Recently I was interviewed by Jon Wilde of Everyday Mindfulness. This is a website set up by Gareth Walker that is keen to promote mindfulness as widely as possible. He is a great guy with tremendous enthusiasm and drive. Jon is a journalist who is also doing all he can to get the word out to the general public so they can benefit from the magic of all that mindfulness can offer.

It turned out to be a great opportunity for me to draw together some of my recent thinking and Everyday Mindfulness have been generous enough to publish the full interview which is rather long!

If you're interested, read below and then follow the 'read more' link at the end of the blog:  

EVERYDAY MINDFULNESS: Did you have an interest in meditation when you were growing up?

VIDYAMALA BURCH: Growing up in New Zealand, I was a very active child. In my teens I did a lot of hill walking and rock climbing and, whilst engaged in those pursuits, I had what might be called spiritual experiences where I felt at one with everything. I had a very particular experience at thirteen when I was on a walk and I stood to gaze at these amazingly beautiful mountains. It felt as thought I was merging with the mountain. Growing up I wouldn't sit and meditate but I did have some sublime experiences that awoke the mystery of life for me in some ecstatic way.

EM: At sixteen you suffered your first major health setback. How did that occur?

VB: I had my first injury at sixteen. I was lifting somebody out of a swimming pool during life-saving practice and I felt pain in my back which got worse and worse as the days went by. It turned out that I had a condition called spondylolisthesis. Six months later I had major surgery to fuse that part of my spine. There were complications from the surgery which meant that I required further surgery.
That was the beginning of a life of chronic pain for me. I went from being a happy, sporty type to being more withdrawn. For the first time, I lost any sense that my body was a pleasant place to be.

Read the rest here