L E T T E R from Jo – Shifting to an Internal Orientation
The lure of people pleasing is that it gives you a clear goal and a way forward. You literally do […]
The lure of people pleasing is that it gives you a clear goal and a way forward. You literally do […]
It’s a choice, to live as if each day is the miracle it is. The stress of moving across the […]
I have something I remind myself of constantly; there are no accidents and there are no coincidences. Everything is happening […]
I was chatting with a special friend of ours who is in his late teens, as he is trying to […]
A student went to his meditation teacher and said, “My meditation is horrible! I feel so distracted, or my legs […]
This week, let’s together place our awareness and our attention on Kindness. We can amplify kindness in the world if […]
I was listening to a podcast on my way to work the other day and it referenced that based on […]
When things are challenging, it can be troublesome to acknowledge the good in the situation. Sometimes, I work through this set […]
Maharishi used to teach that there were three very important things to living a high-grade life that I’ll abridge here: […]
Coming across a monk praying while circumambulating a holy building, Geshe Tenpa said, “How pleasant to walk around sacred places, […]
This week, we will place our awareness and our attention on Gratitude. Gratitude is frequently written off as too ‘woo-woo‘ […]
“Where is that place where all of our intuitive ideas bubble up from? What does it mean to have expanded consciousness?” […]
I love A-HA! moments – like that final piece of a giant puzzle clicking together and revealing all or a […]
There is an old story that goes like this… A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a […]
When it comes to spiritual growth, self-development and our active evolving, it can get tricky at times. Sometimes what we want […]
I have found personally, and for many of our students, that we are all too happy to let go of […]
We kind of feel like we have control of our life most of the time, like we are the ones […]
This week, we will place our awareness and our attention on Charm. Charm is the little things your heart sings […]
I was kindly asked the other day, are you committed to this or are you just involved? Yikes, I had […]
You may not be able today, to form wet clay as it dries between your hands. Or apply oily, lazy […]
I was recently reading Alan Watts stating how in times of overwhelm, he would find solace in the ocean and […]
A Morning Routine is a vital step in setting yourself up for success for the day. I have found it […]
This week, we will place our awareness and our attention on Service. How do you define being of service?What tasks […]
Today is Easter Saturday, this day will mean different things for all of us, some will be engaged in spiritual […]
I’ll be honest I have not leapt in to the Marie Kondo approach to tidying but I have observed from […]
There is a story told about Suzuki Roshi, a great Buddhist teacher. “Suzuki Roshi, I’ve been listening to your lectures […]
I have so many moments where I think in despair, I am just one person what can I do. And […]
Easter is this weekend, and I’m personally taking time out to heal and nourish myself. My dear friend and fellow […]
After studying meditation in various lineages for a decade, something dawned on me. I was looking for this experience of […]
This week, we will place our awareness and our attention to Quality. The highest grade in every area. What will […]
It’s easy to lose perspective of who we really are and what we’re really here to do or be. It’s […]
It’s no secret that I love coffee. A most honoured daily ritual of joy – a hot, fresh cup of […]
Part of our Integrated Meditation program is encouraging 1% of the day dedicated to learning. It’s just 15 minutes. Reading […]
Isn’t this a brilliant sentence, ‘When the well is dry, we know the worth of water’?. I teach so many […]
This week, lets set our acknowledging and exploring that we, solely, create our experience of the world. The world is […]
Imagine you are holding a container – it can be as big as you like, any shape you like and […]
We all want change, every single person wants something different to what is actually happening. It might be little, it […]
We are building on a theme here, which you might have picked up on because it’s my obsessive personality to […]
In Ayurveda, there are three dosha’s and the Vata dosha, when out of balance, can cause anxiety, sleeplessness and restlessness. Which is […]
This is a little something new I wanted to try with you, where we collectively set an intention and discovered […]
In our little cabin in Big Sur, the interior walls and ceilings are all lined with wood. Beams are made […]
In our cabin in Big Sur, there was a fireplace, and no toaster, so we began to hack hunks of […]
Not all meditation techniques are the same, so I want to preface this with saying if you practice a technique […]
This is a little something new I wanted to try with you, where we collectively set an intention and discovered […]
When you have a technique that allows the mind to gently settle and guide you to deep restful transcendence, your […]
How many times have I looked “over there” at the green grass wishing it was under my feet? Too many […]
I have gotten into the habit of sometimes inappropriately telling the people in my life I love them. I say […]
There’s something very plain, very simple that I adore about Zen, being that nothing is special AND everything is special. […]
I wrote this whilst sitting in a tiny cabin, on a river in Big Sur California. There is no one […]
Our beliefs define us. Like scratches and smudges on a pair of sunglasses that we have become so used to […]
I’m sure that every generation has seen themselves in a time of political turmoil in one way or another, I […]
I love the forward motion that focusing on who you want to become creates. It puts yesterday firmly in its […]
In today’s society, which is riddled with muddled messaging, knowing how to hold oneself is becoming increasingly challenging. Sayings such […]
An important question I ask myself when I am feeling very contracted is how can I bring more love to this. […]
I personally dislike the constant messaging in the self-development and entrepreneurial spaces of rise and grind. Of own the day. […]
We’ve all had the experience of treading water, just trying to keep our head above, and at times feeling more […]
When I first heard this it gripped my heart with a big fat YES! Tomorrow is too much day for […]
With our upcoming move to London, Arran and I have been working with a lot of fear. That’s the thing […]
In life, there is sometimes universal support, and sometimes too many roadblocks. Discerning which is which simply takes years of […]
There are over 100 billion stars and there are more stars in the universe than grains of sand on all […]
How many of us have tried to be shapeshifters, fitting some kind of mould to be more liked, loved, and […]
If you ever find yourself knee-deep in self-righteousness (Coo-ee!) or complaining/whining/elegantly demonstrating the shortcomings of others, situations or experiences (who […]
We are in a constant collaboration with the universe. Are we holding up our end of the collab? Or are […]
Morning everyone! As a new chapter opens for The Broad Place I wanted to take the time to put the […]
The question I get asked from students often is ‘How will I know if it’s the right moment to do […]
After yesterday’s ginormous Letter, we also have something to share with you! The Broad Place has been one huge adventure […]
I would like to spend some time this week (within the gift to me, that is these Letters, as I […]
“Death is not the biggest fear we have;our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive” – Don Miguel […]
Introducing Jo Simpson, The Broad Place’s new resident Integrated Meditation Teacher! Jo will be teaching in Sydney and in New […]
For every yes there simply has to be a no. Compromise means everyone gets half or less. If you’re a […]
I don’t have an official religion, but my temple is the ocean. My altars are the trees. Animals are my […]
There is a system within the Vedic lineages called ‘tapasya’ which is essentially the renunciation of something we enjoy, in […]
Life is this strange sequencing of events, isn’t it? And when we look at a year, it is like 12 […]
I raised this in our Tea Ceremony and Meditation Gathering last Saturday because someone asked it of me awhile ago and it really stuck […]
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 […]
Too often we think, myself included, ‘I don’t have time for this’, surrounding anything that is nourishing, rewarding, spiritual and […]
Even the crap bits, shit bits all the bits in between. It’s funny how in hindsight we understand that everything […]
Gah how I love this quote! I wanted to end the week with it. When we don’t know what our […]
There is a Zen saying Susan Murphy taught me, which is no matter WHAT is happening, you send out into […]
I have an immense amount to speak to on this topic, but I thought I would start with sharing with […]
I am so grateful for my lowest of lows. They formed and shaped me in ways I couldn’t ever possibly […]
“The oak sleeps in the acornThe giant sequoia tree sleeps in its tiny seedThe bird waits in the eggGod waits […]
It’s a worthwhile question, isn’t it? Sometimes, it’s lots of life. I love material things and I get great joy from […]
The Buddha spoke that every being has the capacity for enlightenment and as everything is connected, every single being has […]
Today is Letter 300. There are so many Letters behind these when I wasn’t tallying them up. But 300 feels […]
This reminds me of something my friend Sam from Cloud Hidden Tea told me about tea ceremonies; work with the […]
The other day in London, we discovered a street cart outside a mosque, where Kaz the owner makes some of […]
Okay ‘huge news’, we have moved our quotes to a neutral colour palette. I share this not because it’s going […]
What if taught all our kids that normal was beige, nothing to aspire to, and to totally and utterly embrace […]
The brighter you shine the more blinding it will become for those not attuned to it. I was recently chatting […]
I get this kind of question/pondering all the time, along the lines of…‘So I really really feel that meditation would […]
Our brains wire in ways of doing things for efficiencies sake. It’s to make the whole system flow more, things […]
As we round out January, there comes a sense of the year looming ahead. Will it be everything we want […]
In Zen, the tensho is the monastery cook. Every moment, every meal is seen as an opportunity to experience truth, […]
I love this quote by Condoleeza, for its many layers. What if we let go of former everything. Former anxiety.Former […]