Quiet Mind Meditation

This is a quiet space .. designed to inspire, nurture and support your meditation practice so that you might find your own quiet mind

Sunday 12 January 2014

About: Sarah Fletcher


Welcome!

Hello .. I'm Sarah Fletcher and the owner of Quiet Mind Meditation.

I am a meditation teacher, mentor, writer and speaker .. I am passionate about sharing meditation .. 

because I believe meditation is a life skill!

I have always meditated .. at least since I was a teenager .. through the winding journey of my life, the teenager angst, my twenties of partying, the long and challenging corporate career years; through relationships, marriage, divorce, retrenchment (twice), international travels and starting a family .. my meditation practice has always been there for me.

I began sharing my passion for meditation in response to being constantly asked what was my 'secret'.  After spending 20 years in the corporate world, in a very competitive and demanding environment with lots of daily drama, deadlines and demanding clients .. I realised that my meditation practice was my 'secret' to maintaining balance and calmness in my life, and people kept asking me 'how do you manage to remain so calm in the middle of all this?'

I am in awe of the positive change meditation can bring

In 2009 I started Quiet Mind Meditation .. to share this ancient practice.  I now provide group and corporate onsite meditation instruction, private mentoring, write for my blog and other publications, and speak at conferences and workshops.  

I know without a shadow of a doubt that a regular meditation practice .. taking just a few minutes (or moments) each day to pause, dropping into the stillness within and letting go of all the busy-ness and grasping and worrying ..

is life changing and intoxicating

How it all began..
Jumping In!

I first experienced meditation as a senior student about to embark on my (stressful) final year. One sunny school lunchtime I joined a group of students in the library to learn some 'relaxation techniques' from a parent who was a psychologist.  After moving all the furniture aside and laying down on the worn old grey carpet, I remember gazing lazily out the window .. glad to just be escaping the busyness of the school yard. 

Outside the sun shone in a really blue sky.  I saw the tops of the trees blowing in the wind. I heard the kids playing below and the 'shhh-ing' of the library staff outside.

I remember closing my eyes and being guided by this gentle voice instructing me to ‘find and watch’ my breath .. to 'let go' with each exhalation.  I remember a sense of sinking deeper and deeper into the floor, sinking into everything around (and inside) of me ..

s-l-o-w-i-n-g down

I felt that in that room, in that moment, there was just my breath and this unlimited, unhurried, quiet space between the inhalation and exhalation. I happily gave over to this wonderful 'spaciousness' which was strangely familiar and amazingly peaceful ~ and recognized that this place was inside of me!

It’s not an exaggeration to say that in that moment everything changed

I started to meditate

I became a card-carrying member of the meditation tribe.  I also wanted more .. more knowledge, more instruction, more understanding, more experience. I joined a local Buddhist community and began attending the gompa (meditation room) for instruction and practice .. I signed up for everything they had, retreats, study group, helping out in the office.  I read a lot too, starting with traditional Buddhist texts, then other wisdom writers which fed quite nicely into my VCE philosophy studies.

Over the twenty+ years since, I have explored further afield, Zen, Vipassana, Insight practices .. attended retreats and classes with different teachers and instructors .. and continued to ‘just sit’.



Why I stuck with meditation

Initially I was impressed with the intense spacious silence that I found within.  I wanted more of that in my day/life.

I also found that I could focus better on my studies. Meditation is often referred in traditional teachings as ‘mind training’ because we cultivate this ability to sit and stay seated and focused (physically and mentally) .. and avoid the constant distractions that the mind and body provide us with.

This is like a concentration ‘muscle’.  If you have ever found it difficult to sit in silence and just focus on your breath .. you will know how crazy difficult this can be.  With a regular meditation practice we develop our skill in staying .. so when we choose to place our mind on something (our meditation practice or our studies) we can STAY.

In daily life, I became conscious of this amazing buffer between what was happening around me, and in me .. and my reaction .. EXACTLY like Viktor E Frankl (Man's Search for Meaning) said here:

"Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."

I also found greater confidence and a deeper understanding of me.  Life seemed to flow. 

Less struggle more ease.

I have continued to meditate through this mad journey of life .. while hiking up the corporate ladder, travelling the world, moving house, getting married and divorced, becoming a mother and finding my way.

I totally understand the stress and confusion that can be found in juggling life .. and I knew that my meditation practice gave me a safe harbor.

No comments:

Post a Comment

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...