In Traditional Chinese Medicine, winter is when the water element in the body is most prominent. This energy system is linked to the structural integrity of our body and its shape, our sense of identity, our hormonal and nervous systems, our bones, sexual energy and reproductive functions. In nature, winter is the season for hibernation – a time for resting and restoring and the perfect time to focus inwards and build strength and stability in the body.  This is the ideal time of the year to deal with issues including lower back pain, stress and hormonal imbalances.

This all-inclusive weekend includes accommodation at Peppers Anchorage Port Stephens, five yoga classes with Kris McIntyre, meditation and relaxation sessions, healthy meals prepared with the special touch of Peppers executive chef Ludovic Poyer. Prices start at $460 per person (twin share) or $235 per person (non-residential package).

We’ll also be including winter activities to build strength, connect to the water element in nature and develop a meditation practice. You also have the option to indulge in massage and beauty treatments (at an additional cost).

The weekend is designed to give you the option de-stress and unwind or just enjoy a relaxed weekend away with your partner or a group of friends. It’s not a ‘hard core’, boot-camp style yoga retreat, but you’ll have the opportunity to work hard if you wish to.

The weekend is open to beginners, but a basic level of fitness is required. Non-residential and non-yogi packages (for accompanying companions) are also available.

For bookings, contact Kristen Hammond on (02) 4984 2555 or email anchorage@peppers.com.au

The program:

Friday 14^th May 2010

2pm onwards:  Check-in
6pm:                    Yoga in Main Guest Lounge or Thurlow
7.30pm:              Light welcome dinner
9.00pm               Guided relaxation/ Yoga Nidra meditation (bring a shawl or blanket) 

 Saturday 15^th May 2010

6.00am:                Meet in Reception for bus to Tomaree Headland
6.15am:                 Morning hike up Tomaree Headland
7:30am:                 Yoga (1 hour) at base of Tomaree Headland
8.45am:                 Breakfast (on the Terrace outside Merretts)
9.30am:                 Free time & spa treatments
11.30am:               Cooking demonstration and food talk with chef and Kris
1pm:                       Lunch (as per cooking demonstration)
2pm – 5.30pm      Free time & spa treatments
5.30 – 6.30pm:    Yoga in Thurlow conference room
7pm:                       Dinner (light)
8.30pm – 9:00pm: Meditation session 

Sunday 16 May 2009

6.30am – 8am:         Paddle in the Outriggers off the beach next to the resort
8.00am – 8.30am:  Yoga on Glover Lawn (1/2 hour stretch class – wet weather contingency Thurlow Room)
8.30am:                      Breakfast (on the Terrace outside Merretts)
9.30am – 11.30am:  Free time & Spa treatments
11am:                           Guests check-out of rooms and leave luggage at Reception
11.30 – 12.30pm:       Winter food and yoga talk with Kris
12.30 – 1.30pm:         Lunchtime yoga wind-down on Glover Lawn (wet weather contingency Thurlow Room)
2pm:                             Late lunch & departure (plus spa treatments)

Creating the space for meditation is a process of preparation. Creating a physical space is just one part of the equation. Other factors include allowing the space in your daily life, creating the headspace and being prepared physically and emotionally to ‘sit’. 

Chris Dorje Walker teaches meditation as a living. Walker has spent the past seventeen years, including five years as a Buddhist monk, studying varies forms of meditation including Tibetan Buddhism, ancient esoteric wisdom, Qi Qong, Taoism, Vipassana and somatic psychotherapy. He now teaches busy, stressed-out people how to meditate. Drawing on his experience in the east combined with the reality of being a Westerner, Walker’s approach is simple and practical.

Step 1: Create the space in your day
Putting aside the time to meditate can be one of the biggest hurdles to overcome, but dedicating a special time each day helps build the habit. According to Walker, just ten minutes in the morning and at the end of the day will yield results. 

Facilitator of ‘Meditation for Mums’ workshops, Lyndal Edwards, says that for many women even just grabbing a moment, whenever, wherever is enough. In her experience the sheer exhaustion, sleep deprivation and 24/7 nature of the job that comes with motherhood overwhelms most women and allowing the space for meditation is their sanity.

Step 2: Claim and clear the space
We are creatures of habit so having a dedicated space enables us to make meditation a regular part of daily life. There is no right or wrong way to set up the space. Just like when decorating a home, our resources and personal tastes will dictate how we set up our sanctuary. 

Firstly, decide where you want your space to be. It doesn’t have to be a space solely for the purpose of meditation, but you must be able to claim it as ‘yours’ for the time dedicated to your practice. It could be a quiet room in your house, a particular chair or a special place in your garden.  It could be a park bench at lunchtime or an unused meeting room.  Even the toilet offers a quiet haven. ‘There’s a perfect seat there,’ says Walker, ‘and nobody’s going to interrupt you.’

Most importantly, the space we choose to meditate in needs to reflect the state we are intending, so it needs to be quiet, comfortable, clean and clear. ‘It’s the basic principles of Feng Shui,’ says Walker, ‘if the space around you is cluttered and disorderly, your mind will be the same. If the area is clean and orderly then there’s the potential space for clear thought and a still mind.’

Step 3: Create a focal point
One of the other stumbling blocks for many people learning to meditate is that they find it impossible to empty their minds. According to Walker, this is a common mistake people make. ‘You need a focus for your meditation. The point is to develop a trained mind, not an empty one’, he says. 

Creating a shrine within your meditation sanctuary is one way of creating a visual focal point for the mind. A shrine can also bring a sense of the ‘sacred’ to your space with objects such as candles, flowers, mandalas, crystals, statues of deities and images of nature. As your habit develops, the items on your shrine become visual triggers for your mind to focus. If you can’t leave your shrine set up permanently, Edwards recommends creating a meditation tray that you can pick up and move easily.

Step 4: Minimise distractions
Minimise as many distractions from noise, interruptions and the people around you as possible. Air the room, shut the door and turn your phone off. Let others know that you need some time without any interruptions. 

A tall order for mums with young children perhaps, but author of ‘Recipes for Everyday Life’, Alison Nancye, says if you can’t beat them, let them join you.  Nancye learnt how to meditate in her teens, but it was in her mid-30s that she learnt the power of meditation. After a traumatic childbirth with her first child, Nancye was determined to have a better experience the second time round. She practiced meditation daily during her pregnancy and during the birth, was able to recreate the space to stay calm and focused.

She now invites her two young children to sit in meditation with her. ‘Kids learn through mimicking. Sharing my meditation space helps my children understand ‘mummy time’ and teaches them how to listen and be still.’

Step 5: Get comfortable
Just as important as the surrounds is the space within your body. If you are not physically comfortable your mind will be distracted and meditation will be an uphill battle.

Part of the physical preparation for meditation is getting rid of any excess physical energy in the body. Many eastern and mystical traditions such as yoga, Sufism and Kabbalah often include dynamic movement, as part of, or in preparation for, meditation practice. Yoga postures, whirling, even walking around the meditation space, will help to settle the body before you sit. 

Wear loose comfortable clothing, remove distracting jewellery and have a shawl or blanket around you as metabolism slows during meditation and you might become cool.

There are traditional postures for sitting in meditation, but you don’t need to twist yourself into a pretzel. Sit comfortably with a straight spine, either sitting in a chair with both feet on the floor, or cross-legged on a cushion on the floor. Whilst it is okay to lie down for your relaxation, it is best to be sitting for meditation and to avoid falling to sleep.

Step 6: Stay put
In Buddhist traditions this is referred to as ‘taking the one seat’ and according to Walker, this may be the hardest part of all in creating a meditation space. ‘When you sit down, that’s it. Stay put,’ he says. 

Sensations, feelings, thoughts will come up. Don’t try to block them out, but observe them without attachment. Watch the breath, if your mind wanders, allow it to come back to your point of focus, but don’t force anything.

‘It’s about being able to create the space to sit and make peace within yourself,’ Walker said. ‘For so many people, our lives are so polarised that we are unable to live in between the extremes. We think that if we can learn to meditate, we’ll be happy. But it’s not about that. It’s about learning to sit with all possibilities, to be comfortable with the uncomfortable and learning to accept with patience.’

‘Integration is my big thing’ Walker says. ‘That’s why I’m not a monk any more. It’s very special being in a monastery. But being able to bring what I learnt there in to the ordinary world is more powerful and somehow extraordinary.’

There’s the real gift. Eventually, as meditation becomes a regular habit a meditation space can be anywhere, any time whether it’s at home, in the office, a hotel room, on a plane, in a traffic jam or in the birthing suite.

TYPES OF MEDITATION
Finding a good teacher or joining a meditation group to share your experiences with will enhance your practice. There are also many different types of meditation ranging from secular practices to religious and spiritual traditions so it is worthwhile experimenting to find a style that suits you.

Religious and spiritual – Most religions and spiritual practices, both eastern and west, have some form of meditation or prayer attached to them. Enquire with your local yoga school, spiritual study group or church for information about meditation classes and retreats. 
Secular – common types of non-spiritual meditation include focusing on the breath or an object, guided visualisations or contemplative questioning such as ‘who am I?’ There are a number of companies and individuals that offer personal and corporate meditation training.
Mantra-style meditation – repetition of a word, sound or ‘mantra’ is a common meditation technique, practised in particular by the Transcendental Meditation (TM).
Mindfulness meditation involves being able to observe bodily sensations without attachment or reaction. Vipassana is a popular form of this style of meditation. Visit www.dhamma.org for more information about 10-day silent retreats held in Australia and around the world. 

RESOURCES
There are many good books, audio tapes, DVDs and websites about meditation.

Visit www.meditation.org.au  – a comprehensive site with a listing of organisations (both secular and religious) throughout Australia offering meditation classes for adults and children with ratings by users. The site also includes meditation tips, online classes, daily contemplations, downloads and podcasts including guided meditations, music and an online shop with books, CDs, incense and candles.

www.adyar.com.au – Adyar Bookshop specialises in health, wellbeing, spirituality and the esoteric.  Search their website for meditation titles and sign up for their regular free talks.

 ‘Buddhism for Mothers’ by Sarah Napthali Offers Buddhism at its most accessible with ways of coping with the day-to-day challenges of motherhood.

‘Meditation – Exercises and Inspirations for Well-being’ by Bill Anderton is a simple, easy-to-read introductory guide to meditation for beginners.

RELAXATION TIPS
 “Unless you can relax, you can’t meditate”, says meditation teacher, Chris Dorje Walker. He uses the following easy relaxation technique to guide his clients into a relaxed state.

1. Sit in a comfortable position.
2. Close your eyes.
3. Draw your awareness closer and closer to your body. Become aware of the sensations on the skin. Feel the breath flowing in and out of your body.
4. Imagine as you breath out, black smoke is leaving the body. This can represent tension, rigidity, stress, worry, anything you don’t want.
5. Keep breathing out in this way and letting go. Continue until your breath becomes lighter, your breath becomes clear, smooth and comfortable. 

MOTHER NURTURE TIP:  Facilitator of Meditation for Mums workshops, Lyndal Edwards suggests using calming aromatherapy oils or bush essences, such as ‘Calm & Clear’ or ‘Emergency’ essences to help you relax before meditating.

Chris Dorje Walker teaches private, group and corporate meditation classes. He also runs meditation conferences and retreats and sells guided meditation CDs. www.dorje.com.au

Lyndal Edwards runs regular Meditation for Mums workshops in Sydney’s eastern suburbs and the Blue Mountains.  www.mothernurture.net.au

Alison Nancye runs regular lifestyle workshops. Visit www.thelifekitchen.com for her meditation ‘recipes’.

© Kris McIntyre 2008, first published in Spa Life Magazine Australia. 

* For information about the Earth’s chakras visit http://www.earthchakras.org/

This article first appeared in dumbo feather magazine, 2009

What does it take to live with courage and fearlessness? And what is our  individual role in creating a culture of courage? Wake Up Sydney’s next special evening explores this theme with live music, an inspirational film, meditation and a panel of inspirational guest speakers  - Robina Courtin, nun and founder of the Liberation Prison Project; Kate Bezar founder of dumbo feather magazine; and Sandy Blackburn-Wright, Director, Community Involvement Westpac.  Proceeds will support Wake Up Sydney’s kindness card campaigns and 5% will be donated to the Liberation Prison Project. Book early. Limited seats. Click here to find out more.

Meditation is an age-old practice that to some degree is shrouded in mystery and intrigue. But it shouldn’t be. Not only is it something that everyone can do, it is easy when you know how. So what’s the secret?

Chris (Dorje) Walker teaches dozens of people a week in the art of meditation. He says the biggest mistake people make is expecting the process to be hard.

Dorje should know. As a teenager he suffered from ADD and dyslexia. “My brain wasn’t working properly,” he laughs. The struggle to deal with his mental health eventually led him to meditation and an unexpected career path as a professional meditator including five years as a Buddhist monk. Dorje has spent the past fifteen years studying varies forms of meditation including Tibetan Buddhism, ancient esoteric wisdom, Qi Qong, Taoism, Vispassana and somatic psychotherapy.

Now Dorje deals with the conundrum of how to teach busy, stressed-out people how to meditate. His approach is unique and practical, drawing on his experience in the east combined with the reality of being a Westerner.

What is meditation?

In the same way that physical exercise helps keep the body strong and healthy, meditation is training for the mind.

Put simply, it is the creation of a relaxed state of awareness of mind and body. Or as Dorje puts it, ‘a defrag for our brain.’ Under normal circumstances, we experience relaxation and awareness as separate states, not simultaneously. Our attention is most often directed to the outside world, whereas in meditation our awareness is directed inwards. Through meditation, we learn to train our mind to a point of clarity and focus instead of being driven by scattered thoughts and negativity.

Why meditate?

Harvard studies have found that we generate about 50,000 thoughts a day. We live in a world of stimulation and are caught in our senses. The same study concluded that in the average person’s day (or even in reading this newspaper from cover to cover) we process more information than we would have in a lifetime 200 years ago.

‘We are overloaded with stimulation,’ Dorje said. ‘And unfortunately, our nervous system hasn’t changed even though the demands on it have, so we are stuck in a state of stress overdrive.’

As a consequence, we have short attention spans, it is almost impossible for us to sit still and because we are in a constant state of ‘fight or flight’ response we react inappropriately to little things that shouldn’t faze us. In short we are too stressed out to be effective, let alone happy.

The good news is that meditation helps. Recent research on the benefits of meditation in reducing stress-related illness has convinced many companies worldwide to use meditation training as an integral part of their stress management programs. Hundreds of clinical studies in recent years have concluded the benefits of meditation include reduced blood pressure, improved energy and concentration levels, relief from conditions including insomnia, anxiety, depression, heart disease and chronic pain. Meditators also report that they feel calmer, more focused and happy in their daily lives.

Where to start?
Although there are many good books and audio tapes on the subject , Dorje recommends finding a good teacher to begin your meditation practice.  

There are also many different types and traditions of meditation so it is worthwhile experimenting to find a style that suits you.

Create the time and space
Establish a daily routine for meditating and put aside a particular time each day. Even ten minutes in the morning and ten minutes at the end of the day is enough to get results. 

Find a quiet place to meditate where you won’t be interrupted. You can also create a special space by filling it with objects including candles, cushions, mandalas, flowers and incense.

How to sit
Ensure that you are comfortable. Wear loose comfortable clothing and remove any jewellery that may distract you. Metabolism slows during meditation, so you may become cool. Make sure the room is warm to begin with, or have a shawl or blanket around you. 

There are traditional yoga postures for sitting in meditation, but you don’t need to twist yourself into a pretzel! Sit comfortably with a straight spine, either sitting in a chair with both feet on the floor, or cross-legged on a cushion on the floor. Whilst it is okay to lie down for your relaxation, it is best to be sitting for meditation and will help you avoid falling to sleep.

Learn to relax
“Unless you can relax, you can’t meditate”, says Dorje and according to him this is one of the biggest obstacles for people learning meditation. Dorje uses the following easy relaxation technique to guide his clients into a relaxed state. 

1. Sit in a comfortable position.
2. Close your eyes.
3. Draw your awareness closer and closer to your body. Become aware of the sensations on the skin. Feel the breath flowing in and out of your body.
4. Imagine as you breath out, black smoke is leaving the body. This can represent tension, rigidity, stress, worry, anything you don’t want.
5. Keep breathing out in this way and letting go. Continue until your breath becomes lighter, your breath becomes clear, smooth and comfortable.
6. Enjoy a few moments of peace and relaxation. 

Focus
A major stumbling block for many people trying to meditate is that they find it impossible to empty their minds. According to Dorje, this is the second most common mistake people make. 

“You need an object of focus for your meditation. The point is to develop a trained mind, not an empty one”, he says.

Some of the most common focus techniques include:

• Focusing on the breath.  In meditation observing the breath teaches that when we regulate our breathing we can control our body, focus our mind and control our emotions. Try to breathe slowly, even a little more deeply than you would normally, and focus on making the exhalation longer than the inhalation.
• Focusing on an object. Place an object – such as a burning candle, a flower, mandala or painting – in front of you and allow your eyes to rest on it as a point of focus. Or you can focus on a specific part of your body channelling your mental energy there.
• Chanting a mantra such as an “om” sound repeatedly is believed restore wellbeing through the vibrational healing of sound. It is recommended that a good teacher advise you on your personal mantra.
• Contemplation. Meditation encourages us to focus on the great questions of life such as, “who am I?” or “what is my purpose?” These questions have no simple answers, but by asking them opens us up to new possibilities.

There are many other techniques such as guided visualisations, whirling, walking meditations, Zen Koans, chakra meditations and prayer. It is worthwhile exploring different techniques until you find a style that suits you.

Getting started – tips

• Don’t judge yourself. Meditation is an adventure and like all adventures there may be pitfalls or times when your progress seems frustratingly slow.
• Be patient. Start small and gradually build up the time. A few minutes a day is enough to begin with. It is not the amount of time you spend in meditation that counts, but your understanding during that time. If you try for too long initially it won’t be something you look forward to. Remember that consistency is more important than the length of time for each session.
• “Am I doing it properly?” There’s no right or wrong way. However, if meditation isn’t helping you in some way, there may be something you need to change.
• Don’t worry if your mind starts to wonder. Imagine your thoughts are clouds drifting in the sky. Observe them, then let them go and gently refocus your attention.
• Meditation can produce strong emotions. Try to observe them rather than react to them.
• Remember, meditation is a personal journey, so your experience may be different to others. Also, what may be effective for one person might not work for another. Bear this is mind experiment to find out what works best for you.

 Meditation traditions
There are many different schools of meditation, some religious others not. Some of the more common schools include: 

Vipassana – a non-denominational teaching based on the teachings of S.N. Vipassana runs 10-60 day silent meditation courses throughout the world.
Transcendental Meditation (TM) – as taught by Maharishi Mahesh is a personalised mantra style technique.
Buddhism – meditation is an integral part of Buddhist philosophy and contemplation of the teachings of Buddha.
Yoga – meditation is one of the eight integral limbs of yoga.

 Resources:
www.dhamma.org (Vipassana Meditation Centres)
www.adyar.com.au (Adyar Bookshop)
Buddhist libraries
Your Yoga teacher
“Meditation: exercises and inspirations for well-being”, Bill Anderton (Duncan Baird Publishers UK, 2002)
“Full Catastrophe Living”, Jon Kabat-Zinn Ph.D
“The Power of Now”, Eckhart Tolle

 Chris (Dorje) Walker was a Tibetan Buddhist monk for five years. He now teaches public, private and corporate workshops in meditation and Qi Qong. For more information visit centreofawareness.com

This article first appeared in body+soul (News Limited Australia) 2003.