It is extremely useful to be able to direct your attention to whatever you want. It is also extremely useful to be able to control your state of mind.
There is an awful lot of unnecessary bullshit around meditation. You can use bells and whistles, if you want. You can build yourself a special meditation chamber on a remote hillside, if you’ve got the cash and the time. But to be really useful, you need to be able to meditate without special equipment, and without a calm space around you. With the right training, you can be the calm space.
There is nothing mystical or magical about this (though I am partial to a bit of magical mystery myself). Meditation, as I do it, is simply practising to direct your attention, and using that skill to create a state of mind, a particular pattern of brain activity, which has (I believe, and as is quite well documented) benefits that persist after the practice is over. It’s a bit like sleep: sleep is a very active brain state, but differently active to being awake. Good sleep massively improves your awake time. Good meditation can too.
One of the students on the Solo Course contacted me about how to train after an injury which has him not allowed to move much for the next six weeks. Meditation is an obvious thing to practice in that condition- but for some reason I haven’t created a meditation course, though I’ve been teaching it for twenty years. I don’t know why I hadn’t gotten around to it yet, but it’s time I did.
I thought I’d do something a bit different this time though. Rather than just video myself teaching the course, I’m going to run a live six-week online class, record those sessions, and use them as the basis for the online course. The classes will be on Tuesdays at 4pm UK time, starting next week (June 2nd). I’m charging £55 for the six classes. All students will get access to the recordings as soon as technology allows, and as and when I get the online course ready, they will get free access to that too.
Each class will begin with a gentle physical warm-up, to get your bones comfortable, then we will do one or two kinds of meditation, and finish with a gentle ‘return to normal headspace’ practice.
Over the six 45 minute classes we will cover:

• The theory of meditation
• Ways of sitting and lying down for meditation
• Creating a regular practice
• ‘Awareness of Breathing’ meditation
• ‘Body Scan’ meditation
• Using mantras
• Moving meditation

There should be some time for questions and class discussion before and after each session, so allow a full hour for each class. By the end of the course you should be able to meditate without help, and be feeling the benefits of the practice. I can’t promise that you’ll be able to levitate, move things with your mind, or see the future though.
You can find the course sign-up page here.
While I was researching how to set up this event, I figured I might as well use the same platform for my consultancy times. So if you need help, coaching, or advice and want to book a 30 minute consultation with me (or even a private meditation class), you can do so here.
I look forward to seeing you in class!