MINDFULNESS
Staying gently present with our breath, our sensations, our bodies, we cultivate the skills to live more consciously. We learn to tame destructive forces in our minds, to treat ourselves and others with greater kindness and compassion, and to ride the waves and whirlpools of life with greater equanimity. We come home to our true selves, and discover the joy and well-being that are our birthright.
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) are usually presented in the form of an 8 week course. The courses teach various meditation practices that enable us to live more fully in the present moment. These courses have been well researched and found to be effective in helping people to:
- Alleviate or prevent relapse into Depression
- Cope with Anxiety
- Reduce Stress
- Improve Quality of Life with pain and illness
- Manage Eating Disorders
- Enhance enjoyment of Life
- Become more self aware and embodied
As former Mindfulness Co-ordinator for NHS Borders, I have taught numerous mindfulness courses and have co-led a number of teacher development courses as well. I have trained in the forms of mindfulness education rooted in the work of Jon Kabat Zinn (eg. MBSR & MBCT), and also studied for a year with Rob Nairn and his colleagues in a teacher development programme.
Mindfulness principles inform my Body Psychotherapy work, which expands these into a form of deep Mindfulness based Body-oriented Therapy. For more information on this work, click here.
I also teach mindfulness primarily on a one- to one basis.
Recommended Reading:
Nairn, R. (1999). Diamond Mind: A Psychology of Meditation. Boston, MA: Shambhala
Thich Nhat Hanh (1991). The Miracle of Mindfulness: Manual on Meditation. Rider & Co.
Williams, M, Teasdale, J., Segal, Z. & Kabat Zinn, J. (2007) The Mindful Way Through Depression: Freeing Yourself from
Chronic Unhappiness. New York: Guilford.
