Insight Meditation - Paul Burrows

Paul is an experienced mindfulness and meditation teacher offering individual tuition and mentoring on a long or short term basis. He trained as a teacher with Christina Feldman at Gaia House retreat centre and has taught many retreats and courses in the UK and internationally since 2007.

Paul went to his first meditation class 30 years ago and his exploring has since led him through the monasteries and retreat centres of the Kathmandu Valley, India and the UK. He has undertaken periods of intensive retreat practice in the Theravada and Tibetan Buddhist traditions and has also completed 3 years of psychotherapy training at The Gestalt Centre in London.

Mentoring and Tuition

Working one-to-one with an experienced teacher is a powerful way to develop a meditation practice. Whether you’re getting started as a beginner or have plenty of experience, mentoring can help shape and grow your practice in a way that is based on your own unique interests and needs. It is a very personal type of support that helps you meet the specific challenges arising both on the cushion and in everyday life.

Here are some areas you may want to explore with Paul

Mindfulness

What do we need to do to become present? How do we train our attention? What kind of effort is required to wake up from distraction and come home to ourselves? Mindfulness is at the very heart of these questions. It is both a basic human capacity and a skill that can be learned and developed. It provides the bedrock for a grounded and calm centre in life and is fundamental to any sincere examination of ourselves. It is also something that takes time, commitment and support.

Compassion

We can ground our life in a sincere wish for the happiness and wellbeing of oneself and others. This compassionate orientation is a powerful ally for mindfulness and meditation practice and brings confidence, joy and balance. Compassion is a bridge out of the unhappy contractions of self obsession and sows seeds for the arising of deep wisdom and freedom. Through practice we can learn how to recognise, cultivate and express this important aspect of our hearts.

Inquiry

Fundamentally mysterious in nature, life offers up its secrets to the curious and patient among us. When we bring a non judgemental and inquiring mind to our experience, we make ourselves available to learn the liberating secrets of the human heart. How do we look and listen deeply? What can we learn about the nature of our thoughts, feelings, self and world? Inquiry is an open-ended, playful investigation and is integral to living an awakened life.

Cultivation

We could look at our hearts and lives as fertile ground and ask ourselves what we want to grow. What qualities might we wish to nourish and develop? States of calm and concentration can help us become profoundly gathered and collected. Deep reservoirs of acceptance and loving kindness make space for the diversity of experiences that arise. Curiosity gently probes to find the nature of things. What seeds might we plant through our practice?

Resilience

Over time meditation practice can bring a buoyant confidence, a quiet sustaining resilience. Despite the world of compelling distractions, we begin to find a reliable place to stand and get perspective. A safe and trustworthy place we can return to. Grounded in this way we can learn to work wisely with things that may trouble us like worry, anxiety, low mood and low self esteem. And we can think clearly about what we might need to thrive.

Integration

Even though meditation looks like something we do privately it is actually a deeply relational practice. It involves waking up to how we interface with the world and how parts of ourselves interface with one another. Awareness and wisdom digest places of stuckness so that the different parts of ourselves can work together as a whole. This supports an ethical sensitivity and helps us work together with the whole world, awake to social and ecological concerns.

What students say about Paul

I’m hugely grateful to Paul for his excellent guidance over the last few years. He has helped me keep my meditation practice truly alive, growing rather than static. He has also mentored me in my new role as a community dharma leader, where I offer guidance on meditation and Buddhist thought. I appreciate his encouragement and ability to help me understand and focus on what’s important to me. I also appreciate the times he’s gently and skilfully challenged me about my ideas or plans. I hope our working relationship continues for many years. If you feel drawn to his approach, I encourage you to explore what he may offer you.
James, Community Dharma Leader in London

Meeting with Paul often turns into a lively discussion, but it’s always about something important to me. By giving me space and meeting me where I am, he allows whatever needs attention to emerge. We might be looking at what’s happening in meditation or at a challenging aspect of daily life; whatever direction we take, his natural gifts of attunement and reflection often give rise to valuable and quite unexpected insights. I’m more than happy to recommend him.
Christine, Psychotherapist

Paul has been a really supportive spiritual friend for some years. I attended the young persons retreat at Gaia House with him which was brilliant and have also worked with him one-to-one a lot. He has really good counselling skills which help bring together life issues and meditation and he helps me get grounded when I’m struggling with anxiety. He also has fun and innovative ways of helping me deepen my practice and of investigating the nature of the self and the world.
Henry, Photographer and NHS staff

I originally came to Paul to help integrate London life with my meditation and retreat practice. We looked at how solitude and exploring places of wilderness are a deep support for inner exploration. We looked at the challenges of finding a community and living situation where I could honour my love of practice. Sometimes conversations with Paul helped me connect with a sense of kindness and softness within and at other times to simply savour moments of presence when walking slowly through the city, which I really appreciated.
Henriette

Arrange a Session

Paul usually works online but if you are in London it may be possible to meet in person. Sessions last one hour and are offered on a donation basis with a suggested amount of £30 to £60. Low or no cost sessions are always available, you decide the amount no questions asked.

Contact Paul to arrange a session or ask a question