Skillful Mind

Skillful Mind Learn and Teach Meditation. Awaken the mind. Our vision is a qualified meditation teacher in every town and suburb in the world

We would love to see everyone learn the art of mental stillness. Only then can the world be truly at peace.

Equanimity doesn't mean not caring. It means caring without the story running underneath about how things absolutely hav...
21/08/2026

Equanimity doesn't mean not caring. It means caring without the story running underneath about how things absolutely have to turn out.

Easiest place to practise it — something small and mildly annoying today. Traffic, a slow reply, a plan that changes at the last minute. Notice the moment your mind starts insisting it should be different, and just let that insistence go slack for a second.

That's the whole practice, over and over, in tiny doses.

If you've never come along to Sunday Meditation, this is a good week to start.It's free, it's online, it's 9am ACST, and...
18/08/2026

If you've never come along to Sunday Meditation, this is a good week to start.

It's free, it's online, it's 9am ACST, and there's no pressure to have any experience. Some weeks it's five of us, some weeks it's twenty five — either way it's steady, guided, and a genuinely good way to build the habit.

skillfulmind.net/zoom

Most people think meditation is about clearing the mind. It isn't — it's closer to training a muscle.Every time your att...
16/08/2026

Most people think meditation is about clearing the mind. It isn't — it's closer to training a muscle.

Every time your attention wanders and you notice and bring it back, that's not failure, that's the actual exercise. The bicep curl of meditation. You don't get a flat mind by wishing for it; you get steadier attention by doing the return, over and over, thousands of times.

If your mind wandered fifty times in your last sit, you didn't have a bad sit. You did fifty reps.

I am continuing to find ways in which to use AI to help me get my message out. Not in an automated way, but with more au...
16/08/2026

I am continuing to find ways in which to use AI to help me get my message out. Not in an automated way, but with more authenticity. It would be so easy to just automate everything away so I can see the real risk there.

But the time AI save can also be of benefit to help me think deeper and be more thoughtful about what I post.

I hope you are all receiving the benefit and I would be curious for those of you running your own wellness practice if you are finding the same as me. Let me know below.

This morning — Sunday Meditation, and I'll be back on it myself for the first time in a few weeks.9am ACST, online, free...
15/08/2026

This morning — Sunday Meditation, and I'll be back on it myself for the first time in a few weeks.

9am ACST, online, free, all welcome. Huge thanks to everyone who kept it running while I was away.

skillfulmind.net/zoom

One of the more useful moments from the whole Bali ordeal had nothing to do with me.Locked in a room with nothing to do,...
14/08/2026

One of the more useful moments from the whole Bali ordeal had nothing to do with me.

Locked in a room with nothing to do, I could hear a dog next door, shut in a yard, howling on and off through the night. I had no idea what its situation was and no way to help it — but the sound went straight through me.

So I did the only thing available: sent it loving-kindness. Just held the intention that it be okay, over and over.

It didn't fix anything for the dog. But it did something for me — pulled my attention off my own situation and softened it considerably. A good reminder that Tonglen and loving-kindness aren't just cushion practices. They're tools for the actual hard moments too.

A lot of messages this week asking what actually happened in Bali — thank you, genuinely.I've put the full story on the ...
13/08/2026

A lot of messages this week asking what actually happened in Bali — thank you, genuinely.

I've put the full story on the blog (linked in Wednesday's post), but if there's something specific you're curious about that I can answer, drop it in the comments or send me a message. Happy to talk about it — within the limits of what I've been asked not to share about the process itself.

Back to regular teaching from here.

I'm back a week early, and I know a few of you are wondering how the week of darkness went.It lasted about twenty-two ho...
11/08/2026

I'm back a week early, and I know a few of you are wondering how the week of darkness went.

It lasted about twenty-two hours. Then Indonesian immigration found a problem with my visa, and the trip turned into a completely different kind of retreat — two days in a detention room, with nothing to do but sit with whatever came up.

Turns out that's its own version of what I was trying to practise in the dark anyway.

I've written the full story on the blog, including what I actually learned from the not-knowing. Link below if you're curious.

skillfulmind.com.au/darkness-retreat-twenty-two-hours/

Straight after Bali I'm doing something new — a week-long darkness retreat. No light, no clock, nobody to talk to, for s...
03/08/2026

Straight after Bali I'm doing something new — a week-long darkness retreat. No light, no clock, nobody to talk to, for seven days.

I've done long silent retreats before. This is different. Silence I can prepare for. Darkness, less so — there's no peripheral vision to ground you, no day or night, just whatever your mind does with that much removed.

I'll write properly about it when I'm back. For now, consider this fair warning that things will go quiet from my end for a little while.

Greetings from Bali.Our Bali retreat is now compete. As one of our participants said "this is one of the kindest and fri...
03/08/2026

Greetings from Bali.

Our Bali retreat is now compete. As one of our participants said "this is one of the kindest and friendliest group of people I have ever been with" It was a honour to grow with all of you.

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