Sandy Newbigging – Mind Detox & Meditation
Gail: You have been described by Yoga Magazine as ‘one of the best meditation teachers around’ – in your training you meditated consistently for 24 days straight tell us about that experience and what you learned from it.
Sandy: It was actually 24 weeks! I meditated day and night on the Island of Patmos in Greece for 10 weeks and then went to the mountains of Mexico and meditated for a further 14 weeks. I’ve also done about a month a year since. To be honest, it was a real challenge to begin with – until I learnt how to befriend my feelings and see my mind instead of being my mind. I discovered that below the constant flow of thoughts happening in my mind is a still silent context of peace-filled love. It is present, right here and now, irrespective of whether I have intense emotions occurring in my body or judgmental negative thoughts happening in my mind. That if I put all my attention on the temporary thoughts and emotions happening then I experience a roller-coaster of ups and downs on a daily basis.
But if I rest aware of the conscious awareness that is aware of my thoughts and emotions, then the consciousness is beyond the mind. As a result, I discovered that although I went on these meditation retreats searching for peace of mind that the truth is that what I really needed was to attain peace with my mind. The difference is everything. Thoughts and emotions are a result of the mind-body connection and the quality of my thoughts and emotions are victim to the conditioning from my past. However, by learning to be at peace with my mind that I can enjoy what I call the peace that’s always present. Furthermore, by seeing the judgmental thoughts instead of being the thoughts through the habit of thinking, that I can experience an inner love – on-going. It’s very liberating and it is my passion to share this ancient truth with everyone who chooses to work with me and read my books.
Gail: In your first book, Thunk! you are advocating thinking less for serenity and success – can you explain what you mean?
