For a period of a few years, I needed the insight and stability of a silent meditation retreat each year, while my daughter went away with her father on holiday. In those days I was consumed with grief after two great losses, and huge changes in my life too. I needed time for myself anyway, because we need to take care of ourselves when we are therapists, self-care is a pre-requisite. I craved and loved the level headedness, the peace and tranquillity, and most of all, silence that I found at Gaia House. It allowed me to come back to myself. While there, my nervous system calmed down, and my less helpful thoughts flew away onto the clouds while I watched. There, I could bring my body back into balance with my mind. There, with dozens of others, I could reach equilibrium.

The place, Gaia House, offers Insight meditation, or Vipassana, and mindfulness meditation courses, and some other forms of meditation and self reflection; Yoga and QiGong too. It is a beautiful old convent set in lovely green Devon grounds, with people living and moving in silence. The wild rabbits that live there too are so tame they bounce around on the lawn close to the silent meditators as if they weren’t even there. The silence was profoundly beautiful. Not cold or oppressive as you might imagine, at least I had imagined before I got there. Instead it was warm and holding, imbued with nurture and love for humanity. So much can be communicated with a nod, a smile, a warm gaze. When there, being me was just perfectly alright, just as I was.

Each day at Gaia House, everyone has to chip in with the work around the house or an hour. A few times I visited I opted to do the washing up. Pinned to the wall was this meditation from the late Thich Nhat Hanh’s beautiful book ‘The Miracle of Mindfulness’. If you would like to learn mindfulness meditation it is a wonderful starting point. What strikes me is the simplicity of this. That all moments can be mindful. That instead of trying to finish something and get it over and done with, we engage with it in the moment, and notice it and feel it. Our life is what we do each day. So we might as well engage with it. Little moments like this add punctuation to a day, grounding, and nurture in every day tasks. These mundane moments can be cherished as much as others, while we celebrate and appreciate the miracle of life that we so often overlook.

Washing up meditation - Gaia House — ***Mindfulness washing the dishes.***

Wash the dishes relaxingly as though each bowl is an object of contemplation. Consider each bowl as sacred. Follow your breath to prevent your mind from straying. Do not try to hurry to get the job over with. Consider washing the dishes the most important thing in life. Washing the dishes is meditation. If you cannot wash the dishes in mindfulness neither can you meditate while sitting in silence.

Part of the Therapy Toolbox Course gives you skills to gain presence and awareness and mindfulness for deeper insight. Find out more here.

Washing Up Meditation

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