In this episode, Alaina Chambers talks about her ongoing conversation with life. This is a relationship she describes as “unwavering” and “the most important (one) I have.” Within this continuing dialogue, meditation plays the role of enhancer - deepening a sense of connection that pervades every aspect of living.

This episode considers the role words play in bringing meditation to life. Through connecting with words’ overt and covert potency, we can let meditation and daily living enjoy a more intimate and penetrating relationship with one another. Which encourages us to experiment with language while working with the dharma.

How do we practice in a manner that appropriately meets and respects the realities of both our immediate state of being and our lives more generally? In this episode, WendyLeigh White discusses the process of exploration and discernment that helps give shape to her formal and her informal engagement with meditation.

The renewed practice of ocean dipping gives rise to some insights regarding impermanence and, through this, a sense of appreciation for our ever-shifting lives. This reflects the importance of asking ‘What is the value of this?’ when engaging the teachings of meditation. What is the value of a personal realization of this (almost) always changing world?

In this episode, Neil McKinlay sits down with fellow practitioner Rivka Simmons. Discussing the role of meditation in her life, a recurring theme involves the ways this practice helps Rivka discern between thoughts that are in alignment and those that are not. This discrimination is a big part of the process that she describes as ‘being natural’.

This episode speaks to the pause and reflection Neil McKinlay has engaged since the start of 2022. In doing so, the core inspiration of this podcast - to connect meditation with daily living - is reaffirmed. A new interview-style feature is also announced. Beginning next time, the voices of other practitioners will be heard here, alternating with Neil’s usual contemplations.

Through meditation we develop a more conscious relationship with life. Assuming this to be true, one might ask what value such consciousness has. Reflecting upon the relationship a local shop-keeper developed in his own neighbourhood, Neil McKinlay connects with the power of affection - our ability and capacity to affect one another.

This world offers no shortage of chances for us to wake up and connect, for us to return to a sense of conscious relationship with the world of which we are part. In this episode, the familiar presence of fresh-laid mulch provides a pungent reminder of this fact. A reminder and, it is well worth noting, a sense of acknowledgement and appreciation.

A simple inquiry raised while readying a website leads to a relatively deep contemplation of the term ‘embodiment’. What exactly is meant by this commonplace word? What aspect of human experience is it pointing toward? And how might an understanding of ‘embodiment’ illuminate our sense of ‘embodied meditation’?

The central dynamic of meditation - the act of placing one’s attention and welcoming what one finds - is not exclusive to formal practice. Here Neil McKinlay reflects upon the presence of stability and insight in Cormac McCarthy’s affecting novel, ‘The Road’. This book is considered as, among other things, a work of steady and unwavering attention.