Make Your Own Retreat
I am a big fan of organised retreats. There is something so potent and human in being with a group of people who signed up for a week or...
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Alistair Appleton
- Jun 29
- 6 min
Going Outdoors to Enter the Presence
I am entering one of my periodic periods of great doubt. I have these on a fairly regular basis - once every five years, perhaps - and...
1,209 views28 comments
Alistair Appleton
- Apr 19
- 8 min
Can we meditate while the world is burning?
A participant in the last retreat I led asked a very good question that often arises in retreats. “It’s all very well us pondering our...
436 views6 comments
Alistair Appleton
- Jan 9
- 6 min
Sitting Out practice
The January full moon over the Seven Sisters, 2022. WHAT IS SITTING OUT? I’ve been exploring a practice called ‘sitting out’. It’s not a...
856 views27 comments
Alistair Appleton
- May 22, 2022
- 2 min
The two big questions for meditation beginners.
One of the MIndsprings members asked a very pertinent question today about starting out on her meditation journey: Where am I going to do...
340 views2 comments
Alistair Appleton
- Jan 21, 2022
- 4 min
Every broken heart is sacred
The final blog in my series of seven from 2013 is perhaps the juiciest of them all. I was all tender from a very intense, heart-breaking...
230 views2 comments
Alistair Appleton
- Jan 5, 2022
- 6 min
No more future anymore
This is a rather epic blog about the future and the nature of stress. Looking back from the vantage of 2022, I can see how the eight...
95 views0 comments
Alistair Appleton
- Dec 15, 2021
- 6 min
Like worms towards the motorway
The sixth of the blogs from 2014. This one is quite self-contained and doesn’t require many annotations from 2022. There is a Nibbana...
29 views0 comments
Alistair Appleton
- Mar 5, 2021
- 8 min
Mother Nature doesn’t care about suffering. Buddha does.
I have been really deeply inspired by the experience of leading the Dharma Days for Mindsprings. After my initial introduction to the...
34 views0 comments
Alistair Appleton
- Feb 25, 2021
- 5 min
Dynamiting the prison of the present
Karen spoke about feeling trapped in the present. As meditators, we’re always encouraged to stay in the present and “be here now”, but...
12 views0 comments
Alistair Appleton
- Sep 5, 2017
- 4 min
Talk at the British Museum
One of the lovely things about being a teacher for a while is that ex-students pop up in unusual places. I was really incredibly...
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Alistair Appleton
- Aug 28, 2017
- 4 min
Ryan#5: Dharma Poetics
These are the Silence Islands where what outsiders would consider almost imperceptible aural amusements land like coconuts on the...
4 views0 comments
Alistair Appleton
- Aug 25, 2017
- 4 min
Start of Term
It feels like the start of term. After our unseasonably early Summer and hot spells, the year seems to have been teased into running a...
1 view0 comments
Alistair Appleton
- Dec 2, 2016
- 2 min
Ten Reasons Why Samadhi is so Necessary Right Now
Samadhi, the forgotten twin sister of mindfulness practice, is a meditation approach that focuses on spaciousness and steadiness. In this...
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Alistair Appleton
- Dec 2, 2016
- 3 min
What Mindsprings Stands For
A couple of weeks ago I went to a day-long conference in Brighton hosted by the political journalist, Paul Mason. There were a number of...
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Alistair Appleton
- Nov 3, 2016
- 6 min
Samahi and the Sacred
It’s been a couple of week’s since I left the Island. And the resonance and awareness of what we explored there seem to be growing. First...
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Alistair Appleton
- Nov 1, 2016
- 1 min
Samadhi Tip #8
Being lost in our storyline is usually boring and fusty-dusty. The ego is characterised by a mirthless and relentless quality. Space is...
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Alistair Appleton
- Nov 1, 2016
- 1 min
Samadhi Tip #6
Central to the project of samadhi is recognising the scrunched-up, constricted feeling of being ‘lost in your thoughts’. Spend time today...
3 views0 comments
Alistair Appleton
- Nov 1, 2016
- 1 min
Samadhi Tip #7
In contrast to yesterday’s feeling of constriction, take time in your meditation practice (lying or sitting down) or at any other quiet...
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Alistair Appleton
- Nov 1, 2016
- 1 min
Samadhi Tip #5
Like all practices, samadhi builds up over time. We are cultivating the mental habit of placing our awareness where WE chose to place it...
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