At the end of August I marked a significant life change. For a long time, I’ve been exploring the topics discussed in this blog part time, alongside working full time as a software engineer. Beginning last week, I’m now free to focus full time on exploring the connection between Buddhist inquiry and awakening practices and neuroscientific theories such as predictive processing.

I have plenty planned. I intend to ramp up my guiding, hopefully of people of all colours - experienced Buddhists and non-Buddhists, so as to further confirm the effectiveness of the practices underpinning the Odoki Method.

I plan to further dig into Active Inference. Active Inference and Predictive Processing share very similar ground (I recently heard someone suggest they are effectively the same). Active Inference as a theory is underpinned by solid mathematics. I kinda like the idea of developing a therapeutic system that can be mathematically justified!

I also need to reread Lisa Feldman Barrett’s How Emotions are Made. This book was pivotal for me, but I read it at the beginning of this particular journey. A reread would undoubtedly deliver new insights.

Alongside this, I plan to develop my local (and UK based) teaching of Yan Shou Gong - a physical system from which I have gained a lot, and which itself could be expressed or explained in terms of Predictive Processing or Active Inference!

Exciting times to come!