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Melbourne Meditation Centre

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Melbourne Meditation Centre
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Melbourne Meditation Centre

Information
Main School Non-Sectarian
Founded Founded(when)::2005
People
Founder(s) BUORG-Names::Names::Matthew Young
Teacher(s) BUORG-Names::Names::Peter Elliott, Alana Smith, Sabina Vitacca, Debbie Ling
Contact Infotmation
Address
Elwood
Victoria 3184
Australia
Country Australia
Coordinates service=google }}
{{#geocode:ElwoodVictoriaAustralia|format=float|service=google}} service=google }}The "_geo" type of this property is invalid
Map {{#display_map:{{#geocode:ElwoodVictoriaAustralia}}|height=250px|width=250px|zoom=18}}
Phone Phone::03 9531 1607
Website Website::http://melbournemeditationcentre.com.au/ "Website" has not been listed as valid URI scheme.
Email Email::matt@melbournemeditationcentre.com.auURIs of the form "Email::matt@melbournemeditationcentre.com.au" are not allowed.
Postal Address PostalAddress::PO Box 1174, PostalAddress::Elwood, PostalAddress::VIC, PostalAddress::3184 Australia


Melbourne Meditation Centre

The Melbourne Meditation Centre runs regular meditation and mindfulness courses, workshops and retreats in several convenient locations around Melbourne and Geelong. Our focus is on teaching meditation and mindfulness as simple, practical skills. We’ll teach you how and why meditation works, introduce you to a wide range of techniques that you can use on the go – wherever and whenever you are – and help you find innovative ways to adapt meditation to your own needs. Meditation practiced this way is surprisingly easy and enjoyable.

What are the benefits of meditation and mindfulness?

Get to sleep more quickly. Enjoy a good night’s rest. Stay relaxed when you wake up at 2am.
Stay calm at work, on the road, and even when the kids are driving you up the wall.
  • Think Clearly
Access a sense of calm, peace and balance, whenever you need to.
Reduce your blood pressure and improve circulation.
Relieve headaches, reduce muscular tension and learn to manage chronic pain.
Reduce feelings of depression, anxiety, anger and confusion.

You’ve probably cottoned on to the fact that advertisers call on ‘science’ to help sell everything from stain remover and toothpaste through to the latest drugs, diets, and gadgets. Many of those marketing meditation and mindfulness have adopted this same tactic; citing research, using imagery and diagrams of the brain before-and-after meditation, and rattling off the names of various neuroscientists and their discoveries. Much of what you hear would best be considered to be an advertising spiel rather than anything ‘scientifically proven’, however, there are grains of truth to be found amongst all the hype. Below, I list half a dozen of the more reliable benefits you might expect from meditation.

If you’ve taken a look above, you might be thinking that even that modest list is quite impressive. So what’s the catch? The catch is, you have to meditate — regularly. And usually, in order for that to happen, you have to want to meditate, and that means the approach you choose has to suit you. If you practice a form of meditation that doesn’t suit you, you’ll probably just give up. Keep this in mind if you fail to get anything out of your meditation practice. You may need a skilled teacher in order to discover what keeps your practice from blossoming. Often there are tiny little attitudes that are getting in the way. These hidden habits — and any associated beliefs about yourself and about meditation in general — are usually the cause of difficulty or perceived failures around meditation.

About the Centre

Melbourne Meditation Centre

Meditation should be simple and practical. Instructions should be clear. Practices should provide verifiable benefit. Not everyone will find meditation easy, but with the proper instruction, almost any difficulty can be overcome.

What We Do

The Melbourne Meditation Centre runs regular meditation courses and workshops in several convenient locations around Melbourne and online. Our focus is on teaching meditation and mindfulness as simple, practical skills. Rather than concentrating on one technique or approach, we’ll teach you the key principles which apply to all meditations. This allows you to integrate meditation naturally into your daily life – wherever and whenever you are – so that you can use it when you most need it. On our courses you’ll develop an understanding of how and why meditation works and the ability to adapt it to your own lifestyle, temperament and learning style. You’ll be presented with a range of techniques, including many that don’t require you to sit and others that only take a minute or two to do. Meditation practiced this way is surprisingly easy and enjoyable.

On Course — Meditation Made Easy

Maybe you think you can’t meditate. Maybe you’ve tried it before without success. Maybe a friend, doctor or psychologist recommended that you try it out. Perhaps you know a meditator who seems to manage stress with unusual ease. Or maybe you’re just curious. Whatever the case, our meditation workshops and courses are designed to get you started quickly and effectively. On courses, you’ll learn:

Who We Are

Matthew Young set up the Melbourne Meditation Centre in 2005, following a decade of meditation study, and culminating with 4 months study with Eric Harrison at the Perth Meditation Centre (2004). Since then Matthew has taught roughly 1000 students per year. In the process he has developed an understanding of the common pitfalls and difficulties beginners to meditation encounter. More importantly, he has learnt how to teach meditation in a practical, down-to-earth style, free of confusing jargon or dogma. His main interest has been to make meditation accessible; to demystify the subject, to make it easy to learn and do, and to customize it to the needs of contemporary students. Matthew, along with Subodh Joshi and Paul Majewski, helped establish Simply Silence and, with Garth Stone and Paul Majewski, Meditation Events, responsible for events such as the Australian Meditation Conference, Music for Meditation and The Big Retreat. Although he has explored a wide variety of meditation techniques and traditions Matthew doesn’t belong to any particular school and doesn’t think of anyone as his teacher or ‘guru’. Instead he’s been fortunate enough to meet a number of mavericks in the meditation field; mentors who helped him to avoid the many pitfalls and to find the sweet spots amongst all the mystery and misinformation. Many people have influenced him in this way, and how he thinks, practices and teaches meditation owes much to them. Prominent, amongst them, have been Eric Harrison, Lorin Roche and Jason Siff. Matthew continues to study meditation and related fields in order to bring to his students the most useful techniques and strategies available. Matthew usually teaches the Glen Waverley, Clifton Hill and CBD classes.

Peter Elliott

Peter Elliott

Peter’s interest in meditation began in the late ’90s. A few years later, whilst living in Sweden, an opportunity to attend a meditation retreat held by a well known international teacher came up in London. The experience had a big impact, and Peter found himself inspired to study and practice meditation further. Peter went on to attend numerous meditation conferences and retreats and eventually began teaching. Over the years that he’s been practicing meditation, Peter has found that the benefits have grown more measurable, reliable and consistent. Even so, Peter has continued to develop and learn new skills, methods and approaches to meditation. In 2013 he completed Meditation Teacher Training with the Melbourne Meditation Centre and joined ATMA, The Association of Meditation Teachers. He also runs his own classes through Always Meditation. Peter currently teaches our classes in Geelong and St Kilda.

Alana Smith

Alana Smith

Alana is a certified yoga and Body Balance instructor as well as a meditation teacher. She was introduced to yoga in high school but didn’t come across meditation until her early 20s, when she stumbled across a book on the topic. Since learning how to meditate, and experiencing its benefits first-hand, Alana has had a real interest in teaching people how to meditate so that they too can live happier, healthier and more meaningful lives. Alana believes that one’s ability to do good and contribute positively to the world is dependent on one’s mental health, and she’s passionate about making yoga and meditation accessible to everyone, with a particular interest in culturally and linguistically diverse communities from low socio-economic backgrounds. She currently runs a yoga community development program at housing commission flats in Collingwood and Carlton in collaboration with a local council and school through the Melbourne Mindfulness Foundation. Alana teaches the Melbourne Meditation Centre’s meditation and mindfulness courses in Berwick and Camberwell.

Sabina Vitacca

Sabina Vitacca

Sabina’s professional experience working in the mental health field allowed her to repeatedly observe the relationship between health problems and stress. This motivated her to intergrate meditation and awareness techniques into her professional and personal life. Sabina completed her meditation teacher training certificate with the Melbourne Meditation Centre in 2008, has run courses in London, and currently teaches at the Melbourne Meditation Centre’s Yarraville venue.

Debbie Ling

Debbie Ling

Debbie is an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker with a bulk billing private practice. She completed her Meditation Teacher Training in 2004 and has been teaching at Melbourne Meditation Centre since 2005. She has over 20 years counselling experience and has spent the last 10 years focusing specifically on meditation and mindfulness based approaches. Debbie is a mental health clinician at The Melbourne Clinic where she facilitates groups on mindfulness and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy. Debbie is also interested in the intersection between contemplative practice and Western psychology and has undertaken study in this area since 2009. Debbie facilitates workshops, occasionally teaches the St Kilda classes and is available for one-on-one consultations.

How We're Different

s true, meditation has a PR problem. It’s been associated with chanting monks, bearded gurus, cross-legged yogi’s, pot-smoking hippies and all kinds of strange and dubious ideas. It’s often taught in an overly traditional, religious, dogmatic or just plain flaky way — and it’s not always apparent when you sign up for a course whether you’ll be learning how to calm your mind, or being welcomed into a cult.

In contrast, at the Melbourne Meditation Centre we base our teaching on solid science and psychology and our aim is to make our instruction as clear, practical and useful as possible.

On our courses you won’t have to sit cross-legged (unless you really want to), you won’t have to adopt the philosophies of a religion and you’ll get instructions in plain English.

We don’t expect you to practice for hours each day, nor to try and stop yourself from thinking (a sure recipe for struggle, failure and disappointment).

You’ll be getting the strategies and information most suited to contemporary life. That is, techniques that you can integrate into your day, rather than ways to hide or escape from the inevitable stresses of our time.

Here are a few of the things that set us apart.

  • We’re meditation specialists
  • We’ll introduce you to a variety of meditation styles and techniques — not just one.
  • We help you to find the technique(s) that work for you.
  • We equip you with a clear understanding of how and why meditation works.
  • Our instructions are clear, concise and jargon-free.
  • We teach you skills which you can use outside class, in your daily life.
  • The techniques we introduce are practical. You can use them anywhere and at any time.
  • We encourage you to decide for yourself what works and what doesn’t.
  • We welcome questions, comments, criticism and feedback.
  • We provide comprehensive course notes and resources.
  • We are not associated with any religious or spiritual groups.

In essence, we aim to teach you the principles and skills needed in order to be able to meditate effectively and imaginatively by yourself, away from the crutch of a class or teacher.

Courses

The Melbourne Meditation Centre runs meditation and mindfulness courses, workshops and retreats in convenient locations in and around Melbourne (including Geelong). We have courses catering specifically for beginners as well as for those looking to explore meditation in depth.

Basic Meditation Course

)

The Basic Course is the natural starting point if you’re new to meditation or are considering undertaking our Meditation Teacher Training course. The course is suitable for those with no prior meditation experience and aims to teach you how to meditate from the ground up — presenting a range of different techniques and, more importantly, a clear understanding of what meditation is and how it works.

How to Meditate Workshop

)

The How to Meditate Workshop is a condensed form of our Learn to Meditate Course. It’s designed as an introduction to meditation and will help you get started with a range of simple, practical techniques. Workshops are particularly suitable if you can’t come to regular classes, if the next term is too far away, or if you just want to get a taste of what meditation is before committing to a full course.

Meditation Teacher Training

)

Learn to teach meditation and mindfulness under the guidance of Melbourne Meditation Centre Director, Matt Young. This Meditation Teacher Training course is suitable for health care professionals including doctors, nurses, social workers, counsellors, psychologists, massage therapists and yoga and wellness instructors, as well as for those interested in teaching or guiding meditation in their community (e.g. schools, TAFE colleges, wellbeing centres, etc.), and those with a personal interest in meditation. The course aims to equip you with the skills necessary to successfully teach meditation and mindfulness, to enhance your personal and professional abilities, and to gain the knowledge necessary to conduct a meditation group or class.

Meditation at School

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Whether you’re a teacher or a student, schools can be either places of learning, camaraderie and development, or of frustration, alienation and stress, and sometimes all of the above in one day. All of us learn many valuable skills at school, but very few of us are lucky enough to receive formal instruction on how to manage our attention, emotions and stress. These, of course, are essential life skills, and meditation is a means of developing them.

Intermediate Workshop (Mini-Retreat)

)

The Intermediate Workshop (also known as a Mini-Retreat) is the logical next step for anyone who has completed our Basic Course and is looking to refine and develop their skills. It’s designed to free you from dependence on guidance, instructions or ‘techniques’ and to encourage you to develop your own ways of meditating.

As such, it is also suitable for those new to meditation, (but looking for a gentle, organic and thought-friendly approach) and those experienced meditators who are looking to explore, critique and fine-tune their meditation practice. In this respect, the workshop is an ideal ‘refresher’ and a great way to reclaim your enthusiasm for and interest in meditation.

Meditation Retreats

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The retreat is suitable for both beginning and advanced meditators. The practice is gentle, thought-and-emotion friendly, and doesn’t require you to adopt any particular technique. You’ll have time to walk, rest, read and relax. You won’t have to sit cross-legged or get up before dawn (unless you really want to) and you’ll be able to choose how to spend your time.

Consultations

Having trouble meditating? Can’t focus? Get distracted? Too restless or sleepy? Not motivated? Can’t find the time? Discouraged?

These are common problems, and they have simple solutions. Meditation can be a delightful and rewarding practice, but it needs to be customised to your own temperament, personality and needs.

Private consultations allow you to explore and develop your capacity to meditate in a relaxed atmosphere, and one-on-one attention provides the time and space to find ways of meditating that work for you.

Source

The Melbourne Meditation Centre