What if all there is, is this? Mindfulness and Non-Duality
I’ll be sharing an update on the ‘Coming to Our Senses’ course for Mindfulness in Wales at an online meeting at 7pm on the 23rd May 2024. You can find more information and book a free ticket here
Communing with Angels
One summer’s day some months back I had the fascinating experience of conversing for several hours with Michael Andre Ford, who communes with angels. Out of the blue (how else?) he kindly invited me to join him on his youtube show Angels, Positivity and Love. You can watch this conversation from 5th November 2023. I had a lot of fun doing it and got some pretty good dad jokes from Michael to add to my database!
Coming to Our Senses
There's a new mindfulness and theatre curriculum on the block. Coming to Our Senses is an 8 week course. Sessions last 90 - 120 minutes a week and involve learning mindfulness practices and trying out some experiential learning processes to deepen the practice.We have completed the first iteration of this new mindfulness and theatre curriculum with Aneurin Bevan University Health Board staff. The project being run by Theatr Cynefin is funded by Arts Council Wales Arts, Health and Wellbeing fund.I've really enjoyed delivering the course and collaborating with Sarah Gregg. Sarah has developed a Journaling for Flow methodology which we have integrated into the course and it is working so well.We will run the second in autumn with and view to compiling a compelling case study. In 2024 we will scope viability to scale up and deliver the course more widely through the NHS. If you think you would be interested in hosting the course more details are available on the cynefin.org site and please feel free to get in touch.
Bohmian Dialogue
I had the immense privilege to meet the eminent physicist, David Bohm, several times when a mature student at Brockwood Park School in Hampshire. Named by Einstein as one of his two intellectual heirs, (the other was Richard Feynman) Bohm's life-story is too strange for fiction. Some of his story is told in the film Infinite Potential
Apart from his contribution to quantum physics, Bohmian Dialogue was perhaps his most valuable legacy. This is a way of meeting with others regularly over time to drill down into the system of thought which is at the root of conflict, within ourselves and writ large in the world.
In my work I use dialogue in the same way that Bohm used the term - as a flow of meaning. Liberating this flow of meaning in groups is what I see as the aim of a facilitator. A flow so strong that all attempts to capture it with thought and come to some handy conclusion are thwarted. This is also the aim of Bohmian Dialogue. To bring awareness to the pernicious dynamic of selfing and 'thing'ing. Which when brought into the the light, what Bohm called proprioception, has nowhere to hide.
Bohm's proposal on dialogue and his hope for it as a way of helping humanity become more human, can be read here
The Markov Blanket
"Today’s performance takes place on the stage of the Prefrontal Cortex in the Theatre of the Mind. To enter the theatre you need only close your eyes."
The premier of this meditative play took place last week at the Second International Seminar on Performing Arts and Contemplative Practices. Thanks go to Daniel Pla and Grupo Tradere for hosting a rich and moving feast of online workshops, talks and performances last week. Thanks also to Ilana Gorban who provided flawless and flowing simultaneous translation.
This 30 minute spoken-word play explores the performance of the body and the self, and the illusion of the inner and outer using sound clips, guided visualization and mindfulness practices. It would suit any gatherings of seekers into our true nature and can be delivered online as well as in person.
You can now listen to the play below
Imaginaction podcast
I was invited recently by Uri Noy-Meir to talk with him about my work. You can listen to the results as a podcast on the imaginaction.org page.
Watch above or listen below.
Undoing Agency
One of my projects this year is a new initiative called undoing.agency
This is the new online portal through which you can register interest and book places on the various online mindfulness courses I will be delivering.
It's also a place where you can purchase and download guided meditations I've recorded from the undoing.agency curriculum.
Undoing.Agency is a different approach to teaching mindfulness which will help participants develop a practice by giving daily drop-in sessions and which also embraces fully the non-doing and non-dualistic approach to mindfulness.
I'm looking forward, during this time of change and reflection, to support the culture reset and transition to a kinder world.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
In August and September 2020 I had the pleasure of working with an amazing team of people from every continent to create a new training programme in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Critical Engagement CIC, an organisation created mostly by alumni of the United World Colleges commissioned me to write the handbook for facilitators of the programme.
Reviewing the material for the course, written by leading activists and thinkers in DEI, was so enlightening I signed up to the team that delivered the DEI workshops with Faculty and Students at UWC Changshu in China.
I look forward to continuing to work with Critical Engagement and do my small part in confronting the biases that help justify, maintain and embolden the pernicious, endemic and unnecessary inequality in our societies.
Mindfulness Drop-In
During this time of lockdown and the ongoing isolation that many are experiencing I have been part of a Mindfulness in Action team offering free online meditation sessions at 10.00 am (BST) every morning. My stint is on Thursday mornings and I've really enjoyed exploring mindfulness in its many facets with people using zoom.us.
The sessions are hosted by Mindfulness in Action at https://zoom.us/j/764869151
Sessions are free but you can make a donation to Mindfulness in Action here -
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/simon-blomfield?utm_term=np4JMNpQ2
SEN Drama Curriculum
As a Drama tutor for Ruskin Mill College for three years, I developed a curriculum that used Context Oriented Arts to work with young people with diverse learning needs.
The curriculum spans two educational years and is designed around the principles of Practical Skills Therapeutic Education which in turn are inspired by Waldorf Education.
SEN Curriculum Click here for a brief infographic of the curriculum