During the hiatus imposed by COVID-19, New Life has had the unique opportunity to step back and get creative with revisions to the Resident Program that we would normally be too busy to attempt. Our primary goals were to elevate the professionalism of our Yoga and Mindfulness offerings and integrate these with our current Counseling and Workshop offerings. Meditation and Yoga are now integrated into the Therapeutic Team, with our NEW 1-on-1 yoga and meditation sessions on equal footing with our counselling – Our residents will be able to select from these three categories to create their ind ..read more

I am writing of my experience of co-teaching New Life’s first online retreat/course: Mindful Self-Compassion – Learning to Better Befriend and Care for Yourself It was profound. I had apprehension of creating an online course inherently designed for physical engagement: where you moment-by-moment sense the energy of the situation, people’s body languages, feelings and thoughts. All these influence the way I guide the practices. I am used to having expressive, humorous energy in my engagement with participants, including getting up and improvising. I had to let go of the desire for it to be per ..read more

Photo by Nik Shuliahin There’s no definitive guidebook to coping with stress and mental health issues. Our minds are as complex as our individual circumstances.  And now as we are being hit with wave after wave of stressful situations stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, the compounding stress is beginning to take a toll on our systems…. which are not designed to such long term stress without repercussions. And yet, even as we struggle to establish some kind of ‘normalcy’ in our disrupted routines and endure the sleepless nights, the anxieties, the moodiness, and the emotional eating ..read more

photo by Uwe Schwarzbach There is a great story of an enormous Buddha statue that resided outside Bangkok Thailand, housed in a dilapidated shed. In 1950 the statue, covered in stucco and pieces of glass, was to be moved to a new location in Bangkok.  During the move, ropes that were attached to it broke due to its weight and the statue was dropped.  It was covered for the night until a larger crane could be brought in to move it.  Turns out it weighs five and a half tons, but more on that later… During the night the Abbot of a monastery went to check on it.  When he lifted the tarp and shown ..read more

We were taking a last stroll through New Life Foundation, just a few hours before our scheduled departure. My friend and I happened to be leaving this community on the same day, so we were both in a pleasant, reflective mood. My friend was describing the complex effects that this one month in the community had had on her pronounced social anxiety: how she saw herself avoiding social risks (for fear she wouldn’t be liked) as well as gradually taking them (since she seemed to be liked after all!), and how all of this was accompanied by effort and relentless self-doubt. “You know”, I told her soo ..read more

Celebrating New Life’s 10 Year Anniversary, Belonging and Self-Love is an exciting 2 year programme of Contemplative practices, Yoga, Self Growth practical skills courses and Creative Art: to support finding a greater sense of belonging – with ourselves, our communities and the World around us. Here is this years fantastic events program and if you are interested in attending or would like more info, please contact us using the form on the sidebar or send an email to info@newlifefoundation.com ..read more

5 Tools To Help You Negotiate Life Transitions Here is a reliable truth: all things, eventually, fall apart. The Buddha’s teachings advise that all composite things decompose. And everything is composite. Impermanence is a fact of life. The problem is not that things fall apart–that’s just a law of nature. But you may experience this as a problem if your thoughts and emotions have not caught up with the reality. When things fall apart, it means change. It’s possible to learn to navigate change with grace with a few simple adjustments. Here are some of my favorite tools to help you negotiate li ..read more

Quick Navigation What is Optimism Benefits of Optimism Simple Practices to cultivate Optimism Overcoming challenges in your practice “The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails” – William Arthur Ward What is Optimism? The glass is half full, not half empty! That pretty much sums up optimism. It can be described as a mental attitude, tending to lean towards a positive outcome. Oxford University professor and author of “Rainy Brain, Sunny Brain” Elaine Fox expands the conception of optimism to include having control. Pessimists can ..read more

Benefactor and community member Maxine speaks of her time at New Life, her processes and why she feels it’s so important to give back to the community. “New Life to me means safety and support. It gave me a supportive space to recover from my alcohol addiction, my grief, depression and anxiety. After a year of caring for my sister whilst she was dying from cancer, my drinking became out of control and my mental and physical health suffered to the point I could no longer ignore it. I realised I had to do something about it before it was too late for me, too. New Life is a space to heal with no ..read more

Okay. Let’s talk about our thoughts and feelings for a second. Generally speaking, we tend to think of our bodies and minds as separate systems and believe they function for the most part, independently. But let’s think about this for a second- think about that first date you went on with someone you were really trying to impress? Or that job interview that felt like everything was banking on it? Whilst you’re sitting there, trying to be all cool and totally in control of the current situation, you’re secretly battling your anxiety and self-consciousness. And of-course, it’s your body that gi ..read more