Peter Merrick PhD

It was back in 2010 that I found myself feeling weighed down, as though I was carrying around a big bag stuffed with stories. I felt so weighed down, there was no room for anything new.

I found a Storytelling course at Emerson College in England where I joined students from around Europe who had brought with them folk tales from their country. We were working towards a performance at the end of the week.  Totally uninterested in folk tales, I had brought no story with me. I had stories to tell alright, but they weren't folk tales. 

As the night of the performance came closer, I wanted to tell the story of being in the Negev desert at an Osho weekend where I'd discovered dynamic meditation and seen a man transform into a gorilla right in front of my eyes. And so that's the story I told that night. 

In the summer of 2024 I had been meditating on my own every morning for 5 years straight. I thought I was meditating but I was just coping. Then I went on an organised Buddhist retreat organised by the Triratna group in Berlin. I discovered what I needed; what I had.been looking for, without ever knowing it. From this experience I learned what compassion towards myself and mindfulness towards everyone else actually meant. And so is born Mindful Storytelling.