In May 2025 I attended a Meditation Teacher Training Retreat at the Yarra Valley Living Centre. I went because I wanted to do a life-reset and start meditating again. It had been many years since I had sat on a meditation cushion and I had recently started remembering how helpful a practice it had been. It had helped me out of my anxiety and depression and gave me a whole new outlook on life. I decided now was the time to reconnect to meditation. 

The retreat was exactly what I needed. The course was designed by Ian Gawler (“the man who conquered cancer”) and it was based on over 40 years of teaching meditation to people from every walk of life. Ian’s emphasis is very much on relaxing, reducing stress and using meditation (as well as lifestyle and diet) as a way of improving our experience of life. What he and fellow teacher Melissa Borich taught had a lot of depth and complexity, but it can also be explained simply and quickly. 

Here is the most important bit: We all have two minds. 

One is the Active Mind. This is the part of us that gets things done, that solves problems and makes plans and manages our immediate, practical needs. 

The other part of us is the Still Mind. This is the mind that reflects and contemplates, that has moments of wonder, and it is here we find inspiration and insight. 

The Active Mind is all about knowledge; the Still Mind is about wisdom.

We need both these parts of ourselves to have a balanced, fulfilling life. In modern life, however, we often find ourselves stuck in our Active Mind, and this creates problems like chronic stress, anxiety and depression. The Active Mind is a great employee, but a terrible boss; it doesn’t know how to stop - that’s the Still Mind’s job. Without stillness our Active Mind becomes a tyrant, a slave driver that is never satisfied and that will push us to breakdown and burnout.

The Active Mind is like the clouds in the sky. They are always in motion, arising and disappearing; some big, some small; some beautiful, some scary. The Still Mind is the blue sky itself in which these clouds arise and disperse. It is always peaceful, no matter what the clouds are doing, and it is always serene and undisturbed.

Even when the sky is full of clouds, even when there is thunder and lightning, the peaceful nature of the blue sky remains unchanged. And when the clouds disappear the sky is still there, as peaceful and still as always.

Our Active Mind focuses on the clouds; meditation is about focusing on the Still Mind of the blue sky. When we can shift our focus between these two minds we can have an Active Mind that gets things done AND we can periodically rest in the Still Mind. We can be busy when we need to be, but we can also relax, rest and recuperate.

Take a few moments to be aware of what’s going on inside you right now. There will be thoughts, emotions and body sensations. Imagine these are like clouds, endlessly arising and disappearing. Now remember that behind all those clouds is a clear blue sky, the very essence of peace and stillness. Focus on that blue sky and let the clouds do what they will; you don’t need to stop them being clouds or change their behaviour in any way. 

The sky contains the clouds, but it isn’t affected by them. In the same way our Still Mind contains all our thoughts, memories, plans, feelings and emotions but isn’t disturbed by any of them; it remains peaceful, still and unchanging.

Take a deep slow breath and just let the clouds drift through the blue sky. If you like, imagine you are the blue sky and within you are all these different clouds; imagine you are the stillness that the clouds arise and disappear in. Take another slow deep breath and imagine you are reconnecting to your inner stillness.

Don’t be in a hurry to move on. Take as many deep, slow breaths as you like.

How was that?

It’s a simple visualisation but it contains a powerful truth: our life contains a lot of activity but we are more than that; we are also the stillness that all that activity takes place within.

When we lose our connection to our Still Mind there is nothing but the relentless busyness of the Active Mind, and that can come to dominate our whole life. Instead of us using our Active Mind to solve our small problems our Active Mind takes over our life and becomes a really big problem! Encouraging ourselves to reconnect to stillness puts things back in perspective and reminds us that there is more to us than our problems and worries.

Every life has some stress in it, but when we forget about stillness our life starts to feel like it is ALL stress, and this creates the seeds of anxiety and depression.

Reconnecting to our Still Mind begins with wanting to experience some stillness; when we value the tiny moments of peace in our day then we start to pay attention to them, and that is the beginning of taking a break from our Active Mind. 

When you finish a task and feel yourself heaving a sigh of relief, take a moment to feel into your body and really experience that letting-go of tension. It’s like the clouds have parted for a moment and there is the clear blue sky smiling down on us.

When you are getting ready for bed, take a moment to feel the tiredness in your body and encourage yourself to relax into that; imagine the clouds are fading away and the clear sky is revealed, endless and reassuring.

Even when you are feeling stressed and uptight, you can tell yourself that your sky is full of clouds at the moment, but they will eventually disappear.

Just reminding yourself through the day that your problems are just clouds is an invitation to relax your body and mind. You still have to deal with your problems but after spending a bit of time in your Still Mind those problems usually look a lot more manageable.

One excellent way of connecting to our Blue Sky mind is through meditation. A regular meditation practice - 10 or 20 minutes, once or twice a day - is a great way to reconnect to that blue sky mind. A morning meditation makes it easier for us to remind ourselves through the day not to get stuck in the clouds. An evening meditation practice helps us unwind and have a better night’s sleep.

If you don’t want to start a meditation practice then just focus on the basic principle: we have an Active Mind and a Still Mind; when we have access to both our lives are so much better. We are already very familiar with our Active Mind; now is the time to start making time to spend with our Still Mind, and start reducing our stress, anxiety and disease.

On the course Ian Gawler said that “we want a meditation practice that is sustainable and satisfying”. So start small, don’t be too ambitious, instead focus on doing something every day. Maybe look to your existing routine and see where you could slip in 10-20 minutes of meditation. First thing in the morning between waking up and a shower? Last thing at night after the kids are in bed? If you can make meditation part of your existing routine it makes it easier to do.

Starting off small and taking baby steps is important. Don’t go too big too fast or you run the risk of making your meditation practice something that you get stressed about. You might start hearing your Active Mind saying “I should do more!” or “I’m not doing it right!” and that’s not helpful. We’re aiming to reduce stress, not increase it! Wanting to do too much too soon is Active Mind over-thinking. Meditation is about going slow and steady so we can reconnect to our Still Mind.

It’s all about reducing stress and learning to relax so we can begin to come into mindfulness, awareness and stillness. 

So the next time you’re feeling a bit uptight or upset, take a deep breath, give yourself permission to ignore the clouds and as you breathe out imagine a peaceful blue sky.

Many years ago I was a miserable alcoholic. Outside of work I struggled to make sense of my life and more and more I found myself wondering what was the point of getting out of bed?

I was inspired to seek help after a friend told me she had depression. I went to see a doctor, started taking anti-depressant medication and soon - for a variety of reasons - I gave up drinking. I started doing yoga and then began meditating. I was drawn to Buddhist meditation and eventually went to England, lived in a Buddhist community and soon became a monk. 

Meditation reached me on a deep level that I just couldn’t reach any other way. I started teaching classes because I wanted to share what had helped me so much with others. For six years I meditated, taught and worked hard to train my mind. It was, at that point, the best experience of my life. Alas, my Buddhist adventure ended with me disrobing; at the time I couldn’t explain why, I simply knew I couldn’t go on any more. Looking back, I had all the classic signs of burnout - oh the irony!  

I rediscovered my passion for inner peace on the yoga mat, and then in New Age workshops and different courses. I trained as a counsellor and - over time - began unravelling my inner contradictions. 11 years ago I met a wonderful woman who became my partner and then my wife. Together we discovered and healed a lot of the reasons why I burned out as a monk.

I also discovered Performance Poetry - the art of storytelling and poetry recital done with theatrical flair and gusto - and used this creative outlet as a way of healing emotional/childhood issues. I made a name for myself as a local poet worth listening to, and even published a collection of poems. I was the Mindfulness Poet, using storytelling and poetry to bring people into a state of awareness.

Another important milestone for me was running Mindfulness sessions at a local Health Retreat every Sunday for four years, helping people suffering burnout to find their own way to health and wellbeing. I researched the neuroscience of stress and read up on holistic approaches to mental health. I started a business called Mindfulness Mentor, aimed at helping groups and individuals use Mindfulness to answer the problems of our busy modern lives. When my time there ended I started looking around for a reset, which was when my yoga teacher sent me an email about a meditation course in Victoria with Ian Gawler.

Ian was famous in the 1980s as the man who cured himself of a very aggressive (and previously fatal) cancer with meditation and a healthy diet. Doctors had told him he had months to live and yet here he was, 40 years later, looking healthy and happy and still going strong. For those 40 years he has helped people with all sorts of medical conditions use meditation to improve themselves. And the people he was dealing with often had no experience of mediation and very little time to learn. Some people had been given weeks to live! Ian managed to help them meditate and there are numerous testimonies about how helpful his instructions were. 

The email came at just the right time. For a few years I had been trying to restart a formal meditation practice. I remembered how helpful it had been all those years ago, but I struggled to actually sit on the cushion and get started. Reading what Ian was offering I thought this was my chance to do a reset and reconnect to meditation.

The course was exactly what I needed. Ian has distilled four decade’s worth of meditating, teaching and research into a simple and effective form of meditation that anyone can do. It’s simplicity is one of it’s great strengths; anyone can understand and practice it with about 10 minutes explanation. The Blue Sky Mind approach is science-based, there’s no religious aspect and the emphasis is on relaxing and reducing stress to make ourselves happier and healthier. Most people do it sitting on a chair and you can do 10-20 minutes, once or twice a day. Some results are immediate and others take time to come, but they do come.

I found myself formally meditating for the first time in years. I was reminded of why it transformed my life in the first place. Quite simply, for me, sitting in meditative stillness reduces stress and improves my mental and physical health in a way nothing else can. After a few weeks of daily practice I was inspired and I decided I wanted to teach this style of meditation. I’m now reaching out to groups in my area to organise public talks, workshops and regular classes. I'm a meditation teacher once again.

While the practice is simple it has great depth to it, and provides a solid basis for meditators to customise it to their individual needs. For people dealing with physical health issues, there are numerous ways that meditation can encourage the body heal itself. For anyone suffering from burnout and chronic stress this meditation cuts to the root of the issue. It is also a great method for breaking out of the anxiety/depression cycle and rediscovering inner peace and self-acceptance. The list goes on and on.

If you want to know more about my story I have self-published memoir called ‘How Wonderful’ which details my struggle with depression and anxiety, and how I used mindfulness to find my way out of the hopelessness and pain. The book ends with me running mindfulness sessions at the health retreat. If you’re interested in learning more about me, about what  can offer as a mentor or about the Blue Sky Mind meditations please send me a message at [email protected].

I'll be posting about my ongoing adventures with meditation, mindfulness and poetry. I'll also be talking about articles and blog posts that help me have a balanced and grounded life in our crazy 21st Century world. I hope you can find something of value in what I offer.