Tips for traveling with OCD: The Mindful Field Guide
Mindful community building at Plum Village
On my adventures exploring meditation retreats around the world this year, I was always looking for an opportunity to visit Plum Village, the Buddhist retreat centre established by Thich Nhat Hanh in the south of France as a place for refugees fleeing the Vietnam war to find peace and recovery. It has grown into a…
Intensive 7-Day Silent Meditation Retreat @ Dharma Drum Mountain in Taiwan
I just returned from a 7-day silent Chan meditation retreat at Dharma Drum Mountain in Taiwan, focused on the Silent Illumination technique of meditation. Basically, Silent Illumination or “just sitting”, is about, well, just sitting đŸ¤£ It might differ from some other types of meditation you’re familiar with in that we’re not doing things like…
Order The Mind Workout in the UK
My book, The Mind Workout, all about the steps anybody can take to get comfortable with the stuff in their heads as they do more of what they care about in life, hit bookstore shelves in the United Kingdom on June 1st. You order it on Amazon here: If you’re not in the UK, you…
Scott’s story so far…
I think back to when I was a pre teen and there was so much happening, not only physically but also mentally… That’s when I first recall OCD happening to me–I was around 12 years old and I began to count and touch doors, handles, count my steps, turn off the TV at the “right…
Interview with The OCD Stories Podcast
I sat down with Stuart from The OCD Stories for another wide-ranging interview (you can find the first one here) on a variety of mental health and OCD issues, from Internet/cellphone compulsions, to health anxiety, to false-memories, uncertainty, control, mindfulness, recovery, and why your therapist better start learning how to run marathons…
10 Mindfulness Tips for Everyday Practice
If you’re new to the practice of mindfulness, these ten tips can help you incorporate the practice into your daily life. Any moment can become an opportunity to return to the present!
Advanced Recovery Skill: Silence
Accepting silence is an advanced recovery skill. Learning how to be happy with silence and maintain your focus in silence takes practice. That’s because silence leaves our brains unoccupied, and when unhealthy brains are unoccupied, they fall back on all of the compulsions that have become so easy for them, like ruminating and catastrophising. Your…
Follow your mind with a meditation journal.
A meditation journal can be a helpful way to spot patterns in challenges you’re encountering while meditating and that can help you figure out ways to support yourself in overcoming those challenges. I started a journal last week to track the experience of going through the eight weeks of meditation exercises for our Full Catastrophe…