Category Archives: walthamstow

Deep Ecology, teaching meditation and enjoying the allotment

The beautiful 900+ year old Oak Tree at Alfoxton Park – where we had the last Deep Ecology Camping Retreat.

I have had some time to reflect on the pat few months and realise the emergence of a few new themes.. in the process of engaging in retirement (more on that another time perhaps!)

Deep Ecology Days and Retreats – For a few years, I have been co-facilitating Day Retreats and longer Camping Retreats on Buddhism and Deep Ecology with Sanghasiha, another Buddhist Order Member.

This week, we just came back from one at Alfoxton Park Retreat Centre – and in 2025, we are leading sessions in many different Buddhist Centres in the UK.

During the Deep Ecology sessions, I have been teaching Shamanic Journeying – building on providing this on a 1 to 1 basis – Shamanic Counselling and the Shamanic Healing work. Through this, I have been more and more intrigued by Buddhist Shamanic Practices – the world of the Dakinis and the Tibetan ‘Cho’ practice and this practice continues unfolding.

Teaching Buddhism and meditation at the North London Buddhist Centre. On Wednesdays I have had the pleasure of working with Ratnaprabha, another Order member and a very experienced one too.

I have been enjoying leading some of the teaching sessions on Buddhism and during the lunch-time meditation sessions. This has inspired and been inspired by having a daily meditation and yoga practice.

Offering sessions for volunteers at my allotment – It has been one year since I signed the contract for my allotment. What a journey of mud, sweat and delight – and an abundance of harvests of salad leaves!

The local allotment fox comes to visit – for a little drink at the pond.

This year I opened up the site to a weekly session for volunteers – if you’d like to join our WhatsApp group – and come to one of the sessions, please let me know!

I am also on a 9-month placement at Organiclea – this is to develop my skills in working with fruiting plants – trees, bushes, etc.

I am also involved in Time to Grow and the Waltham Forest Food Growers Network and Capital Growth. I am interested in food sovereignty though learning and practicing growing as much food as possible – so that I can share this with others.

Climate Resilience – I am trained in leading Climate Cafes and Climate Fresk workshops. I am running workshops on this soon – and if you are interested, please let me know so that I can inform you of them.

The pond is a delight – especially with all the tadpoles and the variety of creatures that are living in it.

What is MBSR? #mindfulness #MBSR

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Practicing mindfulness regularly helps enhance neural pathways in the brain, developing a deeper sense of peacefulness, calm and focus.

What is Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction, aka MBSR? This is the topic of tomorrow night’s Mindfulness Meetup – a taster session being run by Holistic Education CIC.

Substantial research shows that practicing mindfulness regularly can help reduce stress and enhance well-being, confidence and positivity. Mindfulness is essentially a particular way of paying attention, on purpose and non-judgementally that can enhance the awareness of our experiences, moment by moment. One of the best ways to learn to practice mindfulness regularly is to attend an MBSR course.

MBSR was originally developed by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Medical Centre (USA) in the 1980s. It is a well-researched and evidence-based mindfulness programme that aims to help participants to develop confidence and skills in practicing mindfulness. It consists of eight sessions (each between 2 and 3 hours long) and an additional all-day of practice. It includes theory on how mindfulness works and opportunities to practice. Home practice is an important part of the course and audio files are available to help with this.

Holistic Education runs regular MBSR courses following training by the University of Bangor’s Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice and the UK Network of Mindfulness Teachers Good Practice Guidelines. The next MBSR course will be on Monday evenings from 6:30pm to 9pm from 18 Jan to 14 Mar 2016 (no session on 15 Feb). Included in the course is an Introduction and Orientation session (11 Jan 2016) and a Mindfulness Practice Day, Saturday 6 March 2016, 9am to 3pm.

Mindfulness Meetup 13 April 2015: Participant Feedback

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Practicing mindfulness regularly helps enhance neural pathways in the brain, developing a deeper sense of peacefulness, clam and focus.

On Monday 13 April, I ran another Mindfulness Meetup session in Walthamstow. Here is some of the feedback:

[I gained] “sense of peace”, “understanding of the rapidity and quality of thoughts”.

[what went well was] “being aware of every part of my body – appreciation”. “Mind slowed down – relaxation”.

“I liked how it flowed and clock time seemed to be irrelevant for the whole evening. Useful and relaxing approach to body and mind feel more accepting of my mind!”

“Easy atmosphere”. “I would like to do the eight-week course”.

[What I’ve found useful was] “the introduction of movement to keep the mind focused.”

“It was good to concentrate on the breathing.”

One of the quotes appear to be from someone who had done some mindfulness training before:”All good. Good “revisit” of body/ breath/ sound scan.will attend two emails for more “boosters” to my rudimentary daily practice.”

Would you like to come to one of the Mindfulness Meet ups? For more information see the mindfulness meet up page. For more information and to book on the next Mindfulness Meetup please go to the Eventbrite booking page. Remember that there are discounts for those working in educational settings, students and those on low incomes. for more information about mindfulness meet ups and the promotional codes, please contact me.

Mindfulness Meet Up 23/3/15: Your feedback

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Mindfulness Meet Up in Walthamstow are happening nearly every month.

Mindfulness Meetups started in Walthamstow in 2014. Thank you to those who have attended so far and thanks to those who came last Monday. These sessions are designed to get people practicing mindfulness together, whether they are beginners or experienced practitioners.

Last Monday, ten people attended, including myself: five beginners and five who had done some training such as a Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction Course or similar.

We started with a 3-minute Breathing Space, a short time sitting in silence focusing on being here, ‘arriving’ into the present moment more fully as it were. After the introductions we did a short sitting practice, some Mindful Movement and then a longer sitting practice. Here is some of the feedback:

It was a nice introduction to a variety of mindfulness techniques.

The 20 minutes at the end was good and gave me time to relax, let go.

I really focused on the ‘bringing wellness’ to particular body parts in today’s practice. It was useful bringing that to specific body parts.

I was good listening to others and observing the difference between those new to the practice and those more experienced.

I enjoyed mindfulness in a group.

I gained a sense of “trust” – effortless effort in bringing our attention to loving ourselves, just focusing on ourselves.

I gained a feeling of calm and relaxation.

I enjoyed feeling more relaxed and felt an understanding of my body.

I learned new ways of practicing – every teacher is different.

I enjoyed the practices. I feel I’m improving and concentrating on them.

I hope that this feedback inspires you to come along to a Mindfulness Meetup in Walthamstow, a brilliant opportunity to practice mindfulness with others.

Warm wishes, Bernadette