MIND CALM PREFACE | Chaos Before the Calm
Turning points often come when you least expect them. Mine certainly did. Everything was going great. Business was booming. I was on television in 30 countries around the world. My courses and clinics were full. I was running residential retreats at stunning resorts. I had books out with mainstream publishers, was appearing in newspapers, magazines and on radio too. I had a great girlfriend, we were living in an upmarket part of Edinburgh, driving fancy cars and had more money than I thought possible. On paper, I was living what many would deem a successful life. Then one day I woke up to a really scary realization: despite everything going so well, on the inside it was a very different story.
Stressed to the hilt, I wasn’t experiencing an iota of peace. I spent most of my days swinging between feelings of frustration and fear. Frustrated because I wasn’t quite ‘there’ yet and when I did eventually get what I thought I wanted, I quickly moved into a state of fear about losing what I’d worked so hard to achieve. I could feel lonely in a room full of people, and nothing relieved the enduring itch that ‘there must be more to life than this’. Physically, I found it hard to sleep with the mayhem going on in my mind. I struggled against persistent tiredness and was getting ill more often than I would care to admit, especially as I was working in the field of ‘health detox’ at the time. In a nutshell, I felt like a failure and fraud and a million miles from the peaceful happy self that I so yearned to be.
CONFUSED YET CURIOUS
It was around that time that a friend recommended I try meditation. I remember politely declining, saying that I couldn’t meditate. To which they enquired, ‘How do you know you can’t meditate?’ I was perplexed at first as to how to answer because, prior to my friend’s enquiry, everyone else had always agreed with me that meditation was difficult. That day, after thinking about it for a few moments, I gave my main reason for why I couldn’t meditate: ‘I cannot stop my mind.’
Temporarily happy with my answer, I was immediately thrown back into confusion when my friend joyfully declared, ‘Ah, well you don’t have to stop your mind in order to enjoy peace when meditating.’ To be honest, her response sounded ridiculous. Everything I’d read and heard about meditation up until then had all pointed to a ‘still mind’ being the main prerequisite to peace. However, she was suggesting the opposite. Could it be possible that I could have a busy mind and still be peaceful? Confused yet curious, I knew that all my attempts to stop my mind hadn’t worked, so I agreed to learn to meditate.
MEDITATING FOR MONTHS WITH MONKS
Soon after learning to meditate, I began to notice that I was experiencing a surprising amount of serenity. So much so, I went on a 10-week meditation retreat to the Greek island of Patmos with the monks who taught me, and then spent a further 14 weeks in the mountains of Mexico, with month-long retreats since. During these times I had the opportunity to meditate all day and night, occasionally up to 18 hours a day, and received great guidance along the way. As you can imagine, diving into such intensive periods of meditation is transformational, bringing with it inner and outer changes both positive and profound.
After graduating as a meditation teacher, I immediately started sharing it with everyone who showed an interest. Having discovered that enjoying inner peace was easier than I thought, it became clear to me that I wanted everyone to experience the calm and contentment that meditation can bring.
WHATEVER WORKS FOR YOU
Even though meditation is certainly not religious, many of the techniques taught are ancient in origin, and so some of the recommendations and rituals might be perceived from the outside as being religious. Consequently, those disinterested in such offerings can find ‘meditation’ in general unappealing.
I’m a firm believer in ‘different strokes for different folks’
I’m not here to judge or tell you what you should believe or which spiritual path you should take – or if you should walk any spiritual path at all. The most important thing to me is that you don’t miss out on the boundless benefits possible from meditation. I want you to experience the calm and clarity, connection and liberation that are everyone’s birthright – when given the guidance and techniques that are right for them.
In my desire to share the benefits of meditation with as many people as possible, I became inspired to offer a form of meditation that anyone can use. With Mind Calm, I’m sharing an accessible way of meditating that draws on what I’ve learned from thousands of hours of meditation, which anyone can use to make the move from mental chaos to mind calm.
Having found calm and contentment in my life, I know that if it is possible for me then it can be for you, too. Mind Calm is a modern-day meditation technique that can help you to still your mind at will and be at peace with the mind you’ve got. You will discover that peace with mind equals peace with life – which is not only a very delightful way to be but also the secret to a truly successful life.