Mindful Living and Practice : for Resilience, Rejuvenation and Relaxation

Mindfulness based programmes have become very popular in the field of Wellbeing over the past few decades.

What is a Mindfulness programme?

Mindfulness has now become a well established and accepted term within mainstream health services and in business. The popular Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Programmes originally designed by Jon Kabat- Zinn for Chronic pain relief and then for other health issues (Physical, Emotional and Mental), are taught in a wide range of areas across the health, business and wellbeing industries. They are typically run in 8 sessions and follow this set formula.

Mindfulness is derived from 2000 year old Buddhist philosophy and is a way of being, a way of living, and a meditation practice. So, as well as the more recent scientific research, is the lengthy history of anecdotal evidence supporting its efficacy.

What is Mindfulness to us?

In the Positive Ways Mindful Living Programmes we will be combining many of the approaches that we use both in our work (therapies, teaching, coaching, counselling, and healing) and in our personal lives. These include: Psychological (theory and practice) ; the Human Givens approach; Self- Hypnosis techniques; Guided Visualisation; 12 Step Principles; Mindfulness (taken from Buddhist Philosphophy & MBSR); other Meditation approaches and a range of ‘Spiritual’ Philosophies.

In brief, this programme focus will be on raising our levels of self-awareness so that we can be more in tune with our body, mind and emotions. We will be practicing a range of meditation practices drawn from the above, and including both sitting and moving meditations. We will learn more about different forms of stress and how to gain balance within our lives so that we do not become overwhelmed with the unhelpful form of stress. We will also be looking at our interactions with others and our relationship with ourselves.

What is Resilience, Rejuvenation and Relaxation?

• Building Resilience is about learning how to ‘bounce back’ quickly from the life challenges that we are often presented with. Mindful Living can help us to become more resilient and prevent us from becoming overwhelmed by daily stressors. The tools we will learn, enable us to recover more quickly if things do become burdensome.
• Rejuvenation is to ‘make (someone or something) look or feel better, younger, or more vital’. When we rejuvenate, it is a bit like a ‘reset’ or a ‘refresh’ button. We can breathe new life into ourselves by taking some time to focus on our wellbeing. Mindful living helps to restore us to health.
• Relaxation is ‘the state of being free from tension and anxiety’ – we will be looking at some of the causes of anxiety and the ways in which we can reduce stress and anxiety in our lives. We will also be learning practical techniques which will aid us in becoming more relaxed.

There is a very large body of research now which shows how meditation and relaxation techniques can literally re-wire our brains for healthier thinking and habits. Whether you wish to restore yourself to health, or simply maintain good health, by focusing on the 3 Rs above in the Mindful Living course, we will begin to see how some simple information and quick techniques can go a long way towards adopting a calmer and more balanced way of life.

Our Mindful Living Programmes are bespoke programmes which are created with specific groups in mind. We create them for businesses and groups within the community.

Mindfulness has been proven to improve the following:

• Angst – Anger; Anxiety and Addiction
• Depression
• Stress
• Panic Disorder
• Insomnia

In addition it helps us to:

• focus our attention
• improve our resilience
• practice non-judgement
• increase our self-awareness
• gain acceptance
• manage change
• make healthy choices
• improve decision making
• gain clarity of mind
• aid relaxation
• improve Emotional Intelligence
• enhance our relationships

Overall, being more Mindful is known to improve our own lives as well as the lives of those around us.

The Mindful Living programmes can be bespoke for a specific focus for groups wishing for personal or business development or a combination.

Our Mindful Living programmes are led by Emma and are located in Stevenage, Bedford, Hitchin, Langford, Clophill and Cambridge.

Please contact Emma for more information on: emma@positiveways.co.uk or telephone on 07791 520388/ 01462 700504/ 01438 .