Craig Williams Yoga Meditation and Mindfulness

28/08/2026

A wonderful retreat at Cotswold Zen Centre. Amazing to reconnect with my teacher and fellow teachers.

28/08/2026

The view from my mat this morning. I wish everyone a wonderful bank holiday weekend

16/08/2026

16/08/2026

awesome weekend

Zenways Family Gathering 2026!!

16/08/2026

Just on the way home from a lovely weekend reconnecting with members of the Zenways sangha. I was running a session on Yoga and Pranayama on the Saturday morning. There was a whole host of workshops provided by members. The location was the beautiful Halsway Manor

13/08/2026

The Ocean and the Waves 🌊

I've been thinking a lot about my mind recently.

At the moment, there are certainly some challenging thoughts going around in my head. Thoughts about money, the future, uncertainty, and the occasional “what if?” I have quite a lot going on in my life at the moment.

What's interesting, though, is that I'm becoming more aware of what happens when I don't engage with those thoughts too much.

They come.
They can be uncomfortable.
And then, quite often, they pass. 🍂

Another thought arrives. Then another. And eventually, the original one loses its grip. I avoid engaging with the creation of the stories in my head.

It reminds me of the ocean. I've always liked the metaphor of focusing on the ocean rather than the waves.

The waves are what's happening on the surface—anxiety, excitement, fear, frustration, optimism, doubt. They rise and fall. Sometimes they're calm. Sometimes they're enormous.

But underneath them, the depth and stillness of the deep ocean remains. 💙

Yoga has given me a useful way of looking at this. Patanjali (the ancient Indian sage) describes yoga as the cessation of the fluctuations of consciousness in his work, the Yoga Sutras.

For me, that doesn't mean trying to empty my mind or somehow eliminate difficult thoughts. It's more about not automatically attaching myself to every thought that appears.

A thought about the future is just a thought.
A thought about a “what if” is just a thought.
It doesn't necessarily require an immediate response.

And perhaps this is where yoga has something particularly valuable to offer us all off the mat. We spend so much time trying to manage external uncertainty—our schedules, relationships, expectations, and the endless demands of daily life.

But we also have to learn to manage our relationship with the uncertainty happening inside our own heads. 🧠

I'm certainly still learning this. At the moment, I'm trying to notice the waves rather than fight them.

To let them come.
To let them go.
And occasionally to remember that beneath all of them, there is still the deep ocean.

✨ Perhaps we don't need to calm every wave. Perhaps we just need to remember that we are the ocean. ✨

09/08/2026

Took a little trip to Duloe stone circle yesterday as it was an auspicious astrological event, the Lionsgate Portal. Astrolgers say it can be used as a personal reset to clear old habits, set clear intentions, and practice gratitude.
The Lion's Gate Portal is an astrological term describing the alignment of the sun in Leo, the star Sirius, which is the brightest star as seen from Earth, the constellation Orion's Belt and the Earth. This alignment happens every year.
This year the eighth day of the eighth month is also the start of Obon in Japan a period of buddhist celebration for our ancestors.
I spent time sitting around the stones on what was a beautifully sunny summer afternoon.

21/07/2026

Whilst doing yoga this morning with my teacher, he recounted a story about his teacher, the late Rinzai Zen master, Shinzan Miyamae Roshi, that has stayed with me.
He became the Zen teacher of a man on death row in Japan. When prison regulations later allowed only family members to visit, Shinzan Roshi made an extraordinary decision: he legally adopted the prisoner as his son so that he could continue supporting his practice. It was a decision that came at great personal cost, including the breakdown of his marriage.
Whether or not we could make the same choice, it forces us to ask an uncomfortable question:
What does compassion really mean?
It's easy to be compassionate towards people we like, agree with, or feel deserve it.
The real test is whether compassion survives when we encounter people who have failed, caused harm or become lost.
Compassion is not the same as approval. It does not excuse actions or remove accountability. Rather, it recognises that every human being is more than the worst thing they have ever done.
Another aspect of this story struck me just as deeply.
For many years, prisoners on death row in Japan lived without knowing when their ex*****on would take place. They could spend decades waiting, only to be told after breakfast that this was their final day.
As unsettling as that sounds, it also holds a mirror up to the rest of us.
The truth is, we're all living under the same condition.
None of us knows whether today will be ordinary or our last.
We plan for retirement, next year's holiday, next month's project meeting or next weekend's competition. We assume tomorrow is guaranteed.
It isn't.
The difference is that most of us are simply better at forgetting.
Far from being a depressing thought, I find it strangely liberating.
If today were my last day:
Would I spend it worrying about things I cannot control?
Would I hold onto resentment?
Would I delay telling someone I appreciate them?
Would I put off doing the work that gives my life meaning?
Zen practice continually returns us to this moment—not because the future doesn't matter, but because this moment is the only one we are ever promised.
Perhaps the lesson from Shinzan Roshi isn't only about extraordinary compassion for another person.
Perhaps it's also about extraordinary honesty with ourselves.
We're all on death row.
We don't know when breakfast will be our last.
So maybe the invitation is simple:
Be kind.
Forgive more readily.
Love more openly.
Do work that matters.
And don't wait for a day that was never guaranteed.
Because one day, for each of us, there won't be another tomorrow.
Today happens to be the 8th anniversary of when Kazuaki Okazaki was hanged for his crimes in Japan.

07/07/2026

I'm looking forward to helping my friend Alan on this retreat this December. I'd be grateful if you'd share. You can find further details here https://yogaforblokes.com/winter-retreat-waterperry-2026/

01/07/2026

Yesterday marked Guru Purnima, a significant day in the Hindu calendar. Falling on the first full moon after the summer solstice, it is traditionally a time to honour our gurus—those who have guided us with wisdom, patience and compassion.

The word guru is often translated simply as "teacher", but its Sanskrit roots reveal a deeper meaning:

Gu – darkness or ignorance
Ru – that which dispels it

A guru, therefore, is someone who helps remove darkness by bringing light, understanding and insight.

While many people associate the word with spiritual teachers, Guru Purnima is really an opportunity to recognise everyone who has helped shape who we are.

Perhaps it was a school teacher who believed in you before you believed in yourself.

A coach who challenged you to be better.

A colleague who quietly shared their experience.

A parent or grandparent whose values still guide your decisions.

A mentor who asked the difficult questions.

Or even someone who came into your life for only a short time, yet changed your perspective forever.

As a yoga teacher, this day has special meaning for me. Yoga reminds us that learning never ends. No matter how much experience we gain, there is always another teacher, another lesson and another opportunity to grow.

In a world that can often feel noisy and divided, perhaps one of the greatest things we can do is pause for a moment of gratitude for those who have been a light in our own lives—and to ask ourselves how we might become that light for someone else.

On this Guru Purnima, I'd simply like to say thank you to everyone who has taught me, encouraged me, challenged me and supported me over the years.

Who has been a guru in your life?