Mindfulness
Reducing stress and anxiety through living life with mindfulness
Let us show you how through a simple yet powerful form of meditation called mindfulness that you can develop a moment by moment awareness of your thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations and an increased awareness of your surroundings. We can guide you towards developing everyday mindful behaviour, helping you to manage your own stress and anxiety and enjoy life a little more.
Mindfulness has significantly risen in popularity in recent times, especially because of its ease of application in numerous scenarios. Once learned, and once it becomes a habit, it is a useful technique for self-help technique in many situations. It is useful in an individual context, as well as in groups, schools, or the workplace. Mindfulness teaches us simple, yet extremely powerful ways of helping us focus on our current situation, and avoid worry, with benefits that contribute to mental wellness and a reduction in conditions such as depression and anxiety.
Mindfulness Resources
Mindfulness- Being mindful is being consciously aware and focused on the catagories of Mindfulness treatments;
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). Both have very similar underpinnings but MBCT is akin to CBT (see above) in that is is focused on changing thoughts and actions. MBCT focuses on this in relation to minimizing unwanted thoughts, feeling and body sensations. It is primarily used to assist relapse and onset of Depression. MBSR has its focus on heightening ones attention and awareness of present Moments. It incorporates Buddhist principals of meditation with psychology, medicine and science to reduce individuals stress response and stimulate the relaxation response.
The Center for Mindfulness further explains on its website:
History of MBSR
Since its inception, more than 22,000 people have completed our eight-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program and learned how to use their innate resources and abilities to respond more effectively to stress, pain, and illness.
The Stress Reduction Program, founded by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn in 1979, has been featured in:
- Bill Moyers’ PBS documentary Healing and The Mind
- NBC Dateline
- ABC’s Chronicle
- The Boston Globe
- CNN
and in various national print media. It is the subject of Jon Kabat-Zinn’s best selling book, Full Catastrophe Living and Saki Santorelli’s book, Heal Thy Self.
The central focus of the Program is intensive training in mindfulness meditation and its integration into the challenges/adventures of everyday life.
Research Snapshot
Our work over the past thirty-five years has shown consistent, reliable, and reproducible demonstrations of major and clinically relevant reductions in medical and psychological symptoms across a wide range of medical diagnoses, including many different chronic pain conditions, other medical diagnoses and in medical patients with a secondary diagnosis of anxiety and/or panic, over the eight weeks of the MBSR intervention, and maintenance of these changes in some cases for up to four years of follow-up.
We have also seen consistent, reliable, and reproducible demonstrations of significant and clinically relevant increases in trait measures which are usually stable in adulthood, indicative of enhanced psychological hardiness (Kobasa) and greater sense of coherence (Antonovsky) over the course of the eight week intervention, and maintenance of these gains for up to three years of follow-up. The latter measures indicate a heightened sense of self and self-in-relationship, and a greater ability to find coherence and act effectively under high degrees of stress. These changes enhance the experience of self-efficacy in patients and their view of the value of engaging in their own on-going health and well-being through meditation, yoga, and above all, the systematic cultivation of awareness [Kabat-Zinn, Skillings, and Salmon, manuscript submitted].
MBSR Principles
MBSR spans a confluence of epistemologies and practices from two very distinct and until recently, divergent lineages, both committed to empirical investigation, albeit utilizing very different methodologies: that of science, medicine, and psychology, on the one hand, and that of Buddhist meditative traditions and their teachings and practices, known collectively as the Dharma, on the other. One reason MBSR proved viable in mainstream clinical settings is that the Dharma is in essence universal. Mindfulness, often being spoken of as “the heart of Buddhist meditation,” and being primarily about the systematic training and refinement of attention and awareness, compassion and wisdom, is a manifestation of its universal applicability. In the present context, to recognize the universal character of the dharma, we use the term with a small “d.”
News about Mindfulness
Anxiety – Part 4 – What can I do about my anxiety?
In previous articles, we have looked at what anxiety is and how it affects us. By now, if you are affected by anxiety, you will be wondering what you can do about it.
Anxiety – Part 3 – Is my anxiety a mental health problem?
In our previous articles, we saw that anxiety or stress is a perfectly normal response to the everyday situations that we encounter during our daily lives.
Resent Your Friends’ Successes? Here’s How To Stop
Your friend just landed a big promotion and you’re happy for her… on the outside. The truth is, you’re overcome with jealousy and resentment.
Anxiety – Part 2 – What does anxiety feel like?
Before we look at how anxiety feels, and its symptoms, let’s take a look at its dictionary definition. After all, anxiety is often used interchangeably with the word stress.
Anxiety – Part 1 – What is Anxiety?
Today Aspire Counselling brings you the introduction to a month-long series of articles on anxiety. We’ll explore what anxiety is, what it feels like, where you might experience it, and what you can do about it.
I don’t need a therapist….. do I ?
We can cope on our own, can’t we? It’s a sign of weakness or an inability to cope if we have to ask for help, isn’t it? I certainly don’t need a therapist!!!