Books and bodily contortions.

Tuesday, 30th June

Friday promised storms, thunder and lightning, torrential rain, floods. A yellow storm alert. This is the best it managed, alongside a slight drop in temperature behind a decent breeze. Forecasts this week suggest it's going to be much the same.

Over the past two or three years, I've tried several approaches to meditation. I have to admit that I've always been very sceptical of it. Much of what I've seen and read has seemed rather phoney. Some months ago I downloaded a couple of apps for my phone; one was a number of guided meditations, the other was several pieces of music and sounds of nature which were intended to aid one's meditations.

The sounds and music were fine, but the guides I found unhelpful. Just like the other tutorials and suchlike that I'd seen, this one was full of Indianisms that meant nothing to me - yes, I Googled them, but that didn't enlighten me. It seemed that I had to adopt a set of beliefs about my body, mind and spirit that I simply can't accept. They all required a degree of yoga, too.

I remember with great clarity my first attempt to achieve the Lotus Position. I was at University, and living in digs. My room had a very low bed, and I chose to sit on the edge of it, then lower my weight slowly onto my legs as I crossed them into the appropriate contortion. It's probably difficult for you to picture mentally, but suffice it to say that it was a rather  painful process, the result of which I honestly feared I wouldn't be able to get myself out of, such was the locking of my legs.

With that experience behind me, I have always since failed to understand why I needed to contort my body way beyond comfort in order to achieve... well, that was another thing.

It was never made clear to me what I should expect to achieve apart from aching limbs from having to maintain strange positions. I wasn't aiming for transcendence, I can and do experience mindfulness without the discipline that meditation demands. So why meditate?

Then Naomi lent me her book, and if Naomi lends you a book, you can be sure it's worth reading. It had helped her a lot, so I could be confident that it would benefit me, too.

It's my kind of book. No nonsense, no words derived from Sanskrit, no yoga or other deforming of the human frame. And the author (okay, he's got an odd, hippy name, but don't let that put you off) even gives a clear and sensible answer to the question "Why?" I won't give you any spoilers. Naomi recommends this book, and I add my own endorsement to that (though I do have issues with the use of "Bliss" as a verb.) Don't forget that Amazon lets you look into a book before buying it.

The lockdown has given me lots of concentrated time to work on my own, new book. It has the working title "Those who can't", from George Bernard Shaw's outrageous claim, "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." Believe me, that may have been true in his day, but today's teachers are heroes. If GBS were alive today, he would suffer GBH from those who can, and who do teach. 

When I'm not writing, I may well be playing with ideas for the cover. It's rather premature, I know, but it's a lot of fun.  I've got a long way to go with it, but the story's coming on really well. I'm just starting chapter 11.

Does anyone have a favourite?

We're off to Canons Ashby tomorrow. We may get wet, but we'll love it nonetheless!

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