Meditation and mindfulness are two ancient practices that can be traced back to its roots in Buddhist philosophy 2500 years ago. They can help you to stay calm, focused and better manage the pressures of life. Karuna has perfected the arts of meditation and mindfulness by spending 15 years as a Buddhist monk in Thailand and Sri Lanka.
Meditation is an activity, a thing that you do, while Mindfulness is a quality and power of mind that is deeply awareness of what’s happening – without commentary and without interference.
If mindfulness is like strength or flexibility, meditation is like running or going to the gym. Often, meditation means you’re sitting still, noticing the sensations of breath, and coming back, over and over again, as you get distracted.
Private Mindfulness sessions are a wonderful way to work through your needs, regardless of whether you are a beginner or are more experienced and want to deepen your practice. Your private session will be tailored to you and is completely confidential. Mindfulness is not just an hour long session. You will learn it as a way of life.
You will be given the tools to enhance your practice every day; as you go about your daily routine, at work, at home, or whilst socialising. You will also receive short weekly audio recordings to help you meditate on your own.
Simple, yet powerful meditation techniques such as Mindfulness, Loving-kindness, Visualisation and Mantra can be tailored to your needs and personality. Coaching provides the opportunity to ask the questions you need to ask, and to work through them in an individualised way to find the answers that you are seeking.
BUDDHIST MEDITATION
Buddhist meditation can help you acknowledge change, suffering and relationships better. It can help you to unplug and detach from the stress of daily life. These sessions are especially suitable for those seeking to reduce anxiety, re-align balance or practice loving kindness. Mindfulness was originally an application for clinical settings of Buddhist meditation techniques. So they are in the same family of meditation.
It is worth mentioning that Buddhist meditation is not making your mind empty, but rather witness each moment with compassion and kindness; befriending rather than judging and responding rather than reacting.
ABOUT KARUNA PRIYA
Karuna is a University Chaplain to Imperial College London, Royal College of Arts and Royal College of Music, and a Meditation Teacher and a Yoga Teacher at Akanista Mindfulness. Karuna has a background in Meditation, stemming from his time as a Buddhist monk for 15 years from a young age.
Karuna grew up with a dysfunctional home life, and struggled with feelings of anxiety and trauma. Luckily, teachings he learned along the way as a monk on meditation and compassion helped him learn to be less hard on himself and have compassion for others.
He did not understand how traumatised he was as a child until he was much older, but that realisation led him to do some deep work healing his inner child through various therapeutic and mindfulness practices. Because he found these techniques so helpful, he now helps others to do the same – to heal trauma and to be a survivor capable of reclaiming oneself and practising self compassion.
He has developed a relaxed teaching style, which helps put others at ease, and his personal experience allows him to help others get to grips with the concepts of Mindfulness and compassion. He aims to help others to facilitate the mindsets needed to foster resilience and wellbeing, and to adopt positive habits in order to find balance in both the personal and professional aspects of life.