle, USA) is the preparation of homes for sale. My idea was to become the first Home Stager in Mexico and I travelled to the US to receive training from Barb herself. Prior to that, during the time I lived in the UK, my favourite TV programmes were all about property construction and transformation. From House Doctor to Grand Designs, I found everything related to property absolutely fascinating (still do), from the process of building, refurbishing or renovating to the areas of conservation and restoration, it was all gripping to me. So like I said, once I was back in Mexico and travelled to the US to receive training, I came back, translated all the materials, opened a company I called Escenogar (escenografía = staging and hogar = home in Spanish), went to see all the estate agents in my area, arr...

Facebook reminds me of this post from a year ago today: "The "id" (called "unconscious" in Spanish) is not a structure, but a mental state". Thich Nhat Hanh (affectionately referred to as Thay -  meaning "Teacher" in Vietnamese - by his monastic disciples as well as his lay followers, such as myself) used to love poking a bit of fun at Shakespeare during his teachings ( Dharma talks ). He'd sit quietly for a few minutes until you could hear a pin drop in the meditation hall filled with nearly 1,000 people (give or take a crying baby or two), and then say, in his characteristically soft-spoken style: "To be... or not to be... is NOT the question". I remember laughing out loud when I heard this. You know who else might also have been wrong? Sigmund Freud, who developed the psychoanalytic theory of personality development, which argues that personality is formed through conflicts among three fundamental structures of the mind: ...

For the last mindfulness session of the year, Chris - one of my colleagues at British Council - and I, offered to bring samples of vegan dishes for participants to try out. The intention was just to share a few ideas for inspiration, given that during the previous week, doubt had been expressed as to whether or not vegan food contains everything a person needs to be healthy, as many doctors recommend eating meat for its protein. Another misperception is that vegan food is somehow different from normal food, that it's special or separate from the food everyone else eats. Here's another view of the feast: Below we have Chris's delicious ceviche, made with textured soy and served on tortilla flat crisps (tostadas). Chris also prepared tofu in two different ways, and brought some animal-free mole to pour on top. As a side note, one of the participants asked what this was. "Is it chicken?", she said, reflecting the depth of misunderstandi...

People with a vegan diet eat everything except animals and animal products. Whereas there may be many reasons to switch to veganism, in my case it took place after attending a retreat which helped me connect with that deep concern for all sentient beings that we all share. Having said that, it took me a while to learn what "vegan" food is and what isn't. So for those of you who may be wondering, vegans refrain from eating  beef ,  pork ,  chicken  or  fish . At the risk of pointing out the obvious (please read my next post for more on this), beef is the meat of a cow, pork is the meat of a pig, chickens and fish are easily recognisable as animals, and although popular marketing strategies would have you believe that they don't count or are not sentient beings, modern science tells us that they do feel pain much the same way us mammals do. What else comes from animals?  Dairy   products  -  milk ,  cream ,  cheese, yoghurt...

It is now the Year of the Dog and these are the parallel verses for 2018, care of the wonderful Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation . You might find it helpful to recite “Peace is the Breathing” as you breathe in, and “Joy is the Walking” as you breathe out  🙏 ❤️

In my last post I spoke about enjoying the little things. Today I decided to make some tomato soup. I'd bought most of the ingredients yesterday, a surprisingly pleasant experience, as I unhurriedly walked between the aisles of a spacious and practically empty supermarket. One I rarely go to for everyday shopping, by the way, given that they hardly ever stock all of my favourite items, making a second trip to the supermarket closer to home an inconvenient necessity more often than not. But yesterday I wanted to get a particular brand of balsamic vinegar I've only ever seen at the big place,  so I parked the car underground and decided to enjoy my shopping experience, no matter what. On the way from the parking lot to the shop entrance I made a mental note of two things: (1) I need to get some pictures taken to renew my passport, and (2) there's a very pretty pair of sandals at a shoe shop display I might consider buying for my first trip to the beach in seven years - y...