Hello and welcome to Mindspace. A little bit of background and a few photos! In September 1994, after completing my A-Levels I spent six months teaching English in a remote village in the South-East Terai region of Nepal. During the time in the village I started learning about Meditation, spending many evenings with the local village Sadhu priest. When traveling during term holiday I visited and studied at a Meditation retreat in the Himalayas inside a Buddhist monastery from the tradition of Je Tsongkhapa. During this time I was fortunate enough to be introduced to the Lamrim (Stage of the Path to Enlightenment) and Lojong (Training the Mind) teachings.
Studying Je Tsongkhapa’s Lamrim on the roof of a monastary in Nepal – 1994 –
This period was a great introduction to the power of Meditation. I remember practising breathing Meditation for the first time and thinking: ‘Why was I not taught this at school!’ This thought was to be the seed for the Meditation in Schools Project. Even though I missed out at school learning Meditation, hopefully, many children in the future will have the opportunity.
Delivering a Meditation in Schools session in a school in Pushkar, India – 2012 –
Upon returning to England from my trip abroad, I was lucky enough to immediately come across a Buddhist Meditation Centre in Birmingham, UK, which followed the clear and unmistaken teachings of the great Tibetan Meditation Master Je Tsongkhapa (Losang Dragpa), which I’d started learning in Nepal. I was pleasantly surprised to discover these teachings were being presented in the West in a practical and compassionate way, suitable for people of the modern world. The first session that I went to was in the Custard Factory, Digbeth and was a group practice known as, Offering to the Spiritual Guide. I left that afternoon with a copy of the book, Joyful Path of Good Fortune. I began studying and practising and engaging in Meditation retreat. After six months, I decided to move to a quieter retreat location in the countryside where I joined a ten-year residential study program mainly in Derbyshire and the Lake District, with retreats to USA, Canada, Australia and Singapore. During these years I had the good fortune to receive teachings and empowerments and be guided through Meditations from some of the most experienced Meditators in the world. I trained in and taught, The Sacred Art of Enlightenment; how to draw the Buddha according to traditional lineages and how to prepare and paint statues which can provide a focal point for Meditative concentration.
Conclusion of a week long ‘Sacred Art of Enlightenment’ Summer Retreat – 2003 –
Living and practising as a Buddhist monk, I trained and studied Meditation, Mindfulness, Buddhist Philosophy and Psychology. This ten-year, full-time training included receiving teachings, giving teachings, Meditation retreat and extensive discussion and debate. During this time with the encouragement, advice, and positive energy of my kind teachers, I worked with the local community to raise money and build a Buddhist Meditation Community in the area where I was born in the West Midlands, known as ‘The Black Country’, to give something back to my community.
This project came to fruition in 2005, and we bought a building. I moved to the area and began teaching Meditation to the local community and travelling to surrounding cities, guiding week-long and month-long retreats in Italy, Spain and Derbyshire.
Teaching Je Tsongkhapas Dharma – 2005 –
Whilst working in the local community and speaking to people about Buddhism and Meditation, I saw the need for a vehicle to bring Meditation to new frontiers beyond the traditional settings of a Buddhist Centre. I wanted to share my experience with as many people as possible. Thus Mindspace was born in 2008.
The practices taught at Mindspace originate from the Buddhist tradition, which has a 2500 year history of tradition. However, they are accessible to everyone regardless of their view, as a method to increase wisdom, happiness, peace, focus, concentration and bliss.
Meditation Retreat in Solihull – 2019 –
The vehicle of Mindspace has enabled me broaden the reach of who can access the Meditations I’ve studied and learned; being able to share them both extensively online and to hospitals, businesses, schools, charities, prisons and government organisations throughout the UK, Europe, Asia & the USA.
Here are some of the organisations I’ve visited and am working with:
The Transfer, Springfield Project, Thornes Solicitors, Novo Nordisk, HMP Stafford, HMP Five Wells, The Spa – Koh Chang, Equator Design, IMI-PLC, Refugee and Migrant Centre, Siemens, Brinsford Prison and YOI, Glenthorne Retreat, Yuup, Amethyst Academy, Aldersely High School, Melanoma Focus, Books Line, Black Country Radio, Tanners Wood School, HMP, Oakwood, Brunel Pension Partnership, Teachwire, WM Employers, Pulse Magazine, British Dressage, Edgbaston Priory, Flourishing Student, Colmore Bid, Outserve, Salesforce, Amazon, Good Reads, BMAG, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, Nexus Fostering, Let us Play, Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Birmingham Law Society, Croud Digital, La Chiaro De Prumiano (Tuscany), Ofqual, The Professional Cricketers Association (Warwickshire & England Team Players), Wolverhamton Literary Festival, Rosary School, Gymbox, Shirley Circle, Family Services Australia, Royal College of Nursing, T J International, World of Learning, Freeways, Headstart, Jaguar Land Rover, Divine Chocolate (UK), Leaping Hare Press, Quarto Publishing, Innovation First, Aston University, Fordbridge Child Care Plus, Bolton School, St John College, Clifton Primary School, Barr Beacon School, Xoserve, Elmhurst Ballet School, Wolverhampton Council (Mental Health), Park Hill Primary School, Holly Mount School (Wimbledon), Solihull and North Warwickshire Business, PPMTA Ireland, Mental Health in Schools, Forum Business, Hollyoak School (London), Roundhay School (Leeds), Ministry of Justice, Coventry University, AP Academies, AP Free Schools, Pupil Referral Units (UK), Invest NI, Optima, Reading Blue Coat School, Colombia University (NYC), GE Electric, Legal Ombudsman, Refugee Action, Birmingham VSC, Manchester Grammar School, International Currency Exchange (London), Solihull School, Bedford School, Queen Mary’s School (Walsall), Warwick University, Keele University, University of Wolverhampton, CIPD Birmingham, NHS Trust, Moat Farm School, Broadoak College (Weston-Super-Mere) , Gordano School (Portishead), The Guardian (Newspaper), Times Ed (Newspaper) University of Alicante, University of Prague, Bantock House (Wolverhampton), Walsall Council, DC Leisure, Our Lady of the Wayside Primary School (Solihull), Dixons Academy (Bradford), Stroud High School, Bow School (Tower Hamlets), Bodhgaya Primary School (India), Pushkar Boarding School (India), Institute of Education, Divine Chocolate (USA), Elephant Journal, LifeHack, Bournville College, Coventry University, YouTube Partner.
Tuscany Meditation Retreat – 2022 –
I invite you and your organisation to enjoy and benefit from the training.
Access an extensive online resources for teachers who want to integrate Meditation into their classroom.
These teachings are gradually being written down into a series of books.
In the early Winter of 2021, Mindspace in Prisons was set up to bring Mindful Meditation to those within the prison service.
In the late Spring of 2022, the Forest Hut was launched, a quiet place for daily reflectio.
The Forest Hut is a gift to you each day from my heart, so you can enjoy Wisdom and Meditation from your phone, wherever you are; if you visit the website, you will see it has been carefully designed to help you listen and practice without distraction. There is no need to choose from an extensive array of practices, no mixing, sign-up, or subscription, just a daily recommended practice. Sometimes it’s quite brief, other days extensive, sometimes a guided Meditation, other days an extract from a teaching or audiobook. It updates daily at 6am GMT. Can you access previous days? No, they dissolve into emptiness, which is where they came from; that’s part of the fun of the Forest Hut, to learn to let go, finally we’ll have to let go of everything.
Leading the Malvern Silent Meditation Retreat – Feb. 2023 –
Kandy, Sri Lanka – 2021 –
Bangkok, Thailand – 2016 –
