L E T T E R – SERVICE Intention Setting For The Week Ahead April 21, 2019April 18, 2019 This week, we will place our awareness and our attention on Service. How do you define being of service?What tasks do you do to be of service?Do you contribute to charity?Do you make your time available to those in need?If this is something you are unfamiliar with, where could you start?If you are perhaps giving… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – Everything Changes April 18, 2019April 16, 2019 There is a story told about Suzuki Roshi, a great Buddhist teacher. “Suzuki Roshi, I’ve been listening to your lectures for years,” a student said during the question and answer time following a lecture, “but I just don’t understand. Could you just please put it in a nutshell? Can you reduce Buddhism to one phrase?“… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – Never Too Small April 17, 2019April 16, 2019 I have so many moments where I think in despair, I am just one person what can I do. And then I remember this quote. It inspires me to be persistent, as I have never, met anything more persistent than a mosquito. Think you can’t be heard? Just keep going. Eventually, you will be heard.Think… Read More +
L E T T E R – Tuesday Tips; Taking Time To Retreat April 16, 2019April 15, 2019 Easter is this weekend, and I’m personally taking time out to heal and nourish myself. My dear friend and fellow teacher Claire is kindly letting me stay at her place Thursday through Tuesday, and I am going to take time for an At Home Weekend Retreat, for deepening my meditation practice, spending lots of time in… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – Why You Don’t Master Meditation, You Master Life April 15, 2019April 13, 2019 After studying meditation in various lineages for a decade, something dawned on me. I was looking for this experience of utter bliss, where I would feel the best ever I could feel. And if the best I was to feel was sitting still with my eyes closed, perhaps I didn’t want that. Perhaps I actually… Read More +
L E T T E R – QUALITY Intention Setting For The Week Ahead April 14, 2019April 12, 2019 This week, we will place our awareness and our attention to Quality. The highest grade in every area. What will I invite in this week that is the highest quality?How can I raise the quality of my communications?How can I increase the quality of my relationships?How can I allow my creativity to create quality in… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – Running Them Storylines April 11, 2019April 10, 2019 The brain is a remarkable affirmation tool. Allow our minds to tell us something, believe it, and watch the brain prove it true. Storylines develop dramatically from here. Find a little fault in someone and watch the brain find ALL sorts of things to affirm negativity about them. Decide to go on a vacation somewhere,… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – Mastery Of Life April 10, 2019April 9, 2019 We can ask, how can I bring myself, to the fullest, to this moment? It will require presence. Fullness is expansive. We can ask, how can I apply my creativity to this situation? It will require lateral thinking, curiosity. Creativity is expansive. We can ask, how can I bring love to this moment? It will… Read More +
L E T T E R – Tuesday Tips; Let’s Dedicate 1% Of Our Day To Learning April 9, 2019April 9, 2019 Part of our Integrated Meditation program is encouraging 1% of the day dedicated to learning. It’s just 15 minutes. Reading something of a high grade, about creativity, consciousness and clarity creates inspiration, new ways of thinking and more importantly begins to pave new ways of being in the world. Knowledge is power. When the mind… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – Before The Drought April 8, 2019April 5, 2019 Isn’t this a brilliant sentence, ‘When the well is dry, we know the worth of water’?. I teach so many people meditation that says one of two things: 1. Why in earth’s name did I not do this earlier?2. I wish I wasn’t learning because of my diagnosis/grief/shock and had done this when I was… Read More +
L E T T E R – CREATOR Intention Setting For The Week Ahead April 7, 2019April 5, 2019 This week, lets set our acknowledging and exploring that we, solely, create our experience of the world. The world is an inside out phenomenon. Everything that we experience is through the lens of our consciousness. If we feel expanded, as does our world. If we feel contracted, as does our world. Consider how you are… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jo – You Love You April 5, 2019April 5, 2019 Imagine you are holding a container – it can be as big as you like, any shape you like and decorated just the way you like. Now, “fill it up” with all the love you have for yourself (positive thoughts, adoration, things you are good at). Observe how full your container gets … you can… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – Wanting Change April 4, 2019April 3, 2019 We all want change, every single person wants something different to what is actually happening. It might be little, it might be big. It might be, I wish I had ordered that dish instead of this. It might be, I wish I hadn’t married this person. It might be, I wish I had lived more… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – Daily Devotion April 3, 2019April 2, 2019 We are building on a theme here, which you might have picked up on because it’s my obsessive personality to get caught on ideas. I hope you do the same. The soaking in a concept until it’s a reality. Until you don’t think, you just feel. The theme I am working on constantly is daily devotion to the… Read More +
L E T T E R – Tuesday Tips; Something Sweet For The Afternoon April 2, 2019April 2, 2019 In Ayurveda, there are three dosha’s and the Vata dosha, when out of balance, can cause anxiety, sleeplessness and restlessness. Which is pretty much everyone in modern society, hehe. Balancing the Vat dosha involves many things, I’ve written a piece on it here. One of my favourite little Data balancing takeaways, my Ayurvedic doctors over the years… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – The Real You Is In There April 1, 2019March 30, 2019 In an age whereby ‘you can be anyone’, being just you, can seem boring and unappealing I have found. When I tell people that meditation makes you a deeper version of you, often people’s shoulders slump a little, and they say they were kinda hoping to become a ‘new them’. There is no such thing, if… Read More +
L E T T E R – CREATIVITY Intention Setting For The Week Ahead March 31, 2019March 30, 2019 This is a little something new I wanted to try with you, where we collectively set an intention and discovered what it means to us. Meditation is a path to self-discovery, and with Integrated Meditation, we aim to combine a daily meditation practice with education and inspiration to be our highest grade selves. I hope… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – Little Skylights March 28, 2019March 26, 2019 In our little cabin in Big Sur, the interior walls and ceilings are all lined with wood. Beams are made from trees still rough, and all the paneling is clad with sanded and stained timber. The river rages outside as it’s been raining on and off for days, and we tend to migrate our reading… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – More Than One Way To Toast March 27, 2019March 26, 2019 In our cabin in Big Sur, there was a fireplace, and no toaster, so we began to hack hunks of sourdough and toast them in the fireplace, to then lather hot with butter. Mine and Arran’s techniques I found hilarious, as they said so much about us as people. Arran would take a piece of… Read More +
L E T T E R – Tuesday Tips; Healing The Lymphatic System with Jeannie of Venustus March 26, 2019March 25, 2019 I’m going to start experimenting with Tuesday’s being dedicated to a particular study, involving physical health, or a recipe, or on energy etc with tips on how to work with this area/thing. Essentially, things I am studying, learning, experiencing that I want to share with you. This quote I love, because I hope we all… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – You Can Practice Integrated Meditation Anywhere March 25, 2019March 21, 2019 Not all meditation techniques are the same, so I want to preface this with saying if you practice a technique where you need absolute quiet, this is not for you! I put down the success of our daily mantra-based practice of Integrated Meditation with our students, to the fact that you can do it anywhere,… Read More +
L E T T E R – GRACE Intention Setting For The Week Ahead March 24, 2019April 11, 2019 This is a little something new I wanted to try with you, where we collectively set an intention and discovered what it means to us. Meditation is a path to self-discovery, and with Integrated Meditation, we aim to combine a daily meditation practice with education and inspiration to be our highest grade selves. I hope… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – Remember To Tell People You Love Them March 21, 2019March 20, 2019 I have gotten into the habit of sometimes inappropriately telling the people in my life I love them. I say it’s inappropriate only, because in a society of people whereby we seem to reserve I love you’s for the people only very intimate to us, and sometimes it’s received awkwardly. I think we should tell more people,… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – Everything Is The Path March 20, 2019March 19, 2019 There’s something very plain, very simple that I adore about Zen, being that nothing is special AND everything is special. That nothing in our lives should be deemed ‘spiritual’ when everything is. So it’s not just when we go to yoga, or church, or our temple. Or light our incense and read inspiring books. It’s… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – Life Is Speaking To Us, Are We Listening? March 19, 2019March 18, 2019 I wrote this whilst sitting in a tiny cabin, on a river in Big Sur California. There is no one here, we are alone, nestled under giant redwood trees. I woke early in the dark to make hot strong milky tea, light the fire and read while it rained loudly on the roof and Arran slept… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – The Fake News In Our Heads March 18, 2019March 17, 2019 Our beliefs define us. Like scratches and smudges on a pair of sunglasses that we have become so used to them, we don’t even see them. We don’t see they obstruct the truth of what’s before us. They colour our view of the world at all times. We don’t know to even wipe them clean… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – Bound by Threads March 14, 2019March 13, 2019 Every single moment that happens now, has with it an accumulation of past decisions. Thin gossamer threads that string through everything. Every wise decision has a fingerprint on now. Every dumb decision too. Everything is a choice. Destiny is a thing, but it is shaped by our decisions. Tiny teeny ones are the most important… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – Never Burn March 13, 2019March 13, 2019 In today’s society, which is riddled with muddled messaging, knowing how to hold oneself is becoming increasingly challenging. Sayings such as ‘tall poppy syndrome’ or ‘crabs in a bucket’ describe when others pull someone else down based on their success, our of fear, or jealousy, or feeling inadequate. It happens so often I feel we… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – Bringing A Little Love To It March 12, 2019March 11, 2019 An important question I ask myself when I am feeling very contracted is how can I bring more love to this. It might be that I am frustrated at the airport and a security person is going through my every single item and it’s taking a long time and I know I am going to miss… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – The Daily Grinding or Daily Grounding March 11, 2019March 10, 2019 I personally dislike the constant messaging in the self-development and entrepreneurial spaces of rise and grind. Of own the day. Of you can be anything. It’s too big. It doesn’t take into account the sequencing of every element of our lives that brought us to today. Or every little thing that occurred within and outside… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – The Other Side Of Fear March 7, 2019March 11, 2019 With our upcoming move to London, Arran and I have been working with a lot of fear. That’s the thing with fear that I’ve found, the more heightened your experience, the more you experience ALL your emotions. So joy, excitement, and positive anticipation will also attract fears, nerves and worries. There’s no experience I’ve ever undertaken,… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – Loving The Thought Clouds March 6, 2019March 5, 2019 As a chronic over-thinker, the two most valuable way of addressing thoughts were by a Buddhist teacher a long time ago whose name I have forgotten, and whose words I have not… ‘View thoughts like clouds, fleeting, moving, changing shape, and never permanent‘. And from Ram Dass, when he explained to me, ‘Jacqui, love all… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – Support and Synchronicity March 5, 2019March 5, 2019 In life, there is sometimes universal support, and sometimes too many roadblocks. Discerning which is which simply takes years of attuning to. Our instinct and connection to the universe deepens immensely through Integrated/Vedic Meditation. It’s my absolute baseboard for living a high-grade life in collaboration with the universe. From this, it’s easier to discern what… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – Not Of This Earth March 4, 2019March 1, 2019 There are over 100 billion stars and there are more stars in the universe than grains of sand on all the beaches on earth. We have only discovered about 5% of the universe so far. The human brain has 86 billion to 100 billion neurons, the number of which aligns to the stars. When we… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – The Universal Orchestra February 28, 2019February 27, 2019 We are in a constant collaboration with the universe. Are we holding up our end of the collab? Or are we sitting around and complaining that we do all the work? Perhaps we are being a little lazy and letting the universe do all the heavy lifting? If the universe is the conductor, how are… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – A Giant Update February 27, 2019February 26, 2019 Morning everyone! As a new chapter opens for The Broad Place I wanted to take the time to put the important things into one cohesive note for you! Our mission to provide education for people to enhance their lives and be aligned with their highest grade selves is becoming ever more solid. To live with… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – When Is The Right Moment? February 26, 2019February 25, 2019 The question I get asked from students often is ‘How will I know if it’s the right moment to do X?’. My answer is the same every time; you won’t. There is no ‘right time’ to do anything. The thing is NO ONE is going to be able to do this work for us. No… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – Evolution and Change February 25, 2019February 24, 2019 After yesterday’s ginormous Letter, we also have something to share with you! The Broad Place has been one huge adventure for us, initially an experiment that has become my entire life, and a lot of Arran’s, now with two incredible meditation teachers (Emily and Jo) teaching around Australia and New Zealand with us, and my… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – Redefining Success February 24, 2019February 22, 2019 I would like to spend some time this week (within the gift to me, that is these Letters, as I get to really nut out ideas), in clarifying and sharing what success can look like versus the realities. This is a conversation that is coming up a huge amount for me at the moment with… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – A Yes And A No February 21, 2019February 20, 2019 For every yes there simply has to be a no. Compromise means everyone gets half or less. If you’re a people pleaser, it can be super activating and triggering to say no. But saying yes can come at too big a price sometimes. It took me forever to learn that a lot of what I… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – Nature Is My Religion February 20, 2019February 19, 2019 I don’t have an official religion, but my temple is the ocean. My altars are the trees. Animals are my teachers. And the seasons have taught me an immense amount. Aligning with nature’s ways has taught me that Spring is growth and the promise of what might be, a time to plant seeds and to… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – The Power of Intent February 19, 2019February 18, 2019 There is a system within the Vedic lineages called ‘tapasya’ which is essentially the renunciation of something we enjoy, in order to receive something of a higher order. It’s frequently misconstrued as austerity. We are actually quite used to giving up something in order to receive something else. We might wake early to meditate, forgoing… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – Anxiety Remedies February 18, 2019February 17, 2019 Ram Dass really brought home the message ‘Be Here Now’. In fact, it was the title of his pivotal book, of the same title, that has inspired decades of people to understand what it is to be in the present moment. When we experience anxiety, we get further and further from the present moment. I… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – Truly Transform 2019 February 15, 2019February 14, 2019 Life is this strange sequencing of events, isn’t it? And when we look at a year, it is like 12 slices of life. How are we going to prepare for them? What will they reap? Will it be a harvest year or will it be a flailing year? Who will we be? What will we do? How… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – Where Are We Blocking Compassion February 14, 2019February 20, 2019 I raised this in our Tea Ceremony and Meditation Gathering last Saturday because someone asked it of me awhile ago and it really stuck with me. “How many times have you walked past someone homeless and thought, damn I’ve got no coins and kept walking”?. For me, I always buy a meal when I see someone as I can… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – The No That Comes Before A Yes February 13, 2019February 20, 2019 I frequently do this, write a YES list. What do I want in my life. It’s a very full life, so there has to also be a NO list that goes with it. I want to write Daily Letters; yes. Rewatching the entire of Game Of Thrones before the next season comes out; a sad but realistic no. I want to go stand up paddle boarding; yes. I… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – Our Practices February 12, 2019February 20, 2019 Too often we think, myself included, ‘I don’t have time for this’, surrounding anything that is nourishing, rewarding, spiritual and allows us to be our higher grade selves. If you have had a deeply personal morning ritual, meditation practice, or anything that allows you to experience the day orientated from your soul, you will know the impact this… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – Everything Is The Path February 11, 2019February 14, 2019 Even the crap bits, shit bits all the bits in between. It’s funny how in hindsight we understand that everything is there as our oath to understanding ourselves, a curation for our own evolution. But in the thick of it, we forget, panic and meltdown. We have a lot on our plate at the moment,… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – Your Anchors February 9, 2019February 14, 2019 I know I bang on and on about Values, but I truly see them as anchors for our souls. When we are a little or a lot lost, we can come back to our Values and they will inform our decisions and what path we should be taking. I teach about Values and have some… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – You Determine The Course February 8, 2019February 14, 2019 Gah how I love this quote! I wanted to end the week with it. When we don’t know what our unique potential is, that’s okay, we’re not all morning knowing our purpose and why we are even here. We all dream of being able to say, ‘I was born to do this! This is THE… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – Accepting Everything February 7, 2019February 7, 2019 There is a Zen saying Susan Murphy taught me, which is no matter WHAT is happening, you send out into the Universe, ‘thank you very much I have no complaints whatsoever’. No resistance, no ‘this shouldn’t be like this’, and definitely no complaining. I love it as it reinforces for me this philosophy that I… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – Competing and Comparing February 6, 2019February 6, 2019 Due to our recent (Saturday) graduation of beautiful and integrity-filled Vedic Meditation teachers, I have been thinking a lot about what it means to teach authentically and what success might look like. Layer in some recent negative gossip that has been darkly crawling over to me about the way in which I personally teach meditation,… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – Working with Anxiety February 5, 2019February 4, 2019 I have an immense amount to speak to on this topic, but I thought I would start with sharing with you a Letter I wrote to a student of mine today, after a phone call about her anxiety. She’s in high school and under immense pressure, and this was exactly when my anxiety started surfacing… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – Alchemy February 4, 2019January 31, 2019 I am so grateful for my lowest of lows. They formed and shaped me in ways I couldn’t ever possibly have recognised in the darkness that they were at the time. I also love people who have been through some darkness and waded out of it too. There’s something deeper about them you can feel.… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – How Much Life Is This Worth February 1, 2019January 31, 2019 It’s a worthwhile question, isn’t it? Sometimes, it’s lots of life. I love material things and I get great joy from them. But how much life are they worth swapping for? How much earning? Do we own our things or do they own us was a huge question that hung with Arran and I for years. We… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – Little Buddha’s January 31, 2019January 31, 2019 The Buddha spoke that every being has the capacity for enlightenment and as everything is connected, every single being has the connection to Buddha nature. Buddha nature I view as the most connected, universal nature, of compassion and love and kindness. I have read lots of iterations of this quote and each time I am… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – Deep Gratitude January 30, 2019January 29, 2019 Today is Letter 300. There are so many Letters behind these when I wasn’t tallying them up. But 300 feels like something special. So I wanted to take the opportunity to thank you for reading all of these Letters. For all your beautiful responses and shared experiences. There are over 37,000 of you reading them,… Read More +
L E T T E R from Jac – Heavy and Light January 29, 2019January 28, 2019 This reminds me of something my friend Sam from Cloud Hidden Tea told me about tea ceremonies; work with the heavy things as light, and the lightest things as if they were heavy. It shifted everything for me. And I have begun weaving this philosophy into everything I do. Where can the ‘heavy things’ in… Read More +
L E T T E R – Gratitude For The Little Things January 28, 2019January 27, 2019 The other day in London, we discovered a street cart outside a mosque, where Kaz the owner makes some of the most delicious soups and baguettes stuffed with delicacies. He makes a fantastic green chilli sauce that sits on the counter with powdered cumin in a shaker, with a huge bottle of bright olive oil.… Read More +
L E T T E R – Navigating Our Own Path January 25, 2019January 23, 2019 Okay ‘huge news’, we have moved our quotes to a neutral colour palette. I share this not because it’s going to change anyone’s days let alone lives, but it really brought to my attention how silly it is that I clung onto something so small that created so much agony for me. I cannot express… Read More +
L E T T E R – You Do You Baby January 24, 2019January 22, 2019 What if taught all our kids that normal was beige, nothing to aspire to, and to totally and utterly embrace their inner weird? What if as adults we started to be the living example of this? There’s a line we repeat constantly in our house, from Netflix series Big Mouth, which is ‘you do you baby’.… Read More +
L E T T E R – The Critics, The Haters and the Naysayers January 23, 2019January 22, 2019 The brighter you shine the more blinding it will become for those not attuned to it. I was recently chatting to a dear friend who has moved to NYC, landing an amazing position in finance (she’s was a laywer). She’s the most wonderful and inspiring person, utterly talented and intelligent, hilarious, and physically gorgeous to… Read More +
L E T T E R – What’s Really Stopping Us January 22, 2019January 21, 2019 I get this kind of question/pondering all the time, along the lines of…‘So I really really feel that meditation would be great for me, but I also have this nagging voice that says, you won’t end up doing it/it’s so expensive/what if you’re the one person Integrated Meditation doesn’t work for/what if it’s a waste… Read More +
L E T T E R – A Commitment To Change January 21, 2019January 18, 2019 Our brains wire in ways of doing things for efficiencies sake. It’s to make the whole system flow more, things like texting, driving, chopping, showering, we barely even think about, the brain has this stuff down pat. Within this system though we are wiring in everything. Most of the time we are running off super… Read More +
L E T T E R – A Time For Everything January 19, 2019January 15, 2019 As we round out January, there comes a sense of the year looming ahead. Will it be everything we want it to be? Will we be challenged, rewarded, chastised, loved, loving? Some of my wise teachers would say ‘none of it matters’, but for me, at times, it matters deeply. As we putter our way… Read More +
L E T T E R – Our Repeated Actions January 18, 2019January 13, 2019 In Zen, the tensho is the monastery cook. Every moment, every meal is seen as an opportunity to experience truth, to experience satori (enlightenment). It sounds kind of dramatic, but in truth, it is love and reverence for every grain of rice, for the lighting of the stove, the growing and chopping of vegetables. For… Read More +
L E T T E R – No Former Just Present January 17, 2019January 13, 2019 I love this quote by Condoleeza, for its many layers. What if we let go of former everything. Former anxiety.Former stress.Former hang-ups.Former obsessions that didn’t serve us.Former mindsetsFormer titles.Former beliefs.Former worries.All the former bullshit. What if we spent no time in the past at all, and simply created space for just now. Sent with love,… Read More +
L E T T E R – Treading Our Path Without Distraction January 16, 2019January 13, 2019 I think writing yesterday’s Letter stirred up a lot for me. I pondered about all the (necessary) distractions I experienced when I lost my way. I was haunted by the ego and how it can take its grip and lead us so far from our heart. Like a relentless feral dog yanking on a leash,… Read More +
L E T T E R – The Courage We Once Had January 15, 2019January 13, 2019 When I was young, I was a strange little kid. I didn’t fit in at all. Eccentric, hyperactive, skinny and ultra curious, I was into lots of things other kids weren’t. I loved pottery, but it wasn’t cool back then like now, it was quite weird and a lady with a thick braid and hessian… Read More +
L E T T E R – Creativity Is The Only Thing That Matters January 14, 2019January 13, 2019 What if instead of considering creativity just as artistic ways of going about things, we widened the scope to include: the way in which we think about problems, what would a lateral approach look like the way in which we communicate, could creativity play a part in our language, could we get off technology how… Read More +
L E T T E R – The Thin Thread Between This Life and The Next January 12, 2019January 10, 2019 David Whyte said,’ How easily the thread is broken between this life and the next’. It’s a beautiful line, isn’t it? For we really have no idea when it will all end. These fragile little bodies, whereby one hit to the incorrect part of us, ends it all. Perhaps it will be a series of… Read More +
L E T T E R – Purpose January 11, 2019January 10, 2019 Why is our personal purpose so hard to define for most of us? It took me decades to figure it out and in truth sometimes I am still grey about it. I sit between lines that felt like I drew them hard in sand and then brush strokes have blurred them. Given we are the… Read More +
L E T T E R – Creating Space And Pause Before Action January 10, 2019January 10, 2019 I had a conversation with a dear friend and meditation student on the weekend about the never-ending list of ‘All The Things’ which need doing. And when thinking about the list, the overwhelm was so great that they didn’t enjoy simple pleasures anymore. They, in fact, seemed frivolous. And there was a great sadness in… Read More +
L E T T E R – The Most Expensive Price Tag In The World January 9, 2019January 9, 2019 I had soooo many people respond to the letter (What Would You Create) about what would you do if you couldn’t fail, if success was guaranteed. What would you do? It’s such a huge question, it can almost be paralyzing. The key thing it seemed to bring up for readers was, ‘why am I keeping myself… Read More +
L E T T E R – A Series Of Little Choices January 8, 2019January 5, 2019 Brene always delivers the pithy statements, doesn’t she? I love thinking about authenticity this way, a series of tiny commitments. Every moment there is a decision being made. Literally all the time, we are making choices that might feel innocuous and small, but pack a punch over time. I love placing my awareness as many… Read More +
L E T T E R – Dark Nights Of The Soul January 7, 2019January 4, 2019 This is that tricky time of year I find when we bound in with full enthusiasm, transformed by new possibility and then sometimes fall in a heap of despair. I have had lots of students reaching out with quandaries, doubts and troubled minds and expectations that this doubt or sadness or fear shouldn’t be happening.… Read More +
L E T T E R – Let’s Not Be Lunatics January 5, 2019January 3, 2019 I’ve never met anyone like Arran, he literally doesn’t ever consider what anyone thinks of him. He’s incredibly neat and stylish and takes great care of himself, and on occasion slightly vain, but worrying about what others think of him, means nothing, it doesn’t enter his awareness. I think I might have literally exited the… Read More +
L E T T E R – What Would You Create January 4, 2019January 3, 2019 One of my favourite questions as part of long-term workshops that I host, is ‘if you knew you couldn’t fail, at all, what would you do?’. It’s a DOOZY of a question and takes everyone some time to open up to. You need to let go of the adrenalin, the panic, the doubts. To push… Read More +
L E T T E R – Being A Creativity Conduit January 3, 2019January 2, 2019 I like to think of our bodies as little tuning forks for the universe’s energy. The system through which creativity flows. Creativity isn’t ours, it doesn’t belong to us, it’s of the universe. We channel it. It flows through us and from us, but is not ours to own. The process of creativity is such… Read More +
L E T T E R – Wise Choices January 2, 2019January 2, 2019 A little list of things I would recommend if you’re stuck making choices at the moment. It’s a big time of year for choices, and they should be bold ones. 1. Commit to a meditation practice. It doesn’t have to be the ones we teach although I personally teach them as after 20 years meditating… Read More +
L E T T E R – The First Day Of 2019 January 2, 2019December 28, 2018 It’s the first day of 2019. If you woke today bright and alive, brilliant. If you woke hungover as hell and in shame spiral, or perhaps like I used to like to see in the New Year a long time ago, without having slept at all and on a dance floor, that’s okay too. Maybe… Read More +
L E T T E R – Happy New Year!!! January 1, 2019December 28, 2018 My absolute goodness what a year. For Arran and I, it was beyond what we imagined. I travelled to London, Los Angeles, New York, India, Melbourne and Byron Bay to teach and host Retreats. We redesigned all our branding and rebuilt our website and upgraded all our existing programs. We launched The Classroom, our online… Read More +
L E T T E R – Humility and Service December 31, 2018December 28, 2018 I spent most of Friday emailing back students who had applied for the scholarship of Be Your Best Self. We committed to giving away ten of this program to students and readers that emailed us with what they feel held them back from being their best self this past year and their commitment in 2019.… Read More +
L E T T E R – The Difference Between Planning And Surrender December 28, 2018December 28, 2018 The Letter I wrote the other day about the need for planning and our common misunderstanding that planning depletes our being in the present moment got a tonne of responses from you guys, with lots of questions. Perhaps it’s a very big time of year for planning and everyone is open to shifting their mindsets?… Read More +
L E T T E R – Being What’s Right Over Concerned With Who Is Right December 28, 2018December 28, 2018 I had a really interesting conversation the other day with a long term meditator who had become disillusioned with spirituality, meditation and the various lineages and traditions (especially the patriarchal ones). I was saddened and also filled with strength, as I have been in a place very similar to them, and not so long ago.… Read More +
L E T T E R – The Balance Between Desire and Satisfaction December 28, 2018December 28, 2018 I find this one of the most challenging of all the opposites we experience, the balance between simplicity and happiness with what we have, and the pursuing of what we want. Both can become out of balance rapidly, and it’s really a slippery slope, the pursuing of desires. However so are excuses and settling for.… Read More +
L E T T E R – Conditions on Behaviours December 21, 2018December 17, 2018 Being only a few short days to Christmas, I thought this quote was utterly perfect, as soon most of us will be on a holiday of some sort, that usually involves family or friends that surprise, surprise, we can’t control. We’ve all been there, the Big Promises… “I vow to be patient and not let… Read More +
L E T T E R – Pouring Out Patience December 20, 2018December 18, 2018 Conscious and Patient are not two words I have always been excellent at embodying in my life. I have been known to throw little tantrums, huff, swear, sigh, roll my eyes, and Arran’s least favourite, stomp my foot in a rage. Yep, stomping my foot like a little child, except with all the humiliation I… Read More +
L E T T E R – Which Would You Choose December 19, 2018December 19, 2018 This quote has been playing around in my mind like a Zen koan for some time. It can be viewed so many ways. Is it true? Is it not? I have been questioning though more deeply if I had to choose one, which would it be? How are they defined? How are they experienced? How… Read More +
L E T T E R – The Privilege Of A Life December 18, 2018December 17, 2018 I was standing on the shore of the beach the other day chatting to Gabriel. Gabriel is Argentinean and I am unsure of his age, perhaps 50? He’s fit, ridiculously tanned and incredibly friendly and happy. He knows everyone in Palm Beach, literally. And everyone knows him. He lives in a cottage at the back… Read More +
L E T T E R – Pioneering Your Future December 17, 2018December 17, 2018 I absolutely adore this quote and have had it pinned above my desk for years. When I am stuck, feeling brittle and frustrated with trying something new that is in a moment not working, I turn to it. Just because it’s easier to continue old patterns and behaviours doesn’t mean it’s the best thing to… Read More +
L E T T E R – The Chasing of Perfection December 14, 2018December 11, 2018 When Emily or I teach Integrated Meditation, we both drill into our students to not chase perfection. You will never have a perfect meditation practice. Nor will you be a perfect human being. We practice Integrated Meditation as it aligns us more with nature, and our most natural selves. This is why students love it… Read More +
L E T T E R – Planning Means Presence December 13, 2018December 11, 2018 This is the time of year we all sit back and start to either feel incredible gratitude for the year that has been. Or are exhausted and anxious about the year that was problem riddled. Or perhaps it’s a combination of both for you? Would you say you had a well-executed plan, that was conscious… Read More +
L E T T E R – The Monk and The Boat December 12, 2018December 11, 2018 My wonderful friend Jeff Kober included this in his daily newsletter last week and I loved it so much I wanted to share it. “A monk decides to meditate alone, away from his monastery. He takes his boat out to the middle of the lake, moors it there, closes his eyes and begins his meditation. … Read More +
The Broad Place Christmas Gift Guide December 7, 2018December 28, 2018 We have created our ultimate The Broad Place Christmas Gift Guide to help you celebrate the people you love this festive season. This is a guide of things close to our heart, mostly supporting our wonderful friends who create with such integrity and creativity that we love dearly. The Food Lover Our friend Erin who… Read More +
L E T T E R – Inwards Honesty First December 7, 2018December 6, 2018 It’s so much easier to look at someone close to us and see their flaws. Their unrealistic nature in certain areas of their life. Their blind spots, their lack of honesty about who they are. So we have this gift of clarity because we can see it outside of ourselves. Why then is it so… Read More +
L E T T E R – Say No, Immediately December 6, 2018December 4, 2018 There is a downside to living a full and abundant life. I mean at first you’re like, seriously, could there be one? Well there is, and it’s that too much can come your way. Being an enthusiast and an overexcited person in general saying no was never my strength. Add in being a people pleaser and… Read More +
L E T T E R – The Unending Creative Process December 4, 2018December 3, 2018 Last weekend, I hosted with my insanely talented friend Kim Amos a Creativity and Consciousness Workshop at her property, River Hawk Ranch, as part of The Broad Place Byron Bay Retreat. Most of the students entered the workshop a bit suspicious and bewildered claiming, ‘yeah but I am not creative’. Which I hear ALL the… Read More +
L E T T E R – Your Choosing December 3, 2018December 1, 2018 I am trying hard to help my daughter be empowered to make the choices that are right by her. To check in and ask, when I am with this person, how do I feel? How do I act? How do I feel after they have left? If the answer is confident, inspired, accepted, authentic or… Read More +
