Mindfulness Classes With Oli Doyle

In the old days, miners didn't have any way to know what gases were in the shaft. Potentially deadly chemicals might be silently drifting through the air, bringing about certain death without you even noticing. That's why they had a canary. A canary would detect something that might be killing you and send you a signal (it would get sick). Similarly, your body reflects back the stress arising from your resistance to the present moment, it alerts you when it's time to get out of that pit. Resistance is the cause of all stress, all worry, all anxiety, but often it is sneaky, it hides in the background, almost undetectable. Luckily, work can bring resistance to the surface, as it brings us challenges, difficult situations and people we might normally avoid. Resistance and work are often good friends. And when resistance arises, we have a wonderful opportunity. We can use this state of unease to bring us back to alertness, awareness and our natural inner joy. Today, I will walk you through a simple way to do this

Sitting at my desk I hear the clatter of cutlery from the staff kitchen. It sounds like a toddler looking for their special spoon, banging and scraping away in a mad rush to get to the bottom of the drawer. But I know that's not it. It's just Jill (name changed), unstacking the dishwasher. Well maybe 20% of her attention is on the dishwasher. My guess is that the other 80% is working through her list. They say a rushed job takes twice as long, and today I would like to invite you into the quiet, peaceful world of being precise and focused. Learn how to sharpen your attention and return to now, and you will experience peace and clarity every moment of the day.  Let's get started.

The day begins, and it's one thing after another, one appointment to the next, one meeting to the next as your to-do list grows (along with your stress). Arriving home at night, did you even remember to breathe? Did you really live that day, or were you somewhere else, drifting through thought? Join me today as we explore the power of stopping and learn how to use body awareness to pause, recharge and reset in the midst of this busy world.

My friend is lovely, but I know she doesn't really listen. She's far too busy you see. Busy with her thoughts, with big ideas, with important side notes. She hears people, but she doesn't truly listen... As we continue our journey through mindfulness at work we will explore the power of listening as the connective tissue of positive relationships.  We will also examine the value of true listening in keeping us present in the here and now.

This week at A Little Peace and Quiet is all about mindfulness at work, and let me start with a question: Are you really there at work? Or are you only half present, distracted, procrastinating, and watching the day slip by? Or perhaps you are on high alert, stressed, anxious and highly strung as you lurch from crisis to crisis. Most of us are probably somewhere in between (depending on the day perhaps), which is a massive shame for two reasons: 1) You could be alert, curios and peaceful at work each day, regardless of what is happening. 2) That peace will have a powerful positive impact on everyone you cross paths with each and every day. This week, I hope to help these two possibilities to emerge, and I will share every tool I have to assist you in making work a place of mindfulness.

You're in the supermaket and of course you picked the slowest queue. The person in front of you can't remember their PIN, and the person coming to help the newly trained server must be coming from across the Atlantic. What will you do? Spend ten minutes in frustration, anxiety and useless anger? Or spend ten minutes in heaven, with no-one to bother you, nothing to do, ten minutes of pure being. After today's class, you can make a choice. Will you spend your life waiting to get somewhere else? Or will you sink deep into the wonders of this moment. Enjoy.

The student asked the Master: "What is the secret to happiness?" The Master replied: "Just do one thing at a time." Joy and peace are begging for your attention every second of the day, but most of us humans never look. Happiness is right under your nose, but most people are too busy to stop and smell the roses. And in calm, careful attention, we become both happier and more efficient, and it costs nothing. Today I invite you to pay attention to the details of life.

The only difference between misery and happiness is the relationship you have with thought.  If you're lost in thought, it becomes a dictatorship, ordering its loyal subject (you) about according to its whims. But take a step back and thought becomes an advisor (or perhaps a board of advisors), ready to give helpful guidance, which you can accept or ignore. Most humans live in a mental dictatorship. Today I will show you how to find freedom.

If you find yourself drifting through the day, struggling to stay present, this week is for you. All this week I will bring you a series of simple exercises that can wake you up out of the dream of thought, starting with awareness of breath. Right through your day, breathing is happening, but do you notice it? Or does it drift past, obscured by thoughts which clamour for your attention? Amazingly, peace is as simple as noticing one breath. This simple practice is the doorway to awareness, and passing through that door is joyful indeed. I hope you enjoy it.

Eating is a universal process for humans; we all need to do it most days. But what happens when you start munching? Do you really taste the food? Or are you lost in your mind, rushing through on the way to a better future? Most of us only vaguely notice taste, unless it's amazing or awful. In between, we barely notice, we're much too busy thinking about something else. Learning to eat mindfully has some powerful benefits. You will notice, when you really taste food, that fresh, healthy food actually tastes better than processed sweet or fatty food. You will know when you are full and cravings for more (or for sugar) can become a part of your present moment, something to experience, not something to fight. But best of all, you will experience a deep sense of peace during meals, a feeling of groundedness that is vastly different to our usual anxious state. And how can we experience this? Simply sit, breathe and chew, nothing else is required. So get your knife and fork and join me at the table today for a sessi

Connecting with the natural world is enough to bring deep peace and step out of compulsive thinking. Nature is always calm, silent and peaceful, and when you make friends with this world it is bound to treat you kindly. The very experience of looking at this world without thinking getting in the way is a powerful one. It can move you from anxiety and stress to a world of calm quickly and easily. So today, come outside with me. Wriggle your toes in the grass, feel the sun on your skin and never stop gazing at the stars. I promise you won't regret it.

Are you really walking? Or are you just trying to get somewhere? Look around you when you're out in the world and you will see people everywhere, on their way somewhere else. No-one is truly walking, they're too busy thinking about where they're headed. True walking, mindful walking, has nothing to do with speed, and everything to do with attention. Attention to detail, to what surrounds you, to what your body is experiencing right now. Attention to life. So whether you're going fast or slow, come for a walk with me today and appreciate the wonderful peace that arises when you just walk without thinking. It just might change your day (or maybe your life).

What better way to start the day than with a cup of tea? But is your cup wasted, lost in a sea of thinking? Every day around the world, millions (maybe billions) of people rush through their tea (and their life), in search of a future that will make them happy. But if you're waiting for the future to bring happiness, you will be waiting forever. The alternative is to drink your tea (and live your life), as if every sip could be your last. If you're going to drink it, you might as well enjoy it, and today's class will show you how to make drinking your tea another path to mindful awareness. Learn the secret of drinking tea and you will know how to find joy in your life right now. It's just that simple.

This week is all about simple exercises that bring you back to a state of peace, joy and mindfulness. Each day I will share one powerful way to start your day mindfully, and remember, starting your day can happen anytime, as it's always now. Today, we begin in the simplest possible way, with one mindful breath. This may seem too simple, but before you know it, one mindful breath turns into five mindful minutes, and five mindful minutes turns into a mindful life. Join me for a wonderful reminder that your whole life is just one breath, and that there's no need to overthink it.

Look around you and you will notice that those with the strongest attachment to themselves, their opinions, beliefs and expectations live the most complicated, conflictual lives. Here are some simple ways to go beyond such conflict: 1) Don't believe what you think 2) Don't worry what others are thinking 3) Learn how to watch thoughts coming and going This is actually just one practice, and it is simple and powerful in equal parts. Step out of the content of the mind and into the process of watching it and ah! Freedom! So sudden, so instantaneous! Have fun in this moment, and remember that your thoughts are wholly unimportant. You, on the other hand, are precious, important and wonderful. There's no need to create this wonder, you just need to remember it. Thank you for bringing a little more peace into this world.

Conflict is like a fire that rages inside, and the more you get lost in the thoughts about what happened outside, the stronger it gets. That's because unconscious attention strengthens thought, while deliberately paying attention to them removes their power. So in ending conflict in this world, the key is to pay proper attention to thought, in the right way, with mindfulness. Today I will show you how.

The recipe for world peace is simple, and it does not involve any complex geopolitical solutions. We just need to breathe. Well, breathe and be aware anyway. If you learn to do this, even in the midst of great anger and suffering, peace will begin to emerge. And when your world is peaceful, those around you will certainly be drawn in. So when anger threatens to take over, we must remember: "Self and others are not two separate things, because the suffering, hope and anger of both sides is very much the same. When we get angry, we suffer. If you really understand that, you also will be able to understand that when the other person is angry, it means she is suffering." Thich Nhat Hanh Today, I invite you to join me in a place of compassion, peace and deep empathy.

For conflict to arise we need three things: Personalities, stories and drama. As you will discover in today's class, these three elements bring incredible difficulty, suffering and trouble into this world, and they contribute nothing. Today I invite you on a different path - using the challenges of the world to become more deeply engaged in this wonderful moment. I hope you like it.

Can we deal with conflict mindfully? Is it possible to strike a balance between accepting people as they are and being assertive? How can we do this without being trampled? Welcome to conflict week! All this week we will explore how conflict arises, what feeds the drama of human conflict and how we can go beyond it.  As humans begin to master these simple practices and become aware of the elements of conflict, the world will dramatically change. We begin today by deconstructing the true cause of conflict, and practising a simple exercise that can remove conflict from your life today. For more classes, come on down to www.alittlepeaceandquiet.com

In my last book, Mindfulness Plain & Simple, I discussed an interesting paradox, which is that we all seek happiness, we try to get peace and contentment, when in fact it is the very seeking that gets in the way of happiness. We look to the outside world, or to some needed change in our inner world (a change that will happen in the future, which never comes) in the hope that this is the path to happiness. But unfortunately, there is no path to happiness, there is only a path of happiness.  True happiness is 100% engagement with this moment. Today I will show you how to make this engagement your focus right now.