“I didn’t know I was tense until after we finished meditating, and I felt relaxed”
“I didn’t realise it had affected me this much”.

Those two comments give some indication of why I love offering my monthly programmes at the Millthorpe Meditation Centre.

The Chanting and Meditation programme I offer freely as a way for people to give themselves some time out, to stop and become aware of how they are feeling and what they feel about themselves and life at the moment. Unless we stop and give ourselves time to develop greater self awareness we will not realise how stressed and tense we are. When we are stressed we are not functioning as well as we could. This past weekend one of the meditators said: “it didn’t know I was tense until after we finished meditating, and I felt relaxed”

Chanting, in the form of call and response, is a wonderful meditation technique: it requires presence and focus. One has to focus on the words to be sung and when to join it and the breath is a natural part of that process. It flows, oxygenates the system and flushes away tension. It also prepares us for silent meditation. It is as if the chanting short circuits our mind chatter and allows us to sink more easily into deep, restful silence.

The Conscious Breathing Circle is especially for those who want to continue their deep inner journey and have already experience that power of Conscious Connected Breathing. It is a deeper inner work that links the physical, mental, emotion and spiritual aspects of ourselves. “I didn’t realise it had affected me this much” is the sort of thing that we would say. The tears flowed in the best of ways and the participants found a safe space to feel, acknowledge and let go of emotions that they had swallowed down. The result is a lightness and expansion

Awareness of the breath, Self Awareness, in both meditation and Breathwork is the path to freedom.

Nature calms us. Beauty inspires. Would you like to connect on line and experience that?

Contemplation and meditation came together November 2019 in Millthorpe when Ann Harrison guided "Meditate in the Garden" at the Millthorpe Garden Nursery. Seated in the garden under a shady trees we experienced that calm contemplation and insight.

From that event grew a joint venture between Ann and Sue - the Millthorpe Meditation Centre and the Millthorpe Garden Nursery.

On our new website - www.essenceofplants.com.au - you will find a plant or flower feature regularly. There will be information about it and a guided meditation to help you gain insight.

Today is Valentine's Day - so this month we have chosen the rose. On the website your will find:

• information on the rose
• a connection to the nursery so that you can get help in purchasing the rose that is right for you
• a short 2 minutes contemplation - free
• link to a 6 minute meditation that you can buy for $1.99

Our wish is to help you keep that connection to nature and life through contemplation, meditation and simply encouragine you to be in the midst of a garden - even if it is just in your mind's eye.

Come and experience Millthorpe - wander through the Garden Nursery or participate in a programme at the Meditation Centre.

 Summary of an online Meditation for You Course delivered by Ann Harrison 2016

Meditation techniques are simple and various.  To master one of these techniques and meditate successfully is much more challenging.

Jack Kornfield's book: Bringing Home the Dharma - Awakening Right Where You Are is a wonderful handbook for meditators. He describes so candidly his own journey as he encountered challenges along the way, teachers who contradicted each other and teachers who masterfully guided his way and deepened his understand in this human spiritual journey.

I am so glad that there is a book out there that explain the chaotic mind states that can be encountered as the meditator learn to journey through and find the still deep place inside.

A couple of years ago of years ago I offered an on line introductory Meditation for You course. My personal journey and meditation practice of course informs my teaching. At the same time I recognised there are categories of meditation techniques - sight, sound, movement, breath - that beginners find easier when they first start; and there are traditions - Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist etc that appeal to different personalities.

Find the teacher, and the tradition with which you resonate and just practice.

If you would like one of my guided meditation you can perhaps find something you like here - www.breathandinspiration.com  Or feel free to contact me with your questions

When you need a both a rest and an energy boost,  taking time out to work consciously with the breath is easy and cost effective. These two short workshops at the Millthorpe Meditation Centre offer you just such an opportunity.

The Chanting and Meditation evening is a short pause in your month. Helf an hour of chanting followed by silent meditation. Chanting is a particular way of being aware of your breathing. You become the instrument and your chanting is a preparation for entering that deep refreshing stillness within you. If you are a long time meditator or beginner, this hour is both a reminder and support

The Breathing Circle is a longer experience of meditation on the chakra centres and an exploration of the power of conscious connected breathing to take the internal pressure off, gaining insight and feeling refreshed. A recent participant said: " it was like I've been totally rewire. I feel great".

"I have been working consciously with the breath for more than 30 years now. It simplicity and power of Breath Awareness continues to astound and humble me"  Ann Harrison

Meditation and awareness practice has been a part of my life now for more than 30 years. It is my foundation and  always a joy it is to be able to share that practice with others.

I had the privilege a couple of weekends ago of running a workshop for a group of friends who had come to Millthorpe to celebrate a 40th birthday. So much love in the group before we even started, and the energies of the old church on the hill helped deepen all our experience.

We - including me - lost our sense of time and place, as we connected deeply to ourSelves. Group members discovered meditation techniques that worked for them, some felt blocks that they had been carrying in their hearts dissolve. We found that the two hours disappeared in the blink of an eye.

It would be my delight to connect with you

• through an individual consultation in Millthorpe or on Skype [ including a personal guided meditation]

or

• work with you and a group of your friends

or

• you may buy my guided meditations on line http://breathandinspiration.com/shop-front/

Contact me here if you would like to discuss possibilities

I booked my ticket yesterday!!!! Koh Samui here I come.

The retreat accommodation at Bamburee Resort -  www.banbureeresort.com - is fabulous.  Luxury bungalows right by the beach. All the facilities and services you could dream of. So...

• Do you need time out?
• Do you want the time and space to deeply relax?
• Do you want to get some perspective on a particular life issue?
• Do you want to treat yourself with extra massages and spa treatments?
  

It is worth thinking about now.

The Breath and Inspiration Retreat will support your inner work. Banburee Resort will look after the rest.

I am firming up the retreat programme and will let you know as soon as possible. The foundation will be daily sessions of Breathwork in the water. This is the most powerful, most personally empowering work I know. No one can breathe for you. When you are supported to follow the life force in the breath you will discover parts of yourself that are just waiting to blossom, and release whatever it is that is stopping you.

Travelling to Thailand takes some planning.  Enrolment dates for the workshop close 31 August 2016.
Airline tickets and accommodation need to be sorted as soon as you can. Koh Samui is such a popular destination. You don't want to miss out

Here is some more information

I am so excited to be offering another Breath and Inspiration in Thailand in October.
It is simple, powerful and life transforming. Please contact me if you are interested

In the video below you will hear what participants of the 2011 retreat had to say. More information on the 2016 retreat to come.

I look forward to welcoming there.

Who are you and Where are you going ? These are the most fundamental questions in life.  Once you have answered them. all other questions and answers flow naturally. There will be a "fitness", and "appropriateness" of your thoughts and actions, both in relationship to yourself, to other people and to your various activities in life. You will be aligned with spirit.
 
One of the assumptions I am making is that there is nothing in this world that stands in isolation. Not just in the sense that a brick is part of a wall; rather, that everything is inter-related and interdependent. Everything is part of a greater whole. There is a force that both creates and connects everything. The philosophies of the East call that force by various names: chi, ki, prana; meaning air, breath, energy, or life force.
 
When we focus on fitness in the physical body, one of the measurements of that fitness is our aerobic capacity - our ability to take in and fully utilise the breath. The physical body and its functions are sustained by breathing.
 
The correlation between physical health and a sense of mental and emotional well-being has been well documented. An awareness of how our mental and emotional state affects the way we breathe is an essential skill in stress management. Stress reduction can be achieved with specific breath techniques.
 
How does "spiritual " fitness relate to this and what does it  mean ? Perhaps it is easier to answer that by looking at the symptoms of spiritual malaise — typically mid- life crisis or unfocused erratic behaviour. One manifestation of this is when, as an adult, we achieve the various goals we have set ourselves and have attained a standard of living we are satisfied with. Yet we say to ourselves, "is that all there is ?" When we can't answer questions about who we are, why we are here, and what the purpose of life is, we lose heart and part of our spirit begins to die.
 
One of the easiest ways of reconnecting to spirit is through mediation. The most basic mediation techniques involve a focusing on the breath. And it is through meditation that we are able to answer the question "Who am I?'
 
We begin to understand the complexity of our own body-mind, to see the inter-relationship of our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual states and understand that we are part of a greater whole — family, society, mankind — and the we are all living together on planet Earth.
 
            We begin to understand that we have a physical body, but that we are not just a body. We realise that unhappiness comes when we equate our value as a person with the type of body we have. Or conversely, disease comes when we do not take care of ourselves, when we do not realise that inter-relationship of the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual part of our being.
            Through meditation, we realise that we are not our emotions. Our emotional states come and go — sometimes we are happy, sometimes sad. We can be angry one minute and laughing the next. If we become the emotion, we ride a roller coaster: Through meditation, we learn that we can experience emotions yet not be their victim. We have emotions, but we are more than those emotions.
 
As for our ideas, they change as we receive new information. At different times in history, science has asserted different truths. Our truth as a child is often different from our truth as an adult. Our ideas are just the best tools we have at any given time to operate successfully in the world. Disaster strikes when we try to apply inappropriate ideas to particular situations.
 
So who are we ? We are physical, emotional, mental and spiritual beings, and we live in a physical world. We relate to other people physically, emotionally and mentally. We are connected through spirit.
 
What does fitness mean in this context ? It means acting in a way that is governed by and is in alignment with the principle that everything within ourselves is inter-related and that there is an inter-relationship between ourselves, other human beings and the environment.
 
The ethical implication of this is that there must be a shift from a "me and them" attitude, a "win/lose" competitiveness, to an understanding that for me to win , others must also win; for me to be happy others must also be happy. for me to be safe and secure, the planet has to be safe and secure.
 
Every individual has to find their own answers about how to relate to the world - physical, emotionally, mentally and spiritually . The answers to a particular situation come when we have a vision of the complexity and inter-relatedness of the whole and understand the relationship between the many parts.
 
This vision and this knowledge is most easily achieved through meditation. The benefits of meditation can be seen and felt in all aspects of our life, including business.

© Ann Harrison
Originally published Emotional & Spiritual Fitness, article in Fitness, Bob Pike Hong Kong,1994