Wisdom-Mind Foundations

As my dad got older, he just got more and more difficult. He didn’t like:
· Taking his medication.
· Any of the food put in front of him.
· And he expected me to rush round to see him at the drop of a hat.

I woke up each morning dreading the day ahead because of the unrelenting pressure I was under.
This meant one of the best bits at the beginning of the training course were the relaxation meditations. They gave me huge relief! It was so nice to know at the end of the day I had a routine for relaxing my tight, achy neck and knotty shoulders and the mental unwinding of tension helped me sleep better too.

Another ‘best bit’ of ‘Wisdom-Mind’ came towards the end. I never thought this could happen, but I found more often than not I was less overwhelmed and angry with Dad. Mentally, I was able to switch from grumbling and grinding my teeth about ‘demanding dad’ and instead smile inwardly and more patiently at ‘my worn out, old dad’.

Annya’s course gave me lots of food for thought and it was so enjoyable 😊 I’d recommend it because it’s useful whatever age you are; to change the direction, to live the life you want or to help you become the person you want to be.

Sandra Taylor

I enjoyed the course, found it very interesting and feel that I have gradually learned to meditate, and have, most of the time, stopped my thoughts from interfering with meditation sessions.

I’ve also found I have greater clarity of thought for most of the time, and now have a strategy to use to enable me to notice my mind overdoing it, then to calm my thoughts down and become much more focused on what is happening in the moment.

Distraction is usually not as bad as it was. I have used my meditation practice to help me calm down for sleep and can use it to deal with some of the problematic things life throws up now and then.

Annya is a very positive, centred individual who has put lots of ideas, suggestions and creative thought into the course content and her ongoing support and advice for me have been ideal. Because of the way she approaches queries and puzzles, I have been encouraged to work out the reasons I have certain difficulties and can apply this to other aspects of living.

I send you heartfelt thanks Annya, for assisting me during a time when my thoughts were getting out of control. I feel so much more relaxed nowadays, accepting things as they are, and enjoying life’s varied moments with awareness.

I would definitely say to anyone who is unsure, to go ahead and do this course and wake yourself up to life!

Sally Baker

When I’ve been in difficult situations or dealing with difficult people, I pay much more attention to my mindset and notice if I’m ‘watering and feeding negative thoughts’ or asking myself “am I jumping to conclusions without considering the alternatives first?”. If the answer is ‘yes’, I’m better at standing back and being more dispassionate and that’s made for life being much easier and my judgement being better!

The Wisdom-Mind course has been easy to follow and logical, the tone, pace and content are good, the delivery appealing and sincere.  I have meditated before, but doing this course has reawakened my practice and I find my meditation experience is rewarding, uplifting and enlightening.  I quickly and effortlessly slip into meditation mode which is a great space to wind down and focus on the important things in my life.

Clive Fisher

Building on Meditation Module 1, you’ll learn the next in the series of three relaxation meditations. You’ll be easing the tight, stiff, or sore muscles that go with having an over-busy brain and helping your thoughts take the next steps in slowing down.

By the end of this module, you’ll have identified how important meditation is to your sense of well-being and just how delicious feeling relaxed is. You’ll be able to use this knowledge to combat distractions like you’re To-Do-List and other peoples’ priorities that want to seduce you away from sticking with your regular meditation sessions.

Body tension and brain tension go together so you’ll be learning how to unwind these with the third relaxation focused meditation. You’ll be moving onto a different part of your body that will love this and your mind will say “mmm mmm, that’s nice” in response.

By the end of this module, making use of a quick and simple meditation journal and guided by the prompts and ideas suggested by me, you’ll start dumping rubbish thoughts and training your body to switch off ‘fight, flight or freeze’ mode. You’ll sense you have opportunities to stay calmer for longer and with that comes the feeling of being in control.

You’ll learn a simple set of mindfulness techniques to use within your meditation. These make the daily journey towards peace and contentment easier to achieve.

By the end of these module, you’ll have trained your mindfulness to help you stay focused for longer within your meditation.  Your concentration will improve and that in itself reduces the number of thoughts coming through and makes it easier to calm your mind.

No, this will be perfect for you. I’ve designed the programme with complete beginners in mind.

• The first module gives you an easy introduction to your first meditation, then each one after that adds in one simple layer to what you’re doing.
• There’s plenty of time built into the course to get comfortable with the meditations and the mindfulness as well.
• If you have any hiccups, you can email me, or we’ve got the four Zooms sprinkled through the programme where we can talk through your experiences and what they mean.

That depends on the answers to the following 3 questions:

Do you know what you’re doing and why when you meditate?

The Wisdom-Mind programme explains in layman’s terms why you are doing a particular meditation and what to expect in terms of outcomes and experiences.
It takes you through a graduated series of mindfulness skills so you know which ones to use and how to use them when you need:

• To counteract feeling distracted, zoned out or foggy.
• Support to keep your mind calmer, no matter what stressful situations are thrown your way.

What you’re doing throughout this course is training your mind, so you direct how it responds to stress, rather than feeling helpless as you’re swept along by your thoughts. If this level of knowledge would be useful to you, come and join us.

Would you find it helpful to have access to an experienced teacher of Mindfulness Meditation? That’s me 😊.

My own training in how to meditate – ‘The Progressive Stages of Meditation’, was approved by the British Wheel of Yoga. This Buddhist approach is about training your mind to naturally be more compassionate and at ease, but without having to become a practising Buddhist.
This way of meditating has two thousand years of experience behind it. It’s packed full of pragmatic common sense and realistic ways to put stress, anxiety, depression into perspective and thereby reduce its effects.
This straight-forward approach is what you’ll experience on the Wisdom-Mind course (I don’t take the woo-woo view way of seeing things).
Don’t forget there’s the 14-day guarantee as well. If you do the first two modules and realise this course isn’t for you, you will get a full refund.

Do you need to have a kick start to get back into a meditation routine?

Having a structured practice to follow as well as weekly reminder emails are a great help in getting back on track with the meditation practice you wished you had. This is what you’ll get on the course.

People with trauma should approach it carefully (it’s still OK to do it).

The recommendation from Associate Professor Sarah Lazar from Harvard Medical School (who studies the Neuroscience of meditation) is to start with 5-10 mins long sessions.  Do this along with the support of a mental health professional and a meditation teacher experienced in working with people who’ve had trauma.

On this basis, if you have experienced trauma, this course may not be suitable for you as you may need more personalised support than I can give you.

If you’re ready to learn how to slow down and relax, then the Wisdom-Mind programme is perfect for you.

• Your first meditations take into account that you don’t yet know how to unwind tension and calm down.
• They incorporate sequences of movement and stillness that are simple to do and that gently encourage your mind to join in.
• This means you get a pleasant guided introduction and a peek at how easy it is to slow down when you know what you’re doing.

Once you’ve experienced how lovely this feels, slowing down and stillness will never feel hard, awkward or scary again.

We all have to deal with difficult, hard stuff in our lives. That will never change as there are many forces in the world over which we have absolutely no control.

But you do have the power to control how you respond to those forces, using the mindfulness meditation Wisdom-Mind teaches you.
When you’re a regular meditator, you’ll have a mental place of refuge to take a breather, relax and unwind in. A space in which to change how you feel.

Here’s a taster of what I mean:

• Step back from the feeling of ‘not ready yet’ and imagine your chilled-out self. Then ask yourself these questions:

1) What situations and circumstances would be easier to handle if you felt less overwhelmed?
2) Who would feel much better (less worried, less helpless), if they saw you were much less stressed?
3) How would you feel if you could detect when a worry or self-doubt were about to start growing? Then at that moment when its energy is tiny and easy to manipulate, you were able to soothe it away or re-direct these feelings into positive action?

The Wisdom-Mind Meditation course is designed to support and help you with all of this.
Wherever you are and whatever is going on in your life, over the next 6 months this course is designed to take you out of feeling stuck in a negative spiral.

• In gentle steps, instead of feeling exhausted or like you’ve taken on too much, you’ll gradually build up your energy.
• At the same time, you’ll feel your mind slowing down from a perpetual all-out sprint or at the other end of the spectrum, gradually lifting the fog.
• Either way, clarity of thinking will be easing into place, so problems shrink down and become easier to sort out.

Then what you’ve experienced is absolutely correct!

• Thoughts will always arise in your mind, even as an experienced meditator.
• Instead, what you’ll come to understand and be able to do, is notice your thoughts arising, passing through and letting them go.

What will naturally arise at this stage (without you having to make any effort at all), is a clear, spacious feeling in your mind. This is the ‘nothingness’ experience you may have heard of.

I know you’ve got a big list of things to do, so I’ve designed the course with busy people like you in mind.

• Each module is divided up into short, easily digestible videos. If you watch them all back-to-back, on average that would take about an hour or just over. If you prefer to watch and learn in shorter bursts that works too.
• As for the actual meditations, once you’re familiar with what to do, these take about 15 mins per session.
• When it comes to Bank Holidays and your own holidays, I’ll explain how you plan your meditations around these and then get back to a regular meditation routine afterwards.

All the meditations are done in a chair. Kit-wise all you need is this chair and maybe some cushions, or folded up blankets to get you comfortable.

• To do the Wisdom-Mind course you need an internet speed that lets you watch on-line videos and download then listen to the audio version of the meditations using your laptop, tablet or phone.
• Clothing-wise, just wear whatever it is you’re wearing whenever it’s your meditation time. Night gear, work gear, exercise gear, it doesn’t matter so long as you’re comfortable.
• If you find sitting in a chair uncomfortable, I’ll explain other positions to meditate in, and that doesn’t include having to tie your legs up like a pretzel!

The programme includes downloadable PDF documents that you can either store and read electronically or you may want to print them out.

If you don’t have a printer, reply to one of the Monday Mindfulness emails I’ll be sending you and ask for printed copies to be sent to you.

There will be a charge for printing, package and postage and the full set of PDFs will be sent out once the 14-day guarantee period has passed.

No, all you need is the internet speed that enables you to watch videos and listen to audios with your laptop, tablet or phone.

When we’re having a Zoom meeting, I’ll email you a link to join in, so you don’t need to subscribe to Zoom yourself.

No, because I don’t want you to drown in information or feel too paralysed to start!

The first modules come out once a week, every Monday.  The later modules come out roughly once a month.  I’ll be emailing you every single Monday, so you know when new modules are available and what you need to do that week!

The Wisdom-Mind meditations don’t include music as this is an intensely personal thing.

When I’m not talking and guiding you through what to do in your meditation, the gentle ticking of a grandfather clock will be in the background.

Possibly. If you feel like you’re something is missing from your life, but you’re not sure what it is, meditation gives you an opportunity to discover the answer.

• As you progress through the Wisdom-Mind course you’ll start to notice certain things (habits, relationships, old belief systems), that you don’t want or need anymore. You can start letting them go.
• Having these realisations or insights can feel like an intense revelation or a gentler ‘ah-ha’ moment. Both may have the sense of spiritual revelation about them.

These are great experiences to have, but are not vital to your progression.

• What’s more important is realising you can change how you act, think and feel and then putting that realisation into action.
• We will be investigating these areas during the course and I’ll be sharing information to guide you and mindfulness techniques to help you navigate this comfortably.

Just to be clear, when you’re doing the Wisdom-Mind Programme, you’re not learning about or following a religion, even though this method is based in Buddhist meditation methodology.

There’s more to say about enlightenment, but this will be easier to explain at the end of the programme once you’ve had experience of calming your mind and the sense of spaciousness between your thoughts.