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Lifeflow Studio
8 / 259 Glen Osmond Rd,
Frewville SA 5063
AUSTRALIA
T: 61 8 8379 9001
F: 61 8 8379 9012
E: info@lifeflow.com.au
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John Burston
 Meditation Teacher
General Manager
B.Sc. (Mathematical Sciences).
John's 20 years of meditation experience includes 14 years running classes, courses and retreats at the Lifeflow Centre in Adelaide, and a six month sojourn in Nepal teaching meditation to tourists and trekkers. He augments his regular meditation practice with two months of retreat each year.
John’s initial career in IT and staff training has proved invaluable in his current roles as a Teacher and General Manager of The Lifeflow Meditation Centre, coordinating teacher-training and public meditation programs. John first became interested in meditation as part of a process of developing greater self-understanding during his late teens, recalling inner experiences that he later realised were natural meditative states. He sustains his work at Lifeflow by the increased calm, concentration and confidence gained from his meditation practice.
Two minutes with John Burston
John Burston is a Lifeflow teacher and General Manager of the Centre. His background is in science and IT.
What brought you into contact with meditation?
Through my late teens I was looking for a way to resolve feelings of inner conflict; how to bridge the gap between what you feel and what you think. I found that ideals and beliefs didn’t work, you needed something more practical. I read about Taoism with interest but wondered how it could be put it into practice – I couldn’t find any way of learning the skills of that system. Later I read the Tao of Physics, which mentioned meditation states where your sense of self completely dissolves, and the sense of time passing disappears as well. That got me interested in meditation; it seemed that it could go deeper than just thoughts. So, while completing my final year at university, I began to attend weekly meditation classes given by Graham Williams.
What difference has meditation made in your life?
Enormous! Being able to get past the grinding frustration in life; feeling much greater joy. Life still has its ups and downs of course – meditation is not about achieving some perfect state, but about having the tools and awareness to deal with what is happening in life, and to bring much greater skill to making decisions. My contact with friends and family are richer; life has a greater depth and meaning.
What has surprised you about doing meditation?
How simple the fundamental principles are and how far reaching they apply. Even at an advanced level, the same principles still operate, it’s just that it goes further than you would ever expect. Also, you gradually learn much greater self acceptance – accepting what is.
Joy – how simple it is, how you can develop it for yourself.
Any suggestions for beginners?
Check everything for yourself. Be patient with yourself, just gently keep going with your meditation... it takes a long time to shift habits.
Are there any events that stand out in terms of leading you to a meditation path?
I think discovering that sometimes you can’t do everything by will. One year at school was intensely painful socially, and in the end I just had to let go. For a while I had to rest with nothing – just keep at my studies and stay self-contained. It was a difficult period, but towards the end of it I was offered a chance to join a school exchange to Germany – I was afraid to take it, but that trip changed my life, opening up new areas and discovering a richness of feeling life – it blew me away. Later I saw that the whole thing was a process of going through the “Dark Night of the soul” (ie having to give up what you know, then something much greater comes along). It got me questioning – what is going on in life?
Any books on meditation that stand out for you?
Insight and Love by Graham Williams – pithy, direct, punchy. Not for the faint hearted.
Other interests
I like bush walking, working out at the gym, and swimming in the sea in summer. I also enjoy classical music and am still interested in computers! I’m finding the studies of neuroscience fascinating, particularly exploring how it correlates with the underlying principles of meditation.
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