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Why I Started A Mindfulness Blog

A short story about the long journey to becoming a mindfulness blogger

The short answer to why I started a mindfulness blog is quite simple. I want to share the benefits of living a mindful life with others. But the journey to becoming a mindfulness blogger was a long and winding road.

Why I started a mindfulness blog

I’ve been a blogger for more than a decade. Over the years, I’ve launched, built and sold blogs in the travel niche. During that time I’ve moonlighted as a sales and marketing professional to pay the bills.

Officially, I became a mindfulness blogger on the first day of 2020. When I launched this mindfulness blog I began with a daily challenge which I completed with this blog post. I felt that this blogging challenge would help me to refine my style as a writer. It was also an opportunity to range far and wide in the areas of interest that I pursued.

meditation on the beach at agonda

Return of the Mindful Blogger

Now, here we are six month into 2021 and I’m revisiting this project as a way to share the mindfulness, meditation and art of living teqniques that I use to live with balance and equanimity.

In the coming weeks I’ll share the best of the mindfulness practices that have helped me to forge a new way of being.

How I became a mindfulness blogger

Many moons ago, I was an adventure cyclist. I traveled the world by a bicycle to explore the customs, culture and traditions in far flung places. It was on one of these adventurous journeys that I found Vipassana meditation.

I had cycled across South East Asia to India. Following a short visit to the hill station in Darleeling I found myself booked onto a 10 day meditation retreat. I took a 10 hour night train to Kolkota with my handful of worldly possessions strapped to my bicycle.

cycling for mindfulness

The law of impermanence

I emerged from this meditation course a different person. The experience had significantly changed how I perceived the world. I became a cycling monk.

As I continued the rest of my bicycle journey back to the UK I took up a regular meditation practice. I sat in my tent or under a tree watching my breath like a ninja. Allowing the sensations in my body to come and go, as is there wont.

A lifelong commitment

Once I returned home I established a rigorous meditation practice. I gave up alcohol for good, took up a vegetarian diet and sat two hours of Vipassana daily. I lived a lean yet meaningful life.

Friends noticed a measurable change in my way of being. Some folks joined me on a Vipassana course to see for themselves the life enhancing benefits of the practice. I felt blessed to be able to share such a gift.
meditators at dhamma ganga vipassana kolkota

Incredible India

Later, I traveled back to India to explore more of the birthplace of Vipassana. There’s a subtle magic on the sub-continent that lends itself to spiritual practices. I knew that I’d find inspiration to continue to meditate and learn more about mindfulness fom the yogic tradition.

It was here in India that I launched the mindfulblogger.com. I moved to north Goa for six months in November 2019. Then the global pandemic began in March 2020.

outside the vipassana centre in kolkota

Better living through mindfulness

So, as I sit here, happily stranded in India, I’m using the time to create mindfulness resources, meditation guides and sharing musings on the art of living.

Join me as I delve deeper into the tools, tricks and techniques that have shaped the spiritual East for millennia.

I’ll be posting about my personal practices and sharing the benefits of mindfulness in everyday situations. If you have any mindfulness ideas that you’d like to see on this blog, simply send me an email.