Mindfulness Mavericks are proud to announce that we have a ‘Zenways’ mindfulness and meditation trainer here in Sheffield. John Nolan has recently completed his teacher-training certificate and plans to start courses later in the year. We will be offering these alongside our own bespoke mindfulness programs.
The Zenways courses were created by Julian Daizen Skinner Roshi and his teacher Miyamae Shinzan Roshi to promote and encourage activities and practices that enhance human wellbeing and insight using practices from the Zen tradition.
Zenways are actively gathering scientific validation for these ancient practices so they have more credibility. They have a research project entitled, “The Influence of Mindfulness and Meditation on Overall Life Satisfaction” running at Oxford University Under the Departments of Materials and Experimental Psychology. They hope it will show the usefulness of having a regular mindfulness and meditation practice.
John has been meditating for over 10 years and enjoyed the challenge of learning to practice and teach new meditations based on Zen tradition. We learned these meditations on an intensive retreat in Scotland last summer. It was hard work; as the first meditations started at 7am followed by classes, practice sessions and more meditations that ran through to 9pm each day. The total immersion into the material formed a valuable foundation for his own practice and for the 2 courses he’s been teaching for his accreditation.
John says “The simplicity of the Zen practices can be misleading. Just like most of my students I tend to start learning with a small part of me wondering how this will ever be helpful. They key is to just do it, whether or not you feel like it. Then you can enjoy reaping the benefits of having a healthier, happier mind and body.
If you are interested in learning mindfulness meditation then visit Mindfulness Mavericks courses page or sign up for the newsletter to be informed when future classes are announced.