Mindful Matt | Website
Mindful Matt
Phone: +61 458 578 284
Reviews
to load big map
24.01.2022 A major part of practicing meditation and pursuing the Buddhist path is knowing how to let go - of our fears, our expectations, our sense of self, our worries, our planning and thinking minds, just to name a few things! This Wednesday my talk @dharmayoga.perth will be centred around this mysterious act of letting go and leaving things be. What are we letting go of, why should we let go, and how we can let go of them. Head over to @dharmayoga.perth to book a spot or PM me... for more details. May you all be happy and well! #lettinggo #letgo #leavitbe #attatchment #dispassion #kindness #meditation #perth #dharmayogaperth #stillness #innerpeace #calm #tranquility #stopholdingon #buddhist #buddhism #dhamma #nature #anatta #anicca #dukkha See more
23.01.2022 Sometimes, words are not required... #mountvincent #perthhills #perth #nature #calm #peaceful #beautiful #hike #colorful #westernaustralia #haveyouseenwa #green #bluesky #
23.01.2022 Mindfulness of breathing, also known as anapanasati, teaches us how we can participate more in how we shape our experiences. We are not just passive observers, awaiting the accident of enlightenment to happen - there is a lot of effort, participation and patience involved. Tuning into the breath and becoming more sensitive to it, we fill our awareness with the soothing, soft, refreshing and energising qualities that can be found there, letting it pervade our body, filling ev...ery part of us with this joyful and healing breath. Thank you to everyone who came to the group session last night, it brings so much joy to me seeing so many smiles! if you want to come along next Thursday, go to www.dharmayogaperth.com/classes to book a place. #breath #anapanasati #perth #meditation #buddhist #buddhism #dhamma #relax #kindness #joy #community #friendship #giving #westernaustralia #smile #guidedmeditation #innerpeace #selfcare See more
23.01.2022 Quite a lot of smiles around Bodhinyana Monastery today I hope you are all having a wonderful week! #metta #peaceful #kind #ajahnbrahm #bodhinyana #buddhist #buddhism #mindfulness #dhamma #teacher
22.01.2022 The inner speech we use can have an incredibly huge impact on our happiness and well-being. It has the power to make us feel a vast amount of different emotions and affects the way we function and behave. In our busy, modern day lives with all of its different stresses and pressures, we can easily fall into the trap of speaking to ourselves in a reactionary, over critical and ultimately negative way. This has the danger of becoming a habit, which then alters our views of ou...r experiences and is detrimental to our well being. It literally makes us see things from a one sided point of view, and our minds find it difficult to see things with an open perspective in the future. Over time, if this habit has a chance to form and take hold, it can be very hard to change. But it can be done, and it is one of the biggest sources of our unhappiness that we have the ability to change. Instead of letting the mind run its usual course, full of negativity, judgement and anger, we can learn to firstly recognise this type of inner speech, and then replace it with something more beneficial, more kind and more positive. Whether we are being too harsh on ourselves, or dealing with a difficult situation or even someone else and their behaviour, we can always choose what types of thinking and inner speech we want to develop surrounding our experiences in life May you all be happy, healthy, safe and well. #innerpeace #innerspeach #perth #buddhist #buddhism #mentalhealth #kindness #perthhills #bellsrapids #kindness #bekind #smile #community #happy #healthy #wellness See more
22.01.2022 Hi Everyone, Things have been pretty busy for me recently, and so I havnt been posting that much as I concentrate on some important things I have planned for the future. One thing I wanted to check in with you all about is the day of the week I have been teaching meditation.... I would like to know, either in the comments of this post of in a message ( i dont mind which you prefer) if you have an evening during the week that suits you best to be able to attend one of my classes. Currently I am teaching on a thursday night at 730pm and i know a lot of you havnt been able to come along on this day, so now would be a great opportunity to let me know if you prefer one day of the week over another. If there is enough interest for a different night then I will most likely change it so more people will have the opportunity to come along. Also, my classes are currently held in Bayswater and if that has been one of the reasons you havnt been able to attend, please let me know where you are from and i will see what I can do to bring my classes closer to you. All information gathered will be seen by my eyes only and will not be given to anyone else or kept longer than making the necessary changes to my classes. It would be wonderful to hear from you so that more people can come along to learn meditation and be a part of this growing community. Wishing you all much kindness, Matt.
21.01.2022 Hope you are all having a beautiful day! This morning I went for a walk up to the top of Mount Vincent and recorded a short talk where I talk about meditation practice, putting skillful effort into what we are doing, how we are relating to the present moment and how to enjoy being here and now with the breath. There is also a short guided meditation with basic breath instructions Please feel free to have a watch and do the short guided meditation if you wish! Its only a short... video, as my health limited me as to how long I could film for. Have a great day, Much metta to you all! Matt. YouTube link below: https://youtu.be/UDXR8FgDaIs PS. These talks are also being uploaded to podbean, if you wish to just listen. Link below. https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-vwbw7-e8760b
20.01.2022 Teddy bear meditation anyone? In the Buddhist practice, learning how to develop wholesome and warm feelings of kindness and love towards oneself and others can be difficult for a lot of people. At our meditation retreat centre in Serpentine, called Jhana Grove, we have enlisted the help of a small army of teddy bears to help anyone who has had difficulty allowing themselves to feel loved! ... I have also just recorded a short guided metta meditation with the help of these cute bears, so if you are intrigued, please go and have a look and share it with anyone who may need it. Reminder, that I also teach each thursday, so if you would like to come along and learn some meditation, please message me for details or go to www.dharmayogaperth.com/classes to book a spot. Everything i do is run by donations and the kindness of others, if you would like to help support me so that I can continue to make videos and teach, please go https://mindfulmatt88.wixsite.com/behappy/donate. Any support is greatly appreciated #teddybear #dhamma #metta #lovingkindness #innerpeace #perth #meditation #buddhist #buddhism #love #community #selfcare https://youtu.be/puZ-pZxaZ_g
19.01.2022 The air was cold, the sun was yet to peek above the horizon and the quiet forest around us gave us a deep sense of tranquility as Tracy from @offthebeatentrackwa and I made our way gently upwards to the peak of Mount Vincent, a relatively easy walk in the beautiful wild bushland in the hills of Perth. Once we made it to the top, we were greeted with beautiful uninterrupted views of the surrounding forests, and the sun slowly climbed into the sky, giving us some much needed... warmth against the cool mountain wind. It was so calm, so peaceful. We could hear a strange bird call, coming from the ground, and it was moving quite fast. We kept trying to figure out what kind of bird it was when Tracy managed to see it was in fact, a baby emu! It was calling out to its family, frantically trying to find its way back to them. I'm sure it finally succeed. We were then greeted by a young wedge tail eagle soaring effortlessly just above our heads, riding the climbing air currents going over the mountain range, moving silently and with great ease. Just beautiful. We then retired to the calmer side of the mountain, where it was more quiet and less windy, to do some meditation. Just happy to be there, content with sitting on the cold rocks watching our breath and relaxing our body and mind. When we opened our eyes, there were two beautiful black faced wallabies 20 metres to our right, watching us while they grazed - an incredibly rare sight as these beautiful animals are very shy. We then walked back to our starting point, our hearts full, our minds content, having spent the beginning of our day in such a beautiful way. Two friends, sharing in the joy of being immersed in nature, watching a new day being born #contentment #perthhills #offthebeatentrack #friendship #calm #peace #newday #kindness #meditation #nature #wallabies #emu #wedgetaileagle #sunriseperth #perth #happiness #joy See more
19.01.2022 Hi everyone Thank you to everyone who came to last nights talk about letting go. It was beautiful seeing you all so very calm and peaceful after the meditation. Its a wonderful thing, to give yourself a break in the middle of the week to let things go, even just for half an hour, so you can let your mind settle and recover some lost energy. It brings me so much joy when I see others learning how to put down the burdens of the past and the future, with all of their expectati...ons, fears, doubts and worries, and just being able to find contentment in the present moment, being silently aware, not trying to be anyone or do anything...... Just letting it all go...... May you all be happy, healthy and at ease and ill see you next Wednesday PS. I tried to record last nights talk, but, it didn't work out. I will look into what i need to make these talks available for you to watch.
18.01.2022 Hi everyone, There is now the possibility to listen to the Wednesday night meditation classes and other talks I will be recording for those of you who are interested. I will be uploading the talks to YouTube and the Podbean podcast app. There is a link below to the first one.... If you have been curious about meditation, mindfulness or other aspects of the Buddhist path, then please tune in as I do my best to talk about how to start a meditation practice of your own, give guided meditations of different techniques and discuss how to bring more peace and happiness into your life. I have been putting a lot of effort into making these talks available for you, and I do hope it is of some benefit to your happiness and wellbeing. I am not the best public speaker in the world, especially having to face a myriad of health issues each day that makes it even harder to put myself in front of everyone, and I may make mistakes or say something wrong, so I ask for forgiveness in the event that happens. Everything I have been doing has been made possible by the kindness and generosity of people giving in some way or another, and although I do not wish to ask more of anyone, it would be greatly appreciated if you were to consider donating towards keeping the talks available. www.mindfulmatt88.wixsite.com/behappy/donate May you all be happy, well, and at ease in your hearts The first talk can be watched on Youtube here: https://youtu.be/iaBgvpxum48 Or on the podbean app here: https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-aknm5-e80e30
17.01.2022 Hi Everyone, Recently, I have been down in Albany to record a few talks from my teacher, Ajahn Brahm. He has come all the way from the monastery in Serpentine in support of Venerable Mudu who has been building up the Buddhist community here in Albany. Here are a few images I have taken over the past couple of days for you all to see and share. ... Also, a reminder that I will be back to teach meditation this wednesday in Perth, so please come along if you wish to learn how to meditate!
16.01.2022 There is nothing more important than your happiness and well being One of the questions I ask of myself, is what can I do today that will contribute to my inner joy? How can I think differently, see differently or do things differently to introduce more contentment into my life? I also use these same contemplations to see how i can contribute in the same way to those around me, as the well being and happiness of others is of just as much importance as my own happiness. ...It would be pointless feeling good while seeing others having a difficult time. Just some of my thoughts I wanted to share from my day. So often we forget to think about what makes us happy, the things we can appreciate more and the people in our lives we are grateful for. There is always a reason to smile and find some hidden joy in the things around us, like the simple beauty of a waterfall like in the picture above #waterfalls #perth #bellsrapids #contemplation #lookingatmyself #buddhism #together #metta #kindness #westernaustralia #nature #innerhappiness #innerpeace #buddhist #warmheart #grateful #alwayssmile See more
16.01.2022 Peace is within us no matter where we go - to the top of a mountain, the bottom of a waterfall, the deep seclusion of a forest or the business of the city, peace has been with us this whole time. It reveals itself to us when we are happy to be where we are, not trying to be anyone, not trying to do anything, just content to be sitting and allowing things to settle on their own. When we learn to leave things alone, and stop trying to control everything, the experience of peac...e will be waiting for you... The more you let go, the more peace will arise as a result may you all have a beautiful start to your week, be happy and let go #bellsrapids #brigadoon #peaceful #letgo #letitbe #relax #bestill #kindness #joy #mindfulness #contentment #behereandnow #perthhills #nature #waterfalls #westernaustralia #trailswa #experienceperthhills
15.01.2022 This afternoon I went for a gentle walk in the hills of Perth to get some fresh air and move my body after having to take life really slow because of my heart recently. The fresh air and vibrant greens, yellows and browns of the earth and foliage provided a beautiful space to let the mind relax and just be. Isn't it a beautiful view? may you all be happy, well and at ease, and experience the joy of being among nature and breathing in the fresh air. Take no moment for g...ranted. #perthhills #nature #beautiful #green #bluesky #perthhillsmundaring #offthebeatentrack #hikecollective #wehikewa #perthoutdoors #trailswa @ Perth Hills See more
14.01.2022 This afternoon I was invited along to Off The Beaten Track WA's sunset hike for R U OK day at John Forrest National Park, where we had a beautiful hike through the beautiful forest to the lookout, where I gave a short guided meditation. It was an absolutely amazing afternoon! Dont forget to always ask those around you: R U OK? and always remember its is most definitely ok, to NOT be ok. Lets do what we can to care more for those around us and support each other, it really does make a difference!
13.01.2022 Hi Everyone, On Friday the 4th of September I will be giving a talk at Dhammaloka about how I started my journey with Buddhism and meditation. I will go into detail about how I used the practice of meditation to deal with being incredibly ill, having to endure intense physical pain and how I dealt with facing death. Anyone is welcome to come along, I will be going a guided meditation and answering any questions you may have regarding meditation or the Buddhist practice.... 7:30pm 9:00pm
12.01.2022 Hi Everyone, Our wednesday meditation classes are still going ahead this week, and it would be great to see you all again for some midweek mindfulness and meditation (and smiles) Much love to you all, and a massive thank you to everyone for your kind, caring and loving messages concerning my visit to hospital ... You are ALL AMAZING
12.01.2022 Metta is one of the most important aspects of the Buddhist practice to undertake and develop. It provides not only a strong foundation upon which we can look at our character and weed out the underlying tendencies that can cause harm and upset with ourselves and those around us, it also enables us to become more proactive and helpful when dealing with people in the wider community. Instead of worrying only about ourselves and our own life, we practice metta to care for and ...promote the well- being of everyone without distinction. This is a great way of lessening our attachments to this sense of me, this sense of self and the actions that are centered around it. There are three parts to bringing the practice of metta into your life: The first part is the application of loving-kindness in one's day-to-day conduct. As a pattern of behaviour, this aspect of metta makes one's life richer in the fact that one is dear to others, they are well respected and trusted as their actions come from an intention of friendliness and people will often turn to those who are kind, gentle and honest. As a result ones actions produce no harm, therefore there is less grief and anger in the minds of those who practice loving kindness during their everyday activities. The second part expresses loving-kindness as a distinct technique of meditation that leads to samadhi higher consciousness induced by absorption (deep states of meditation). Metta, as a meditation technique, effects that spiritual efflorescence whereby one's entire life becomes a source of joy for all. Metta will also help soften the internal barriers of hate, anger and discrimination one has built up from not keeping a mindful watch over the mind from birth. Metta finds a place for the mind to abide that is not of negativity, judgement, greed or jealousy. It takes joy in others happiness as it does ones own. The third part underlines a total commitment to the philosophy of universal love and its personal, social and empirical extensions loving-kindness through all bodily, verbal and mental activities. This part envisages the cultivation of that process of spiritual development whereby one brings about an all-embracing application of spiritual love which can powerfully condition society as a whole and lead one to the heights of transcendental realization. For us to develop spiritually, the practice of metta must form a strong basis upon which we go about our lives - the way we treat ourselves, the way we treat others and it must also transform our perceptions to eventually find a point of open acceptance and non-judgement to all. Sending much metta to you all tonight, may you all be happy and well, look forward to seeing you on wednesday for some meditation!
12.01.2022 If anyone is interested in learning some yoga, please come along to this event - details in the link Tess is a wonderful friend of mine, who has been incredibly supportive and has helped me with getting my meditation classes up and going, so please come and support her as she kicks her yoga classess up a notch in her new space!
11.01.2022 Hi Everyone, For those who would like to listen, I have just uploaded Wednesday nights talk about metta onto Podbean, link is below. https://mindfulmatt88.podbean.com/e/metta-meditation-from-/... Includes a guided meditation halfway through. May this talk be of some benefit to you and bring you some happiness and joy. Please feel free to share with your friends and loved ones if you found it useful. Wishing you all happiness and joy, Matt.
10.01.2022 It was wonderful being given the opportunity to give a talk tonight at Dhammaloka (Buddhist Society of WA) I hope that all of you who attended enjoyed the talk I gave on pain, chronic illness and how to deal with the heavy side of life. I will upload the talk tomorrow onto my YouTube channel for those couldn't be here ... May you all have a beautiful week, look after each other and be kind always! Much metta, Matt
10.01.2022 Such happy smiles from our group meditation class last night! Last night we talked about metta, the Buddhist practice of developing kindness, gentleness and harmlessness, and how it forms a strong basis on which the Buddhist practice is developed. We also did a metta meditation, and it was wonderful to see such warm, happy faces afterwards! We are all worthy of feeling loved, being cared for and experience kindness and gentleness ... May you all feel loved today, May you all experience joy, May you all be happy, safe and well. #metta #kindness #joy #warmth #warmheart #smile #peace #innerpeace #mentaljoy #meditation #meditate #dhamma #community #friendship #giving #buddhism #buddhist #perth #happiness @dharmayoga.perth See more
08.01.2022 It has been a challenging week, my health has been quite up and down, better in some ways and worse in others. Its a constant cycle of feeling almost well to start pushing myself and then being knocked down again and not being able to do much. To be honest, it can be quite frustrating - time is still ticking away, we dont know when our time is up. I have so much I wish to be able to give, and sometimes I feel like each day i am unwell, is another day taken from me to make a d...ifference. I have been doing my best to get out and make some videos and podcasts for you all to listen to, as you all know i am very passionate about meditation and how helpful it can be - I may not be very good at the recordings, but I am doing my best to share across my experiences and the techniques I have learnt over the years and also teach once a week, while dealing with much physical pain and tiredness. To be honest, it has been very hard, especially this week. I just want you all to know that behind these posts, is a person who is doing their best to give himself to you all and be of some service to our community, someone who cares for you all so much and wants nothing but your happiness and well-being. I dont use my account for likes, or to say wise things, but to get you all to see things in a different way, a more beautiful way, so that you may find more peace, happiness and contentment in your day to day lives. This is my life, my practice, my own thoughts I put up here for you to read - my ill health has shaped my life over the last few years in such a way that my practice, my family and my friends are all I have left to focus on. Thank you to everyone who has been incredibly kind and supportive over the years. Also, thank you to all of you who read my posts and recently, watch my videos. A lot of hard work has gone into making those possible May you all be happy May you all be well May you all be content May you all be kind to yourself and others #gratitude #grateful #chronicillness #exhaustion #kindness #joy #mindfulness #contentment #metta #meditationteacher #perth #happiness #buddhism #buddhist #dhamma #meditate #behappy See more
07.01.2022 Don't forget - meditation tomorrow evening at 7pm Come and learn how to calm your mind, and find some peace within as I give a talk and guided meditation. No matter if you have never given it a go or you are a seasoned pro, these classes are for everyone and anyone! Wishing you all wellness, happiness and good health ... Matt See more
05.01.2022 One of the biggest lessons I have learnt along my journey, is to look for the goodness in things. To see the other aspects of life that we would otherwise find negative, irritable, annoying painful or uncomfortable - all of which come from a fault finding mind, a mind that relishes in complaining and making us feel discontent with everything. A fault finding mind is easy to feed, and therefore lies the problem - allowing negativity to reside in our minds is easier than put...ting forth the effort to see things in a more positive way. So, if we wish to cultivate a more positive mindset, then it is going to take repeated effort to look for the good in every situation until it becomes second nature. One of the results of practicing in this way is it brings a lot more energy into our minds, because happiness will arise as a result. When we allow negativity to take hold, it can be very draining, leaving us feeling tired and dull. You know this for yourself. Next time you are experiencing negative self talk, use your mindfulness to see how it feels, as opposed to when the mind is happy. We always have the choice to look for the good in others, to encourage them and be kinder them them, to nurture their wholesome qualities and lift them up. We always have the choice to not be so hard on ourselves, and to slowly change our negative self talk into soft, gentle words of appreciation and self acceptance. We always have the choice to look at a situation in such a way that we can see it as a lesson learnt, a blessing in disguise or a way of growing as a human being Change is often painful, but that is one aspect of allowing ourselves to grow. If you train your mind in this way, you will be creating the cause for much more happiness and joy to arise in your life. You will appreciate things more, love and care for yourself and others more. There is always something positive we can find if we look hard enough - and before long, we can break this habit of thinking in negative, angry and judgemental ways #contentment #perthhills #nature #beautiful #meditation #meditate #dhamma #buddhism #buddhist #kindness #metta #joy #heart #bekind #perth #ajahnbrahm See more
05.01.2022 Hi Everyone, Recently, I had the pleasure of showing Laura and Stacey from SJWire Magazine around Bodhinyana Monastery. As we walked around, I explained to them what the monastery is used for, why people choose to ordain as monks and how practicing the teachings of the Buddha can be useful to anyone, no matter who you are of where you are from. We discussed everything from finding more joy in life, to dealing with the many pains that arise along our journey and everything in... between. The SJWire magazine is locally run, to give those who are living in the area of Serpentine and Jarrahdale a place to see news, events and other interesting columns that are relevant to the residents of these areas. It is a great magazine, so please feel free to go and read the article on Bodhinyana which these guys did such an amazing job. Link below: https://sjwire.com.au/read/ May you all be happy, healthy and well
05.01.2022 Hi everyone, In the video below I give a short explanation of a simple insight i had today - the idea of simply changing postures instead of getting upset or irritated when things don't go to plan and making a decision based on wisdom and kindness instead of just being reactive to the problem. It is so easy to get caught up in the negative stories our minds like to create when things don't go according to the way we want, which was my experience today. My mind was ready to d...o some sitting meditation, it was inclining towards being peaceful, calm, and still, yet my body had other ideas due to a heart that wouldn't settle and rapidly rising blood sugar levels making me feel ill. Instead of forcing my way through another hour of meditation, I found that the kindest, wisest thing to do was simply change posture. No complaints, no negativity, no shaming the body for being inconvenient, but making the most out of the situation. I went for a beautiful walk in the forest and did some walking meditation, which gave my body the time it needed to find its natural rythym and process the high levels of sugar in my blood. There were beautiful birds singing in the trees, the air was blowing gently through the forest and it was such a serene, calming time doing walking meditation. Amazing how things turn out, when we let of trying to control the outcome. When you encounter a difficulty in your life, see if you can change postures and make the most of it instead of becoming upset, angry and irritated. Much kindness, Matt
04.01.2022 Just because we have busy lives, that does not mean we have to live in a busy mind. We have become so used to overthinking, worrying excessively and stressing over every detail of our lives that it has taken away our ability to relax and let go of things. Most people when they meditate bring all of their business, all of the affairs of the world into their meditation with them - instead of leaving it outside on the doorstep of the world where it belongs. This is a precious ...time for you to set aside to be free from planning and worrying and thinking. We live in such a time poor lifestyle, that when it comes to being able to let the mind be still, we act out of habit and start becoming interested in our fantasies and imaginations and plans for the future again instead of finding the contentment and joy of the mind that has finally become still. find the silence... nurture it, appreciate it, and see how your life changes. THANK YOU to everyone who has been following my posts, watching my videos and supporting me, i appreciate all of your kindness - all I wish for is to contribute to your happiness and well being with the content I create. May you all be happy, healthy and well. #lifestyle #business #bestill #calmmind #innerjoy #innerpeace #buddhism #buddhist #meditation #mentalhealth #perth #westernaustralia #southperth #kingspark #stillness #letgo #contenment See more
04.01.2022 One of the most useful expressions about meditation: You dont do letting go, you let go of doing. Most of the time when we sit down with the intention to meditate, we often bring in this attitude of having to be doing something so that we can achieve something from our meditation. We spend the whole half an hour fighting our minds, wanting the meditation to go the way WE want, whereas what we should be doing leaving things alone, taking a step back and allowing things to sett...le on their own. Our focus then changes from having to do, to achieve, to control, to then letting go of doing those things and allowing ourselves to experience the deep contentment that is in this moment. May you all have a beautiful day, and keep meditating!
04.01.2022 The meditation hall at Bodhinyana Monastery in Serpentine. This hall has been a big part of my journey and that of others who come here. It is a place where meditation can deepen, our hearts can be filled with joy and contentment can take a foothold. It is a place where a lot of healing can begin, spiritually, physically and mentally. It is a place where deeper insights into our existence, our world and how we relate to it all can be developed. It is a place of letting go..., of finding freedom, peace, and joy amidst the turmoil, stress and worries in life. Now that you know such a place exists, let me tell you one more thing - this hall is like your mind, it is a natural place of stillness. No matter what you are doing, or where you may be, you can learn how to make your mind peaceful, still and quiet like this hall with all the windows and doors to the outside world shut - a place where everything has a chance to calm down, a place where we begin to see things more clearly than before, a place where we can be silent, happy, and content just being here, where nothing will disturb the beautiful peace and quiet that is to found in here. make your mind like an empty hall #meditation #meditationhall #bodhinyana #buddhist #buddhism #dhamma #ajahnbram #theravada #stillness #peace #health #wellbeing #perth #serpentine #jarrahdale #sjwire #kindness #joy #mindfulness #metta #contentment #joy #warmheart See more
