How to.. Each week, ET entertainments reporter Duncan Hall tries out a new activity. This week, Duncan tries out:
Meditation
TIME, I thought, for some me-time. With the launch of The Guide last week, it was time to relax.
Time to meditate. That was my thinking as I walked up to the Friends Meeting House in River Lane, Peterborough, on Monday night. And a sense of calm instantly seemed to descend as I was introduced to Andrew Crompton, the teacher at the Peterborough Kadampa Buddhist Meditation Centre.
I am not a Buddhist, so when I realised the group's full name, my heart sank. But Andrew, who must be one of the most softly spoken and calm men I have ever met, pointed out that not all the group's members were practising Buddhists - and they did not expect newcomers to be, or be interested in becoming Buddhist either.
A card he gave me before the meeting explained: "We're just a group of people who like meditating, and find meditation to be a useful method for improving our everyday lives. "Mostly, we meditate and drink tea. We try to maintain a light and easy-going atmosphere."
So far, so good, I thought. After all, I like tea. And improving my daily life wouldn't hurt either. I wasn't sure what to expect when we moved upstairs into the meditation room. I had visions of cushions on the floor, incense burning, perhaps with a statue of the Buddha somewhere in a shrine.
And when I got upstairs with my fellow meditators, that is pretty much what I found. But you did not have to sit cross-legged on the floor - until our photographer arrived I was sat in a high-backed chair towards the back of the group, where I found it just as easy to join in the meditation. I was very nervous when we began the first meditation - to be honest I wasn't sure what to expect.
As I sat, eyes closed, listening to Andrew's reassuring instructions to relax and let go of all thoughts, I could feel a thousand thoughts flitting across my mind, not least about the Evening Telegraph photographer patiently waiting in the corner for us to finish.
But I surprised myself by settling into the meditation of inner peace, slowly relaxing and gradually losing myself in the moment. It is a strange feeling, almost like going into a deep sleep but being totally awake at the same time - you lose the feeling of your limbs as you try to turn inward to examine your own mind. At one point, I was dreaming about flying along a hilly landscape, not unlike the Yorkshire Dales where I used to holiday with my family.
I felt extremely relaxed and really did not want to open my eyes again for a while. Afterwards, Andrew spoke about where negative emotions came from, and though I might not have totally understood, it certainly gave me some thoughts to chew on, in a similar way to a church sermon might, as well as a way of looking at the world that I might not have considered before. During the second meditation, we examined the origins of some of our own negative emotions and feelings. After the meeting, Andrew explained the group was a branch of the Akshobya Buddhist Centre in Nottingham, where he was based.
The centre is a member of the New Kadampa Tradition of Buddhism established in the west by the Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, who came to this country after spending 25 years in a Tibetan monastery in the Himalayas. The Peterborough branch was established 10 years ago, with several of its members staying with the group ever since.
It was hoping to eventually get its own premises where people could stay and activities could be provided. He said: "We should always apply what we have meditated on in the meetings in our daily lives. "If you can keep your mind more positive, then you will become more kind and considerate."