Mindfulness Based Spiritual Practice

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Mindfulness practice involves turning our attention towards the ever-changing flow of what is happening, with a willingness to be with whatever arises, just as it is. Essentially, by being willing to enter into a kinder relationship with one’s inner experience, it is possible to allow things to get better by not making them worse. This is amazing - but is there something missing?

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Most people who start to practice mindfulness were probably not looking for a spiritual experience, and there could be wisdom in this freedom from expectations. However, as you turn your attention and curiosity to the world within, you set out on a journey of discovery that is likely to have deeper implications.

 

“I feel deeply grateful that my life has been blessed through a connection with Tibetan Buddhism, but I also appreciate the way in which secular mindfulness has helped me to hear what my Buddhist teachers were trying to tell me all along. This has been my path: your path may be different. However, as you turn your attention to the world within, you set out on a journey that is likely to have deeper implications. My wish is that mindfulness can become a guesthouse for travellers whatever their quest may be; a safe resting place open to any pilgrim who seeks shelter from the storm.” 

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Vin Harris - Mindful Heroes: stories of journeys that changed lives.

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Vin Harris has been a Tibetan Buddhist practitioner for over 50 years. After completing a degree in English and European Literature, he learnt to milk cows, trained as a woodworker,

helped to build the first Tibetan Buddhist monastery in the West and then started a specialist conservation woodworking company.

Vin was a founding member of the Mindfulness Association and a Teaching Fellow at the University of Aberdeen on the MSc in Mindfulness Studies. Students on his courses

particularly value his ability to communicate the subtle meaning and purpose of meditation practice in everyday language.

Although Vin is supposed to be retired, he works on behalf of Hart Knowe Trust - helping people to help others and keeps finding projects to develop such as the Innovations in Mindfulness Awards and Sharing Your Treasure.

Vin knew the late Akong Rinpoche as a friend, mentor and teacher for almost 40 years. Working with Akong Rinpoche to establish Samye Ling in SW Scotland, it became apparent that spiritual practice does not have to be separate from daily life. He is currently engaged in developing Mindfulness Based Spiritual Practice.