I came to Normandy with a very specific remit: to have some time in intense practice with my yidam, Vajrayogini; and to read through the first draft of my book explicating my ideas on what is a humanistic psychotherapy. In terms of my experience, I am readying myself to leave with more under my belt: …
Last week I completed a first draft of my book; one week ahead of the deadline I had set for my trip to France – part practice retreat, part book immersion. I will spend my mornings in practice with the yidam Vajrayogini, and my afternoons – keeping her in mind – sat at my desk …
I am in touching distance of a first draft of my book; a plan to go on retreat at the end of February ensuring I keep a fire under me. The retreat will be mornings of practice, afternoons of reading and editing. Just the thought of being in Normandy, withdrawn into my sources of nourishment …
As I have done each year since 2012, I spent the b’twixt and between days this festive holiday reflecting on what has been in 2025 and what is to come in 2026. I think its fair to say that over the past 15 years there has been a gradual shift in focus and energy from …
Some eight months after moving to Lewes, we have made it home. When people comment “you must have really settled now?”, it is an emphatic “YES!” And yet…within that settlement, there is a degree of something unsettling. As I deeply embed into the town, it is suggesting another aspect. I am leaning into this twofold …
Walking into work yesterday ahead of teaching on a two day block with the Masters students I felt a deep sense of gratitude. The University campus was just coming alive; looking through the windows of various teaching spaces, people crouched over their laptops or engrossed in books sipping a coffee. Imagining the day to come, …
I can’t quite believe it is two months since I blogged. It’s not the first time there has been a lag between posts; but this time it was very much a conscious decision. What writing time I have had needed to go towards book writing and edging my way through the 60 or so essays …
Writing for the book draft has slowed. What started pre-retreat as a sense of edginess transmuted post-retreat into a conscious decision to step back from the keyboard. The edginess was a tectonic plate-like meeting of my drive to finish and my need to break this summer. Speaking with Rinpoche on retreat brought the “high lung” …
Back from retreat, and spending my days settling back into “reality”. I haven’t found the transition as steep this time around. Maybe a testament to practice pervading more deeply into life and less “this” (normality) versus “that” (the container of retreat)? I certainly feel a little more practiced in the shift between worlds: a developing …
I’ve just returned home from a two-day, walking adventure: hiking over to Alfriston, and making the return to Lewes the next day. It’s a replication of a trip my wife and I did two months ago. As a comparison of the blog header image reveals, we are transitioning into another phase of summer: and I …