About

“​I have practised mindfulness for 25 years.  I aim to make this valuable practice accessible and jargon-free. “

​Who I have presented workshops and courses for:

  • Accord
  • Actavo
  • Association of Garda Superintendents
  • Belvedere College
  • Employee Assistance Professionals Association
  • Enable Ireland
  • Ervia
  • Festina Lente
  • Forensic Science Laboratory
  • Garda Diversion Programme
  • Gas Networks Ireland
  • Generali PanEurope (video)
  • Glenville Nutrition Ireland (audios)
  • HSE
  • Institute of Guidance Counsellors
  • Institute of Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy
  • Irish Congress of Trade Unions
  • Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy
  • Irish Dental Association
  • Irish Medical Organisation
  • Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation
  • Kildare County Council (Library service)
  • Marine Rescue Service (Canadian Helicopter Corporation)
  • Medical Council
  • Mergon
  • MS Ireland
  • National Union of Journalists
  • NUI Maynooth
  • Rehabcare
  • Relationships Ireland
  • Riversdale Community College
  • School Chaplains’ Association
  • St James’s Hospital
  • Suicide or Survive
  • Tallaght Hospital
  • TEEU
  • The Law Society
  • The Pensions Board
  • Tolka Area Partnership
  • Trinity College Dublin
  • Trinity College Dublin Medical School

​
​What I do …..

I teach mindfulness to people who want to build this practice into their daily lives.

My focus is on helping people to integrate mindfulness easily into what they do, even if they don’t set time aside for 20 min (or longer) meditations.

I do this in the following ways:

  • Public courses
  • In-house courses
  • My online courses
  • Mindfulness Newsletters
  • A daily mindfulness reminder, The Daily Bell
  • Mindfulness Books
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • My blog

Mindfulness has made a major difference in my life and I have seen this practice make a major difference in the lives of other people also.

The background:

I began to practice mindfulness on a sunny Dublin afternoon in the 1980s. During my lunch break I had bought a book on meditation and I had read two paragraphs on mindfulness.

I tried it out and I liked how I felt. Later that afternoon, I abandoned my desk in The Irish Times – not an unusual event – and went for a stroll in the grounds of Trinity College. Cricketers were finishing a game in the late afternoon sunlight. The pavilion bar was open at the end of the field. I bought a beer and stood and watched the game of cricket – a game, I might add, about which I knew nothing. I felt wonderful as I practiced my mindfulness. I was filled with the deepest sense of peace and happiness I had ever known. I have never forgotten the experience.

The sense of euphoria lasted for a few days. Then it went away and it has only rarely come back. This is a common experience at the start of a meditation practice. People sometimes then make the mistake of chasing that euphoria, of trying to get it back. While the feeling may come back for a few minutes or hours now and then, this is only likely to happen rarely. To be in a constant state of euphoria would, in any event, be unhelpful in many areas of your life. I wouldn’t want to be operated on by a euphoric surgeon!

I should add that I have previously worked as a journalist, first with RTE Radio One and The Irish Press and then as a health correspondent with The Irish Times.

I have also worked on the counsellor training course at the Institute of Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy in Tallaght, Dublin. I do some work as a counsellor and counselling supervisor, though not a lot.

I have written a number of books including Mindfulness on the Go – Peace in Your Pocket; Light Mind – Mindfulness in Daily Living; and Like A Man – a Guide to Men’s Emotional Wellbeing.

I also write poetry and short stories and my poetry collection, The Blue Guitar, is published by Salmon Poetry.

I live in Dublin with my wife and two daughters.