What does it mean to be mindful?

Mindful people are attuned to their feelings and well-being. At ease with the world, they focus on the vitality of the present moment rather than on past upsets or future worries. And they have the emotional and rational skills required to support themselves and others.

In short, mindfulness is the meditative and psychological state of being that we all desire as we face life's pressures and distractions. However, there's a problem: cultivating the habits required for mindfulness can be tough, lonely work.

But what if it didn't have to be?

Mindfulness Together: A Simple Guide to Exploring Our Inner Selves with Friends is about making the journey toward mindfulness in comfort and good company. A comprehensive guide to running a mindfulness group, it contains full session plans, meditation routines, learning materials and self-reflection activities for 10 group sessions that will equip you and your fellow group members with the habits and insights of a mindful person, at the same time as you become a community of friends.

Themes and techniques covered include meditation, lucid dreaming, emotional intelligence, rational maturity, personal relationships and gratitude. No experience in teaching or counselling is required to lead the sessions, which can be run in almost any social environment, from apartment buildings and village halls to youth centres and seniors' homes.

If you've been curious about mindfulness but have never known where to start, you are not alone. Mindfulness Together may well be the beginning you and the people around you have been looking for.

Alainnah Robertson was born in the Scottish Highlands in 1933. Across nine decades spent in the United Kingdom, southern Africa and Canada, she has been many things: hairdresser, homemaker, swimming pool director, trade unionist, municipal councillor, business owner, typographer and church elder. There have been two constants throughout Alainnah's rich and varied life: the pursuit of universal truths about the human mind and spirit, and the drive to build a sense of community and contribute wherever she has settled.

From 2015, and living in downtown Toronto, Alainnah founded various groups, including a community mindfulness group, in her high-rise condo building. These gave birth to a community of friends who to this day are continuing on the journey toward mindfulness together.

Mindfulness Together: A Simple Guide to Exploring Our Inner Selves with Friends is the blueprint of the sessions she designed for her group. Alainnah shares them with you here so that you too can develop mindfulness in the company of your neighbours, friends and loved ones.

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