Welcome to The Meditation Course Podcast. I am Robert Mitchell. I teach meditation, mindfulness and resilience in London, England. The podcast episodes are recordings of classes I run on my online meditation course called The Meditation Course. To join us, sign up for four weekly live guided meditation classes.
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This episode is a recording of a class I taught on my online meditation course on Thursday, the 8th of January 2026. There is a 15-minute talk explaining how our cultural perspectives on gratitude and optimism work against us, and how we can adopt a different perspective that's more helpful by training our minds through meditation. We then moved on to 30 minutes of focused-attention meditations,…
In this episode, recorded live during a guided meditation class in Bromley, Robert explores what mindfulness really is—and why it's far more than a stress reduction technique. We look at how the mind automatically creates narratives about the past or future and how a single thought can derail our day—unless we spot it early. Mindfulness meditation is the training ground for that awareness. What…
In this class, which I ran as one of my year-round online live group guided meditation classes on Tuesday, the 12th of August, I explained about meditation at night. Beditation can be practised before you go to bed, if you wake up in the night and also while meditating in bed in the morning. I also teach three meditations that I have learned help students to relax, calm their minds and drift off…
The Eastern Wisdom traditions have gifted us a legacy of thousands of years of mental training. This isn't just noticing the present moment, it's an immense library of meditations, skills, techniques, and training, that combine to work together. These practices help us to construct a map of our inner landscape so we can to navigate our lives more helpfully. Science gives us a mountain of evidence…
From a class I taught on The Meditation Course on Thursday 16 January. I have learned over the last decade of teaching mindfulness, meditation and resilience that disconnection and social fragmentation are among the greatest challenges that people face in the modern world. The Mind fulness-Based Resilience practices are fine-tuned for this landscape and I explain the scenario and guide some…
In this class, we explore the effect of 'The Marketplace of Fear' the modern media has become and learn how to change our mindset so that our attention is no longer drawn consistently towards a place of anxiety. This needs a toolkit of practices that we can use to manage our stress, redirect the focus of the mind, intervene in repetitive thoughts and take beneficial actions. To join us on our live…
In this episode, I teach a set of practices that people have been using for at least 3,000 years to cut through all of these layers of uncomfortable, unhelpful baggage and return us to an experience which is our evolutionary legacy. It's how human beings can live when we are liberated from all of the expectations that the modern world heaps on us. This is a recording taken from a class on…
Hi everyone, This is another meditation only episode. I will add a small number more of these then probably, depending on the response, return to the full episodes including the talk. In any case I intend to add a few more of these meditation only episodes as they have been requested by students. There is quite a lot happening in January so I suggest that you subscribe, at least for free, to The…
Understanding Awareness, The Perception Zone, and Witness Consciousness This meditation is designed to cultivate mindful awareness and Witness Consciousness. It is also a deep and calming practice. In our fast-paced world, we often find ourselves rushing through life on autopilot. Yet beneath this surface-level experience lies a deeper capacity for awareness that can transform how we experience…
Another Meditation only today. The perception zone is our nexus in space and time. We need to be aware of our presence in the space around us, and we also need to be aware of the passage of time. When we're in nature, this gets switched on. Walk into a forest, especially if you're alone, especially if there's low visibility, and you will be plugged into your environment, receiving all of that…
This Episode is a meditation only. Apologies for the delay in posting. I have been focused on the pilot for a private podcast for subscribers to The Meditation Course. This has almost all of my classes on it so there are three or four episodes each week. This will be available as an extra tier in January, 2025. Change of Format Normally my podcasts are recordings of my classes which all start with…
This is a recording from a class on Thursday, November 7. The topic of the class talk is Meditation and connection. In it, I explain how some Meditation practices (including the practices in the Seven Keys to Clarity program running on The Meditation Course) help us release the burden of beliefs that form our mental model and cause us to feel separate from nature and each other. This sense of…
In this class recorded in Bromley on Saturday 26 October and part of The Meditation Course, I explain how we can relax our mind and body together. The way that the mind connects to the body is fascinating. By relaxing the body deeply we can come to a place of deep, focus, and calm for the mind. To join us for four live group guided meditation classes each week, visit https://meditationcourse.live
Meditation is mental training. It's easy to become diverted into the meditative experience itself and think that is the end of it. It's important to remember that meditation is mental training for life. We can learn many skills from our meditation practice that can benefit us in different ways. It's never too early to put what we learn in meditation into use as during our day. Then we can…
The direction of the mind is a combination of thoughts and emotions that lead us into an inner narrative. This narrative can be unhelpful or even distracting. In this class I taught on Saturday, 12 October, we explored the relationship between the mind and emotion. We practised some meditations that help us work with the mind when its direction is powerful and intense. The meditations include…
We can't predict our future mental states or how we'll think or feel because we can't predict the events and experiences that will create those thoughts and feelings. Because of this uncertainty, it is unwise to rely on a single meditation practice, however cosy and comfortable, or even a tiny selection that gives us what we need right now. Meditation is mental training. When we meditate, we build…
In our culture, we often suppress our emotions, leading to repression and unhealthy "emotional leakage." But there is an alternative! In this powerful new episode, we explore: - 😞 How society encourages emotional suppression - 🎭 Healthy ways to express & process emotions - 🧘♀️ Meditation practices to regulate emotional responses - 😌 Handling difficult interactions with calm and focus Tune in…
The first meditation of the month is Following The Breath. In this class, we learn how focusing on the breath enables us to connect to the present moment. We also learn how to practice this and how this skill can work for you during your day to help you switch on mindful awareness and step out of the craziness of the modern world. Meditation of the Month We will have a meditation each month and…
This episode is a recording of a class on The Meditation Course on Thursday, 15 August. I am posting more regularly but on a private podcast. Contact me for details. In this class I explained about mantra and we practiced a variety of mantra meditations. A mantra is something you say aloud or in your mind that you repeat. Mantra meditation is a truly ancient practice that goes back to the Rig…
After our meditation and nature connection retreat at the weekend, I thought it was a good idea to run a class on the meditations that we did in nature. Connection in nature is all about allowing natural environment into an our experience. All the sensations and smells and sounds become part of the totality of the experience of the present moment, which is what mindfulness is. To experience this,…
Hi everyone, Today's meditation class explored the link between our natural connection to other people and to nature that works so well for our ancestors, but breaks down in modern societies with millions of people. Unfortunately, I know the audio quality was poor and so I have cleaned it up and made it available as a podcast and on the meditation course website which is at…
In this week's class on my online meditation course, we explored observation meditations. We explored how our perceptions, influenced by our cultural backgrounds and culture, add layers to our experiences, much like augmented reality. The class explained how we can be aware of our cultural filter while practicing meditation and experiencing mindfulness. Through examples like walking meditation and…
Welcome to The Meditation Course podcast. Today, we return to the essential topic of mindfulness, unravelling its meaning and importance and how to embrace it in our fast-paced world. Mindfulness may defy precise description, yet it's best understood through direct experience. By simply observing time's passage or the sound of a bell, we begin to engage with the mindful state of being. This state,…
When you're physically stressed, you only have a few options to intervene in your stress. One option is to learn how to relax. Relaxation isn't something you need to go on holiday for; you also don't need a glass of wine, a cigarette, or a magic combination of price-tagged experiences. It's a really simple thing. When we get stressed, our body becomes tense because we're finely tuned for nature,…
Counting the breaths is an ancient mindfulness meditation technique and the best practice for about 50% of new meditators to start with. It's a practice where we count each breath using the inner voice. The way I teach it is to count each in and out breath. This engages the mind in an activity that helps to calm the mind. Counting the breaths is the single mindfulness meditation practice that is…
In this class, I teach about mudras, which are hand gestures used in meditation. Anjali Mudra The Anjali mudra involves pressing your palms together. I teach this because it has a real effect. You can explore it yourself. Specific Mudras in Meditation I focus on the chin mudra, where you lightly touch your thumb and first finger. My methods for Anjali and chin mudra are unique. They're not just…
Dive deep into the mechanics of nature meditation in this particular recording from our Sunday guided meditation class held on July 23rd. As part of The Meditation Course, this podcast explores the intricate relationship between the natural environment and the process of meditating, illustrating how the calm and quiet of nature can significantly enhance our emotional processing and healing…
Mood and meditation This is our second instantly recorded live group, guided online meditation podcast episode. Hopefully the audio quality will be better than the last one. A lot of students of meditation, engage in meditation to help and benefit their mood and they're looking for ways to improve their mood. I'm confident there in time pretty much. Everyone can benefit emotionally from Meditation…
This is a class taught on first of July 2023 in Bromley on the subject of purpose, Resilience and Connection. The Meditation Course is four live guided group meditation classes each week for the same price as a weekly Starbucks latte! https://meditationcourse.live
I taught this class today on Saturday, the 29th of April on The Meditation Course at https://meditationcourse.live because I was contacted by yet another person who told me that they can't meditate because they can't stay focused on their breath. It is a common misconception that meditation is an attempt to stay focused on the breath and the successful meditation is one where we remain focused on…
Mindful Awareness is that crystal-clear sensory experience we can feel in a forest. Or when standing on a quiet beach or at the top of a mountain. Mindful Awareness is what we can sense when we connect to nature and what we share with animals. We can culture Mindful Awareness by practising focused attention meditation. Focused attention meditation is often called mindfulness meditation and is an…
In 2013, I started teaching meditation to a group of friends, who then suggested that I teach it at a local church room. In 2015, I was asked to run some courses by my students who wanted more structured training. I had discovered the high level of stress in the modern world, so I started by including stress management and emotional regulation techniques with the mindfulness and meditation…
Each Sunday Evening from Sun 26 March 2023 on The Meditation Course for the next few weeks, I shall run a Yoga Nidra meditation. Yoga Nidra is a type of meditation that can help us access the hypnagogic state. This state is the transitional phase between wakefulness and sleep. Practicing Yoga Nidra can make it easier to move into this state and therefore help us achieve rest. To practice Yoga…
Yoga Nidra is a type of meditation that can help us access the hypnagogic state. This state is the transitional phase between wakefulness and sleep. Practicing Yoga Nidra can make it easier to move into this state and therefore help us achieve rest. To practice Yoga Nidra, find a comfortable and relaxed seated position with your back free and your head balanced. The goal is to enter and stay in…
Mindfulness is the undistracted awareness of the experience of the present moment. Mindfulness meditation is a set of ancient practices now supported by a mountain of scientific study that we use to gain that experience of mindfulness. There are many barriers, distractions and dead ends that can divert us from our path of acceptance and connection to all of the experiences of the present moment,…
The body and mind are deeply connected. The ancients had a concept of the body-mind which is the combination of thoughts, emotions and drives that influence our choices and actions. This leaves us with a psychophysiological state that can be unhelpful and is sometimes difficult to shift. We can find ourselves 'in a mood' and subject to a combination of autopilot behaviours and mind loops. We all…
This article and podcast are from a class taught as part of The Meditation Course - Four live online classes each week for the same price as a weekly Starbucks latte. We all have a voice in our heads, and that voice tells a story. I call this voice the Inner Narrative. Our Inner Narrative can become unhelpful, destructive or self-destructive. It can weaken us instead of strengthen us. Thought has…
This Meditation is taken from the Deepening Course which is a course for committed meditators. See the end of this description for the link. There are a five different main areas of focus for our awareness. There is mind wandering and awareness of the body. These are what are called Inner Phenomena. With mind wandering, our single awareness has been captured by an inner narrative. There is…
Dear friends, I hope that you are in high spirits and good health. Thanks for your wonderful response to my message about supporting my podcast. I shall be making some changes to the format of the podcast so that I can deliver more meditations. Starting from this week, I will only put the meditations themselves online. To listen to the talks, please subscribe to the meditation course at…
A three-minute message from Robert about the future of the podcast and how you can help me continue to deliver high-quality content.
An episode where I teach a set of practices to enable frictionless connection to our physiology in the present moment.
In this class, taught in February 2023 and part of a series on the inner narrative, I explain the process that we apply to calm the inner narrative and I explain how it is not a process of distraction.
An explanation of the nature of narrative, how it is so deeply embedded in all human culture, and the first insight into how the cultural narrative finds its way into our minds.
Learn the mindfulness practices you can integrate into your daily life and discover the power of group meditation.
A recording of a class on body-focused meditations creating a foundation to process uncomfortable emotions. In this class, we continue learning the practices we need to process difficult emotions.
In this class, I teach how to be present and find fulfilment right here and right now by reconnecting to the present moment and to nature.
Mindfulness is the undistracted awareness of the experience of the present moment. To experience mindfulness, therefore, we need to experience the present moment free of the endless distractions of the modern world. In this class, I teach you how.
In this intensive 22-minute class, I focus purely on a small set of practices that you can use to regulate your stress and your emotions. The workshop is an introduction to my popular one-day dealing with difficult people training class I have been teaching since 2016. This audio was recorded from a 90-minute workshop I ran on Thursday, 22 December 2022, for members of The Meditation Course.
Equanimity is balance, harmony and composure under pressure and stress. Learn how mindfulness meditation brings equanimity
In this class, I explain my experience with meditation students: the beginners, those returning to Meditation and the committed students who have found a set of practices they can maintain.
