I Met a Monk by Rose Elliot

Author:Rose Elliot
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: I Met a Monk: 8 weeks to happiness, freedom and peace
ISBN: 9781780288369
Publisher: Watkins Media
Published: 2015-01-16T16:00:00+00:00

It’s a very warm afternoon and all the windows are open in the shrine room, which is looking particularly beautiful today, as it is decorated with roses from the garden and they are filling the air with fragrance. The monk is here and the course participants are gathering. I’m already sitting in my place, and I’m feeling decidedly sleepy.

There is a reason for this, apart from that after-lunch feeling. I have had a particularly busy week, with three days in London attending photo shoots for the book I am working on.

I do enjoy photo shoots; they are a time when the book really comes alive. Having worked on a book for some time on my own, planning it and developing recipes, I really enjoy being part of a team creating the visuals. Even now, after all these years, I still find it exciting to see shot after beautiful shot being produced. And these days it’s exciting to be able to see the shots immediately, thanks to the wonders of digital photography, rather than having to wait for the courier to arrive to take the films to and from the processors.

Food photography now is rather different from how it used to be earlier in my career. In the 1980s, everything was quite heavily styled with accessories, cutlery, napkins and so on, and the food was made to look perfect. It was shot under studio lights – hence the stories about mashed potato being used instead of vanilla ice cream – although I never experienced that kind of fakery.

As the years have passed, fashions in food photography have changed. Now it’s all much more relaxed, with food looking ‘home made’, and photographed in natural light which makes being in the studio all day less demanding. Nevertheless, I do find shoots very tiring, and I have often wondered why. Maybe it’s the daily commuting to the studio, the early starts and late nights or all the sitting around while the food stylist prepares the food and the photographer gets set up for the shot. The food stylists I have worked with make an excellent job of it and I love seeing what they do with my recipes.

I’m continuing to muse idly when I hear the sound of the monk’s voice bringing me back to the present moment.

‘It’s good to see you all again’, he is saying, looking around the group and smiling.

‘Today we reach the halfway point in our course and we can reflect on how much we have done. We have learned to be mindful and to meditate; we are developing a regular meditation practice; and we have considered the first three of the Buddha’s Noble Truths.

‘That is quite an accomplishment. You now have some useful skills and tools. You have the knowledge, so all you have to do is practise it so that it becomes easy and natural – “practice makes perfect”’, he says with a chuckle. ‘And that’s what this second half of the course is all about: putting into

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