The Simple Easy, Every Day Meditation Method (SEED MEDITATION® Method - is a collection of powerful and time-tested meditation practices that can reduce your stress and enhance your life.

The SEED Meditation method is learnt in a three hour (half day) workshop that will provide direction and insight into becoming intimate with the way your mind works, the benefits of meditation, learning the 5 Essentials for a successful meditation, and experience a range of practices that you can use anytime to find peace.

The program includes:

Silent Mantra Meditation
Mindfulness
BOdy Awareness Pracice
Breath Awareness Practice
Heart-Centered Breath
Self-Inquiry
Long, Slow, Deep Breahthing 
Peacefinder Practices.

You don't have to sit cross-legged onthe floor or alter your beliefs.  Where you are a beginning meditator or want to get back on track with meditation, come join our Simple, Ease, Every Day Meditation Method.

To register xxx

course is a three hour

Start Here .. Meditation 101

By thesuccess

Sunday mornings.  Yum.

Waking to a blue sky. Perfect.

Meditating in the natural stillness of a house asleep.  Ideal.

Followed up with some time in my favourite chair by the window, soaking up the sunshine, a perfect latte in hand, the weekend magazine in my lap. Ready for a day of leisure.

And the first two pieces of writing that I read - are about meditation!

Yes - meditation is highly valuable for our health with loads of known benefits

Yes - meditation is 'trending' with articles now appearing in popular media with our Sunday coffee

Yes - meditation is being taken up with gusto by celebrity types, everyone appears to be 'doing it'

BUT .. most commonly I then read ... the big disclaimer .. 

As a meditation teacher, speaker and writer this ..

DRIVES ME BONKERS

If I had a free day spa voucher that had to be used tomorrow .. I know without a doubt most of you would MAKE TIME.

Following on from this .. I received an email last week from someone questioning how to find the time to meditate and where to start.  And this morning it occurred to me (light bulb moment) as I finished my coffee that for a beginner in this wide open land of meditation ..

Where does one start?

So I have promised myself that I am going to focus on this new task .. to make the journey a little easier .. a little simpler .. a little more fun!

First off .. I have renamed my previous '101' PAGE to - 'START HERE'.  And this week I shall be putting together a sequence of steps that will allow me to share your meditation journey.  I want to share with you a steady footpath of steps .. some tips and hints .. a little insight of the road ahead .. with loads and loads of resources.  So there will be ..

No excuse but to start

As I finished my Sunday reading, the final article include some inspiring words from Michelle Bridges, talking about incorporating exercise into daily life (but valid for any other plans we wish to implement for our health and well-being)..

"Like, for goodness sake: just get on with it.  Stop procrastinating, making excuses, bitching and whingeing.  Just. Freakin'. DO IT"

If you would like to learn how to meditate we have local classes (here) and an online E-Course (here)

New Website Home

I am super excited to share with you .. my new website!

It is finally here – www.quietmindmeditation.com.au

This has been a complete labour of love.  One that has consumed me and distracted me, nourished and confused me.

But it is here.  Not finished or highly polished as yet .. but a starting point.

I realised it was time to upgrade my website over a year ago. I needed more space and clarity and clean lines.  Like all the exciting projects and ideas that I come up with (often after meditation) there was, at first, a big rush of activity to get started, closely followed by a severe case of overwhelm at all the new technology, then family life and studies became my focus .. but after finishing the meditation retreat in Sedona in February; I came back to this project with renewed 2016 energy!

Huge thanks to my sister who managed all of the uncertainty, mind changes and techie stuff .. and my teen who gave me beautiful images and patience when trying to interpret my vision.

It is no surprise to those who know me, that I enjoy the conceptualising and the dreaming - even the last minute push to the finish line .. but I also need space to process and ponder, allowing time for the path to present itself.  I know to trust that it will.

I shall continue unpacking and moving things around in our new home. There are over 1000+ posts on this old site and it is going to take some time to review and shift good content to the new site.  So ..

Please come visit our new home. Bring a cup of tea. Stay awhile. Read. Pause. Meditate.

Bupa Blog Awards 2016

Super excited yesterday to hear that this blog had been nominated for in the 2016 Bupa Blog Awards.

I received a message letting me know that I was nominated for the awards that "recognise the increasing influence and growing professionalism of the Australian influencer community.  The awards aim to celebrate the outstanding work produced in the blogging community, and reward bloggers for their achievements in spreading positive health and wellbeing messages – a core part of Bupa’s philosophy".  

There are now over 1000+ posts on the Quiet Mind blog .. and I have to say it has been a labour of love from the very first entry on Saturday, 18 January 2008. 

There are now hundreds of posts on the practical aspects of meditation - the 'how' and the 'why' - along with personal insights on the journey, research and scientific articles, local and international programs and content, messages from friends and students. 

I am constantly inspired to share my passion for meditation .. and find new and unique ways to engage and support your meditation journey!

This year has been the busiest ever for Quiet Mind Meditation, and unfortunately that has taken me away from this blog space as I have been designing and content filling my totally new website and blog-home!  After diving into a year of new studies, and (yeah!) becoming a McLean Meditation Institute Certified Meditation & Mindfulness Teacher in January 2016 .. I felt we really needed a bright, fresh, sparkling new home.

So along with our new look Quiet Mind monthly newsletter and Monday Meditation Musing alert (SIGN UP HERE) .. our new look home is almost ready to be revealed.  

Stay tuned

Eternally grateful and doing a little happy dance right now!

You can find out more about the Bupa Blog Awards HERE 

Website, iMac, Classes & a RETREAT

Have you noticed? 

I have (sadly) been missing from this neighbourhood recently.  

Not because I wanted to be away.

But life has gotten seriously busy and topsy-turvy and full .. in a good and positive way, but nonetheless.

2016 took off from the gate at a gallop.  I feel like I haven't really stopped this year, and there have been so many juicy experiences, meetings, collaborations, challenges and 'moments'  .. and in recent weeks I have been focused on:

1. Finishing my new website.  This project has been way bigger and more consuming than I realised.  But I am getting there.  I hope to tell you all the secret new destination and all the new resources and tools .. soon, very soon .. let's agree this is probably going to happen by the end of this month (May)

2. I bought an iMac. Just this week after pondering and contemplating this huge world-order change for about a year.  I definitely had to put on my big-girl pants and take a leap of faith (albeit half pushed by my teen).  So all activities are taking just a little bit longer to complete.  But my brain and neural pathways are going to benefit!

3. Classes and online classes.  All my classes this year have been almost fully booked and the eCourse is currently running - with the next round starting on 1st June due to the waiting list.  Yes.  Happy dance.

4. I am running a retreat.  A long held dream is now live.  I have wanted to host a wellness/yoga-mediation/urban holistic retreat for years.  I have pictures on my vision board.  I was waiting .. for the right person to share this new adventure, and when she arrived .. I JUST KNEW IT WAS TIME!

I met Jennifer Elllinghaus at a business workshop last year.  We actually met at the coffee machine - such a Melbourne story.  I then interviewed Jenny about her yoga, her new book 'Yoga for Travellers' and her meditation practice HERE.

  So, we met up again, after I returned from my meditation intensive in January (about the retreat here) and it just unfolded in our conversation .. we both wanted to share our passion for yoga and meditation.  Jenny will be sharing her passion and extensive knowledge of yoga at the retreat .. I shall be guiding and steering the meditation.

And so, the Bliss Bomb Retreats was born.

If you are located in Melbourne (the retreat is being held in the very cool and very urban, Prahran) and would like a day of self-care .. of yoga, pranayama, mindfulness practices, meditation and yoga nidra .. think .. stretching, shifting inward, engaging, nourishing, rejuvenating, unfolding, laughing and resting.

This is going to be an amazing day: all about YOU!

We have an Early Bird Special available RIGHT NOW

So, please forgive my absence.  

I have so much content and resources to share in our new home online .. just a few more days now.

I am ever grateful that I have my meditation in times like this .. to ride the storm of ups and downs, balance the emotions and transcend the challenges.

Thank you for being part of this journey.

#LoveYouMum

Mum - we love you!

We know that you are unconditional with your love, your time and your attention .. and that you are juggling to provide for everyone often at the expense of finding time for yourself.  

Quiet Mind has put together a little #LoveYouMum bundle for those very special people in our lives .. and it might be your Mum, your Auntie, your Best Friend or yourself!

A gift filled with calmness and ease starting with our beautifully wood etched 'Meditating' door sign (to let those around you know that you are taking a short 'me' break) .. a guided meditation CD (to soothe and quiet the body and mind) .. and our Meditation Intention Bracelet (to visually remind you that we love you, and that you must honour time for self-care).

#loveYouMum meditation bundle is $55 (usually $70) and postage free (only available in Australia and until sold out) - CLICK IMAGE BELOW

You can also purchase a gift voucher for anyone of our products or classes, to any value and discuss your requirements with Sarah hello@quietmind.com.au

Thoughts In Meditation

Are you on our FREE Monday Meditation Musings email list? 

Our FREE weekly email designed to provide an inspirational and meditative kick-start to your week .. a little meditative nourishment! You can sign up for Monday Meditation Musings here.  

This is an excerpt from this weeks Musing is a deep bow to Sayadaw U Pandita the modern leader of Vipassana who passed away over the weekend.  A teacher that inspired and challenged so many meditators and meditation teachers.  The principles of Naming (or sometimes referred to as Labeling) have been a constant source of inspiration and guidance in my own practice and in the resources that I share with others.

Thoughts In Meditation

One analogy that I like to use, when talking about meditation and the way our mind continues to be entertained and distracted by thoughts .. is to picture the mind as a popcorn machine.  The type you find at the cinema.

Think .. bits of air-filled corn, flying around randomly, popping in all directions, a bit of this and a bit of that.  Distracting.  Attractive (smelling so good).  Something we know is not so good for us (or we would prefer not to engage with) but we find outselves making up all sorts of stories about why we should.

Popcorn = Thoughts in Meditation

Apparently we have an average of 67,000 thoughts a day, and most of these thoughts we have already entertained about a thousand times before.  Most of our thoughts are just constantly circulating fluff.  Again and again.  Nothing fresh. Nothing new.  Just dried up bits of old 'popcorn' .. and we have about 1.16 thoughts per second over a 16 hr working day, or 46.5 thoughts per minute over 24 hours.

As human beings we are designed to think!  

Even in meditation, even at our most quiet point, there will nearly always be a wafting of soft thoughts that we can observe in the background.  And unfortunately, one of the common misconceptions, or hurdles, for people wanting to learn meditation is the idea that they must stop all thinking.  

But, thoughts are an important part of life and meditation is not a practice or struggle against them.  Far better to become a friend to your thoughts, to listen and allow them to come and go as they wish, yet know that we do not need to drop everything (or drop our meditation practice) to become involved with them when the time is not right for us.

Thoughts that have an urgent need to be 'heard' can be treated like a needy child

We pause.  We smile and take a breath.  We take a moment to acknowledge the thought (as we would a child) and give them the space to be clearly heard.  

BUT we don't engage in dialogue with them during meditation.

Often this allowing and hearing is all that is needed for thoughts to relax their claim on our attention.  In meditation we don't suppress or repress .. as the saying goes what we resist persists, instead what we might do when a thought is particularly urgent or consistent, is notice that we have been caught up in a thought, and simply observe how that thought might be affecting our body, physically and energetically (such as tightness in the shoulders or tension in the head) AND try the technique known as 'naming' to return gently to your meditation.

NAMING MEDITATION
Naming can be a wonderful addition to almost any regular meditation practice. The idea is simply to notice and then name our thought (or distraction) as it appears in the moment.

So .. we may have a Mindfulness of Breath practice, where we gently focus our attention on the inhalation and exhalation of each breath, or a Mantra practice, with a sound or word that we repeat silently in the mind .. and when a loud and insistent thought comes along .. we give it a one-word name .. silently note that name three times .. and then kindly let it go and return to our practice.

We observe the distraction.  We name the distraction.  We return to our practice. And in doing so, we have an opportunity to truly deepen our understanding of our own mind.

* When you become distracted by a thought, take a moment to look at what it is that's drawn you away from your practice .. if you hear a sound make a mental note 'hearing .. hearing .. hearing' and then return to the breath.

* If you remember something, note 'remembering .. remembering .. remembering' or if it is something about work .. 'work .. work.. work' or 'hungry .. hungry .. hungry'.  Or it might be as simple as 'thinking .. thinking .. thinking'.

* Gently and kindly ... name the distraction three times and then redirect your attention back to the breath (or your foundation practice).

* At the end of your meditation, perhaps later in the day, you might reflect on what were the thoughts that were so urgent and so tantalising that they distracted you? What was taking up your mind-space?

Naming can also be an amazingly insightful tool outside of formal sitting practice .. something we can bring to our regular day by simply pausing in any moment (perhaps while waiting for the kettle to boil, or while travelling home on the train) and bringing awareness to where our mind is RIGHT NOW.  

What you are thinking in this present moment?

It can be enlightening to notice the constant stream of thoughts that move through us each day.  Mindfulness of mind (which is what Naming teaches us) allows us to truly 'hear' what we are saying to ourselves .. in that constant popcorn world of the mind.