Back to the Roots

2016 saw Paul return to his Buddhist roots with a series of teachings exploring both the explosion in mainstream mindfulness and its original roots, as presented by the Buddha 2,600 years ago.

This series of workshops are run through his Back to the Roots company and focus around the question, ‘How might the gentle, ancient tradition of mindfulness be elegantly embraced in the fast-paced, modern world?’

The Art and Craft of Meditation: Buddhist Mindfulness

Paul led a four week Mindfulness course at Jamyang Bath from 6 March 2019, as part of their Art and Craft of Meditation series.

The recordings of each session are available below and contain guided mindfulness practice, practical hints and tips from original Buddhist teachings, as well as discussion and reflection. For more information, please visit the Jamyang Bath website: https://jamyangbath.org.uk/meditation/the-art-and-craft-of-meditation-mindfulness/

“Over the years of my practice I have had many instructions and read many teachings, and finally with the wisdom of age, I thought it might be a good idea to actually follow what the Buddha actually said…..by doing this we can begin to get some idea of the tremendous richness and nuance of working with an object as simple as the breath. Just this can take us the entire way to Enlightenment. It’s a powerful set of instructions. There are basically 4 steps that Buddha lays out, and the very first thing we need to learn is to relax back “that in itself is an Art””
Joseph Goldstein, Co-founder Insight Meditation Society

RESOURCES

Please click here to listen to a Guided Mindfulness of Breathing Meditation with Joseph Goldstein (Satipatthana Sutta).
Please click below to listen to the full recording of the 6 March session, ‘Breath Awareness’ led by Paul Wielgus.

Click below to listen to the Art and Craft of Meditation session two recording “Following the Breath,” led by Paul Wielgus at Jamyang Bath, 13 March 2019

Click below to listen to the Art and Craft of Meditation session three recording, ‘Unity of Body & Breath’ led by Paul Wielgus at Jamyang Bath, 20 March 2019

Click below to listen to the Art and Craft of Meditation session four recording, ‘Calming the Body Formations’ led by Paul Wielgus at Jamyang Bath, 27 March 2019

Basic Mindfulness for a Simple Life & Effective Relationships

Paul is leading a one day retreat at the Earth Science Centre, Stoke St Michael on Saturday 30 March 2019, designed to deepen your mindfulness practice.

The day will pay particular attention to feelings, offering positive methods to identify and transform your reactive behaviour patterns.

For further information, please click here to download the leaflet.

To book a place please get in touch with Paul.

Mindfulness and Wisdom

The new Back to the Roots Autumn / Winter programme 2017 starts on Thursday 2nd November. During this six week programme we will pay particular attention to The Fourth Foundation: Mindfulness of Dharmas. Each session will include opportunities for discussion as well as practice.

We will have a very special guest for session 2 (9th November) – Dhivan, an order member from the Triratna Buddhist Order, whose accessible and engaging style will ensure we enjoy a simple and entertaining engagement with these immensely profound and practical teachings, originally given 2,600 years ago by Buddha.

For further information and dates, please click here to download the leaflet.

Peace to you all, Paul

Here is the audio clip and some photos from our special session, Mindfulness of Dharmas, hosted by Dhivan.

Harnessing the Quiet Power of the Peaceful Mind

New Back to The Roots course starts on 2nd February with a focus on the Mind. During the course we will be introducing some simple, powerful techniques to enhance our focus and inner peace.

The first session will return to practicing the foundational building blocks of paying attention to the Body and the Breath, and two Mindfulness of Breathing practices are provided below to help you do this (a 10 min and a 30 min version.) We will of course never be far away from the roots of these practices and Joseph Goldstein’s wonderful Mindfulness book will be close at hand to keep us on track.

Peace to you all, Paul

“Given the great flowering of mindfulness now taking place, it would be helpful to explore its roots. Where did this practice come from? What is the range and depth of its application? How can we understand its great transformative power to awaken us from the dreamlike patterns of our lives? Although this book is an in-depth guide to mindfulness practice and understanding, the range and depth of these teachings may open new possibilities and levels of subtlety for the application of mindfulness in our daily lives.” ― from “Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening” by Joseph Goldstein

Public Forum Evening

A real highlight to the start of 2016 has been the Back to The Roots program. Kicking of on January 14 with nearly 60 people turning up at the Assembly Rooms in Frome, to participate in discussion and practice, and explore.

The idea was to look at the current explosion of Mindfulness and how it has been adopted and adapted for a whole range of applications in the modern world, such as Health, Education, Criminal Justice and the work place (see also Mindful Nation UK).

The centre piece of the evening was a dialogue between ex-monk and psychotherapist, Bryn Jones and myself, where we tried to set the scene for the later discussions. This involved exploring the ‘tension’ between the original intensions of the Buddha, culminating in a ‘direct path to awakening’, and current applications of ‘Mainstream’ Mindfulness, where much emphasis is put on stress reduction and well being.

There was also specific focus on Mindfulness in the business world, where additional attention is given to focus and organisational effectiveness in the business world on focus and effectiveness.

One key outcome for the discussions on the evening revolved around the fundamental question “does it alleviate suffering’?

back to the roots public forum evening in frome

Here is an audio clip of my discussion with Bryn.

Back to the Roots 6-Week Course

Following on from the very successful public forum evening I continued my ‘Back to the Roots’ teachings with a 6-week course at the Black Swan Arts Centre, Frome.

We are already well into the course which is going splendidly in the marvelous environment of The Round Tower. The course has included meditation practice, discussion and inquiry and includes an accompanying study book The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh.

Click the audio link below to listen to a sample from session 4.

Here’s a picture of the current group after the grueling night with the Satipatthana Suta (only joking!)

I am already thinking about doing a second course between 22nd September and 27th October 2016, so if you wish to pre-register (we were over booked for the current course), please email me.