Mindfulness & Buddhism

2020/03/26 by Roger Hyam

Marathon Monk: To 23rd March 2020 – 441 days & 2,646 mindful miles & into Covid-19 Lockdown

The winter months have been tough in terms of colds and flu-like illness that have kept me from walking all the days I’d wanted. Nothing particularly bad but enough that I’ve had to take care of my body and get the bus one way or the other across town. I continue to walk in the…

2019/12/01 by Roger Hyam

Marathon Monk: September-November 2019 – 399 days & 2,394 mindful miles

It’s been a patching three months. Been on a work trip for a week, a retreat and been ill but when I can I’ve still be doing the walk. Craving solitude just now. Not feeling like writing.

2019/11/23 by Roger Hyam

From Zombies to Tattoos

I went to a lecture on The Walking Dead (a TV series about zombie apocalypse living) and photography at Stills by David Grinly last week. It was heavy post modern, French philosopher type stuff but also entertaining. David expounded in a semi random fashion. When I left after two hours the discussion was still going…

2019/09/10 by Roger Hyam

Marathon Monk: August 2019 – 358 days & 2,148 mindful miles

Not much to say this month. Very crowded with the festival. Such a relief when the posters come down.

2019/08/07 by Roger Hyam 0 comments

Marathon Monk: July 2019 – 340 days & 2,040 mindful miles

Breaking the 2,000 mile barrier. Lots of energy this month. First week on holiday in the Lake district.

2019/07/09 by Roger Hyam

Marathon Monk: May & June 2019 – 323 days & 1,938 mindful miles

Another two months down. I lost more than ten days to a retreat and a little illness in May. In June I was in Germany for a week and had a couple of offsite meetings. I passed the two year mark on the solstice. I’m way off two hundred days per year but close to…

2019/05/06 by Roger Hyam

Marathon Monk: April 2019 – 301 days & 1,806 mindful miles

April was more like a ‘normal’ month. I’ve started to feel like I’m in the swing of it again and slowly sinking the well of my practice. May is going to be a busy month. I’m running my regular workshops at the botanics as well as helping out on Tuesday and Thursday mornings in George…

2019/03/31 by Roger Hyam 0 comments

Marathon Monk: January to March 2019 – 281 days & 1,686 mindful miles

Three months to do one months worth of walking. What a start to the year! January walking didn’t start till 7th because of the way the New Year holiday fell. I walked normally for a week and a half but then came down with a horrible cold. I think it was the one that many…

2018/12/31 by Roger Hyam

Marathon Monk: December 2018 – 258 days & 1,548 mindful miles

Another year over. Time of reflectance and long sleeps. Resolutions for New Year are “all of the above”: diet, exercise, practice, etc, etc. I passed the 1,500 mile mark almost at the solstice so that is sticking with the thousand miles a year average. There was a workshop at the university and I broke up…

2018/12/04 by Roger Hyam

Marathon Monk: November 2018 – 248 days & 1,488 mindful miles

What has happened this month? I’ve started to Bullet Journal. Bought new camera bag and Hasselblads. Spending too much on camera gear but enjoying the sensations of owning in my 50s what I wanted in my 20s. I’m calling my Sunday Anxieties FOMO now. That’s what it comes down to. A list of things I…

2018/11/01 by Roger Hyam 0 comments

Marathon Monk: October 2018 – 233 days & 1,398 mindful miles

Another month already! Towards the end of the month I’ve been finding joy again in walking and in mundane things – the true test of happiness. The extra energy has allowed me to cut back on my media consumption so I’m not looking at Twitter, Facebook or news websites just at the moment. It doesn’t…

2018/10/15 by Roger Hyam 0 comments

Marathon Monk: September 2018 – 217 days & 1,302 mindful miles

A quiet month again. Lost a few days to my sinuses playing up. Had to get the bus back or work at home. There is a general feeling of embeddedness. I feel the period of being really low has past. Perhaps 2018 will just be a year I remember for dipping my toe in more…

2018/09/03 by Roger Hyam 0 comments

Marathon Monk: August 2018 – 199 days & 1,194 mindful miles

Not sure what to say this month. Not quite to 200 days – although I am on the 200th as I type. Here are two photos.

2018/08/01 by Roger Hyam

Marathon Monk: July 2018 – 182 days & 1,092 mindful miles

Much more upbeat in July. Walks have been really regular and been feeling good again. First time back at yoga on 31st. I weigh 1lb more than last month @ 14st 4lb (90.7kg). I’ve noticed that I have nearly exactly the same attitude to a tub of ice-cream or packet of biscuits that I used…

2018/07/11 by Roger Hyam

Marathon Monk: June 2018 – 166 days & 996 mindful miles

A year on the road. Not the road in the picture. That is the A383 in the Highlands. It has been a time of reflection. The summer solstice on the 21st June marked the first year of this Marathon Monk project and I was hoping to have completed 200 days and over a thousand miles…

2018/06/02 by Roger Hyam

Marathon Monk: May 2018 – 152 days & 912 mindful miles

May is the month that I lead the Two Feet, One Mind walking workshops in the Botanics so, strangely, I do a few less marathon monk days. The workshops are for two hours, 6-8pm, and it is just too much to walk there and back as well as a days work so I go on…

2018/05/07 by Roger Hyam 0 comments

Marathon Monk: April 2018 – 137 days & 822 mindful miles

Five years ago I made a commitment to do a 20 minute mindfulness walk ever day during my lunch hour at the Botanics. I put a blog post on the Wild Geese website inviting people to join me and occasionally they have. I’ve managed to stick with it through all weathers although I don’t always…

2018/04/10 by Roger Hyam

Marathon Monk: March 2018 – 125 days & 750 mindful miles

Finally coming to the end of taking excess holiday allowance. Married Gustaf and Ainsley on Saturday 31st at St Marks Marathon Monk Posts by Date

2018/03/01 by Roger Hyam

Marathon Monk: February 2018 – 112 days & 672 mindful miles

On Tuesday 6th February I passed the 100 walks mark when, if I was a real Japanese Marathon Monk, I would have asked formal permission to continue. I thought about marking the day in some special day but in the end it was just a normal walk. Perhaps I’ll do more of a celebration when…

2018/02/17 by Roger Hyam 0 comments

Four Nutriments Sharing

This is a quick recording of my thoughts on the Four Nutriments discourse of the Buddha. I had written some notes and couldn’t face typing the whole thing up so thought I’d try a recording. Thich Nhat Hanh Audio has a whole section on talks where Thay has mentioned the Four Nutriments so if you…

2018/01/31 by Roger Hyam

Marathon Monk: January 2018 – 97 days & 582 mindful miles

Another short month as far as marathon monking is concerned. After the Christmas and New Year break took a chunk off the start of the month I got the call to go into the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and have my inguinal hernias fixed. This had been looming for nine months. It was an elective surgery…

2018/01/01 by Roger Hyam

Marathon Monk: December 2017 – 89 days & 534 mindful miles

I was really losing it at work in the run up to Christmas. No motivation, just staring at the screen or surfing the web. I have a load of leave to use up and a colleague said “Just go now” so I jacked in 2017 on Wednesday 18th December and will go back to work…

2017/12/01 by Roger Hyam

Marathon Monk: November 2017 – 78 days & 468 mindful miles

Not quite 500 miles. I had a slow week near the beginning with the virus still coming back occasionally but am now back to 100%. The stopping at shines seems to be taking a new form. I pause for longer waiting for the orange juice to clear as Thay would say. I don’t count as…

2017/11/03 by Roger Hyam

Marathon Monk: October 2017 – 62 days & 372 mindful miles

A bit of a wipeout month. The first few weeks I went down with a virus that made me very weak. I had my left parotid gland swell up like I had mumps. I had dreams of being a child again that I guess were linked to when I had mumps in the 1970s. …

2017/10/06 by Roger Hyam

Marathon Monk: September 2017 – 47 days & 282 mindful miles

September has been a busy busy month with many distractions around running the Project Soothe Exhibition. Rewarding but tiring. As I reached the end of the month the walking is getting to my physically an I miss a few days by jumping on the bus to get home. Marathon Monk Posts by Date…

2017/09/03 by Roger Hyam

Marathon Monk: August 2017 – 33 days & 198 mindful miles

Quite a month for distractions both good and bad so I’ve only increased my total to 33 days or about 198 miles since starting on the summer solstice. The month was always going to have the good distraction of a week in Stourbridge at the Nourishing Happiness retreat. Here I got to walk and practice each…

2017/08/01 by Roger Hyam 0 comments

Marathon Monk: July 2017 – 22 days & 132 mindful miles

I’ve completed the first full calendar month of walking with a break for a week in the English Lake district. I’ve walked 22 days since I started which is around 132 miles. It feels like they are taking the town apart around me which increases my sense of solidity in a weird way. The Three…

2017/07/05 by Roger Hyam 1 comment

Marathon Monk and the Pointless Pole

How does meditation work? I’m sure there are loads of scientific papers and sutra commentaries on the subject but I have one mundane theory I’d like to share. We all self-talk all the time. I find it hard to believe the occasional person I meet who claims they don’t. The problem with this is two…

2017/07/01 by Roger Hyam 0 comments

Marathon Monk: June 2017 – 8 days & 48 mindful miles

Having started on the Summer Solstice I’m going to blog each month to keep track of the progress. Sometimes this might just be posting a total of the days I’ve walked other times I’ll reflect on how it is going. I started by using Google Fit on my phone to deliberately measure the distance. I…

2017/07/01 by Roger Hyam

Marathon Monk Index

Just to reiterate I’m not a monk and I’m not running 26.219 mile marathons – which makes the title a bit of lie. I’m walking to work as a Buddhist training exercise inspired by the Tendai Buddhist Marathon Monks of Mt Hiei in Japan. This is the Marathon Monk Index page so the associated posts…