About Mindfulness
Mindfulness means moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment, through a gentle, nurturing lens. Through mindfulness practice we can learn to embody certain attitudes such as compassion, non judgement and trust that have been scientifically proven to improve our overall health and wellbeing.
It has long been known that the way we think, and how we deal with our thoughts, plays a big part in our happiness, resilience and mental health. Mindfulness is firstly about awareness and the ability to live in the present moment. Meditation is one of the ways in which we can learn to be mindful. In a therapeutic / developmental sense, mindfulness is a mind-body based, psychosensory approach that can help people change the way they think and feel about their experiences, especially stressful experiences.
Mindfulness meditation is at the heart of Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBIs), which include, Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). Both offer pathways to paying attention to the present moment, using a variety of therapeutic approaches.
MBSR was originated by Dr Jon Kabat-Zinn and colleagues at The University of Massachusetts Medical Centre and, in addition to helping people manage serious stress, it helps them deal with anxiety, pain and illness. Mindfulness is now recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for the prevention of relapse in recurrent depression.
On our retreats we aim to combine elements from both the MBSR and MBCT programmes including meditation, mindful movement, mindful walking, breath awareness, exploring the attitudes and learning how we can incorporate mindfulness into our everyday lives.
Mindfulness is a potentially life-changing way to alter our feelings in positive ways, and an ever-expanding body of scientific evidence shows that it really does work, not just for depression but also to help people deal with mild to serious stress, anxiety, as well as emotional and physical pain.
Mindfulness can help us become more aware of our thoughts and feelings so that instead of being overwhelmed by them, we’re better able to manage them. Engaging in a mindfulness retreat can help people to better understand their emotions, boost their focus and concentration and even improve their relationships.
You do not need to have had any previous experience of mindfulness or meditation before attending one of our retreats. All our gift retreats have been developed so they are appropriate for complete beginners and long term meditators (who wish to deepen their personal practise) alike.