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- About Emma – Professional Bio
- Emma Mills London Philosophy
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Two Ways To Explore Art Through Meditation With Emma Mills

Emma Mills
20th Mar '18
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18

Two meditations for exploring art, taken from Emmas book, Inhale. Exhale. Repeat

Art + Beauty

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Author @inhaleexhalerepeatbook 💁🏻‍♀️

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I’ll never forget the first time I meditated 😅 a lady came into the Mind Cente I worked at and shared a guided relaxation session (it wasn’t called meditation there). She dimmed the lights and I relaxed back in a cozy armchair, closing my eyes and following her visualisation. I came out of the session feeling rested and relaxed, it was no big deal. .

But a strange thing happened. Whereas before my mind was kind of busy with mental chatter, now it was silent. No thoughts. No noise. Just silence, and It stayed like that for a few days. .

After a while a thought or two would appear, and the thought would say ‘oh my god, I’ve got no thoughts how will I know what to do next?!’ 😅Which seems quite funny now when I recall it like that!
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I went back to the office and called the lady to tell her I had no thoughts and to ask when they would be coming back? I’d only ever known one type of mind, a busy one, and so the silence was an unknown to me.
She was lovely and said ‘don’t worry they will come back.’ In no time, the atmosphere of my mind returned and it was business as usual. But I never forgot and I was never the same again. .

It was like seeing behind the curtain in the Wizzard of Oz. I’d seen that the mind and it’s activity could possibly come and go and that therefore it wasn’t essential to me.
Everyone’s experience is different of course, and that was some years ago now but with every day that passes my own personal practice in meditation and self enquiry reveals something new. It never gets old, just more and more interesting and that’s why I write my blog and books. .
Emma Mills London is here to awaken your joy, to nurture that awakening and to be a place of repose and inspiration for those already awakened and living well. .
Curious about what I have said? Why not slip a toe in and try it out. What might start as a way to relax could end up being the door to a whole other kind of wonder 💓
Emma x
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P.s what has any of this go to do with having cream tea @claridgeshotel with your bestie? Well, meditation and tea and Claridges are both sources of immense joy... but you can’t have tea at Claridges every day, can you? 😀

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💌🖊What are some of the best things you have learned from having a meditation practice? I’d love to know... Here are some of my best things:

1. The present moment is the place where I can access the greatest amount of power, wisdom, love and potential.
2. Everything is part of the same one thing, people, pets, places etc. Nothing is separate and there are no isolated systems.
3. Breathing properly throughout the day or during breathing practices, is wonderful and has a great effect on health and vitality
4. I don’t have to believe or identify with my thinking mind. Just like smells and trees in the garden thoughts come and go, awareness remains. To quote Shelley ‘life like a dome of many coloured glass stains the white radiance of eternity’ .🥰 leave me a comment, share with us if you found any of these to be true for you or if you discovered something else! 🖊💌 .
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#meditation #mindfulness #meditationtips #mondfulnesscoach #emmamillslondon #emmamills #inhaleexhalerepeat

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The leaves are falling, falling as if from far up,
as if orchards were dying high in space.
Each leaf falls as if it were motioning "no." And tonight the heavy earth is falling
away from all other stars in the loneliness.
We're all falling. This hand here is falling.
And look at the other one. It's in them all.
And yet there is Someone, whose hands
infinitely calm, holding up all this falling.

by Rainer Maria Rilke .
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#autumn #autumnvibes🍁 #fall #fallpoetryfallpoems #airafalls #rilke #rilkepoems #emmamills #emmamillslondon

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Hiked the Helvellyn summit in the Lake District this weekend. 😱Up via Swirral edge and down striding edge. .

It’s the 3rd highest 🏔 in England, the view was spectacular, although the ( meant to be intermediate) scramble up to the summit was absolutely terrifying. Not sure I’d recommend it or ever do it again 😂. It’s an incredible planet, the waters, the earth and the mountains....Ever hike in the Lakes, what are your tips? Sharing all about it on my IG stories @emmamillslondon .
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#lakes #scrambling #climbing #mountainhikes #mountain #lakedsitrict #swirraledge #stridingedge #beauty #vanlife #nature #naturetherapy #views #travelblog #travelblogger #lonelyplanet #thatsdarling #gooutdoors #anotherspace #anotherlake #thisismylife #thisismyadventure

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🌊🌊🌊 Whether it’s in meditation, at the end of a yoga class or sat in your kitchen with a cup of tea, spend five mins with your eyes closed focussing on real things you can hear, smell, taste or feel now. It’s a simple shift that can bring a refreshing break from the mental too’ing and fro’ing of being stuck in your thoughts. .
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#take5 #5minutemagic #mindfulnesstips #emmamills #emmamillslondon #inhaleexhalerepeat #meditationbooks #mindfulnesbooks #meditationclass

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Outside / Inside

There’s an interesting concept In psychological coaching called ‘uptime’ and ‘down time’
Uptime is when you’re alert and focused outwardly on people, the environment, sounds sights smells. Life!

Downtime is when your attention goes inwards, to your feelings, emotions, thoughts and inner experience.

There are some situations where up time is helpful, for example when you have to go to a meeting and engage with others. Maintaining radio contact with your intuition is great, but drifting off into the realm of self-related thoughts and feelings might not always be helpful when you need to be 👂
Likewise, when you’re walking through the park on a misty fall morning, how lovely to be in uptime, to smell the dewy ferns, to feel the ground underfoot? 🎄

On the other hand, when life is demanding and full of responsibilities, many people yearn for some ‘me time’. Time to just sit and think and be and feel. Down time is calling. Up time & down time are helpful concepts and provide a way for us to explore and modulate how we are habitually relating with our experience. (I 💓 practical ideas that can be tried out day to day.) .

On a less practical note, in meditation, this boundary between in here and out there dissolves. There’s no inner and no outer, just boundless presence. There is just awareness and everything appears within it. Sounds, sensations, thoughts, smells... it’s all appearing in the same placeless place.

This sense of seemlessness then spreads out into those moments where you aren’t meditating or sitting with your eyes closed. Such as walking in the park or drinking tea for example. And it bring with it an overwhelming sense that life is one whole thing. Inner is outer, outer is inner.
What has this got to do with this adorable kids flamenco show I saw in Spain? Maybe nothing, I just love this video! But then again, art is a great way for ‘up time’ and ‘down time’ to get together... and dance! 💃🏻 🎉 .
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#spain #flamenco #uptime #metime #spirit #joy #dance #meditation

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In my daily life, the creative expression is always changing. Sometimes I’m simply overflowing and other times I feel that the flow has stemmed and I don't have much to say. Even in the quieter times I still sense the creative urge alive and well within, and it’s at rest in me. It’s not moving outwards, not wanting to be spoken of. I’ve come to trust this ebb and flow it’s like being part of a dance - with an invisible and highly capable partner. 🎶

if you’re interested to dive deeper into ideas, inspiration and the creative impulse, click the link in my bio @EmmaMillsLondon for the full article💚

Don’t forget to send me a message or leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you about your creative pursuits and the things that light your fire 🔥
#creativity #wellspring #inhaleexhalerepeat #meditationbooks #mindfulnessbooks #emmamills #emmamillslondon #art #wellbeing #meditation #mindfulness #selfcare

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Beautiful. ⛰
#garysnyder
#quotes
#nature
#beauty

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I came over the brow of the hill just as the sun was setting, It was so beautiful. Almost too beautiful to take in. I reached for my camera but realised I’d left it at home. It’s so interesting. This urge to want to save or share something like that with others. But it was just for me this time. A moment never to be repeated, and over in the blink of an eye. It reminded me of a quote from William Samuels (1967) which I’ve shared here before. But here it is again, it so deserves it! ( 📸 is a time lapse sunrise I filmed in Dorset) .
“Imagine walking through a forest early on a crisp morning. The air is moist and still. You are alone. Occasional drops of dew fall from the trees above, plummeting through the slanting sunshine and enchanting morning mist. They flash like diamonds for an instant, then patter softly to the leaves below.
The only other movement is yours and the only other sound belongs to the morning. The air is exhilarating. The moment is holy.
Suddenly, unexpectedly a deer bounds across your path, leaps a fallen log, and noisily - but ever so gracefully - disappears among the trees! Your heart pounds. You are thrilled by the suddenness and beauty of the animals leap to anonymity; and then the silence, more silent now returns. “How beautiful,” you think “how magnificent! How privileged I am to see such a scene and feel such emotion! Let me take a piece of wood and carve into it all the tenderness of the moment. Let me carve all I see and all I feel, all I am thinking and all I have thought. Let me take my knife and shape the wood so others will understand the splendour of this morning. Let me carve it with such exactness and precision that everyone who sees it will hear the bounding deer, see the soft sunlight and smell the sweet freshness of the wild earth.” I ask you: who can tell such a story with a single piece of wood?

Where is the wood that can contain so much within it?

Who can confine Truth to ten words- or ten million?
Such is the job of anyone who takes it upon themselves to talk about the Truth of things.
Yet, in reality the simplicity of Truth is less assuming than a single letter of the alphabet"

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‘According to the World Economic Forum, creativity will be the third-most-important skill by 2020, behind complex problem-solving and critical thinking. In a report, it says, “With the avalanche of new products, new technologies, and new ways of working, people are going to have to become more creative in order to benefit from these changes.” ‘

I read this feature online at a Co Working website and thought it was so interesting. Sometimes creativity means painting a Hollywood pumpkin, 💋🎃 💁🏻‍♀️ and other times it means having ideas or generating novel associations. Ideas for your work, your life, solutions to challenges etc. Below the surface of the rational thinking mind is a deep wellspring of wisdom and creativity it feels GREAT to relax the thinking mind and connect to a deeper awareness, pool of insight that exists for all of us.
Most of the time when when we need a solution or idea we think hard 🤔 with our normal thinking mind or conscious mind, and reach around in there for a solution. If you can’t find an idea 💡 maybe you leave it for a bit and go for a walk or take a shower and then, once you’re relaxed and not trying, the idea just pops into your mind! But where does it come from? And, how can you make room/become receptive for more ideas to appear, even when you aren’t taking a shower or having a walk? This is a key part of the workshops I teach and I’m really glad to be sharing more about it with you here on the blog soon. .

More to come on this topic in this weeks posts so stay tuned. .
And, I would love to hear from you. What’s gets your creative/ idea juices flowing? Leave a comment and let me know 💡 .
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#creativity #joy #innovation #wonder #pumpkin #divapumpkin #glamourous #glampumpkin #lipstick #beautybloggers #beauty #madonna #disruptor #tech #ideas #psychology #tm #meditation #londonmindfulness

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So lovely...✨ #beauty #quotes #meditation #mindfulness #love

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