Mindfulness
What is mindfulness?
There are many definitions of mindfulness, probably as many as there are mindfulness practitioners! I really like the one by Jon Kabat-Zinn: ‘paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment and nonjudgmentally’ (Kabat-Zinn, 1994, p. 4). Although this is a simple concept, it’s not easy, as is so often the case with the simple things. Everybody has moments of mindfulness: those times when you are really absorbed by what is happening in the moment, sometimes called ‘flow’ experiences. Staying in the moment is not easy: our brains are designed to constantly seek out threats and dangers and modern life throws an endless stream of information at us. As a result, we tend to spend whole swaths of our time being on autopilot, not being aware of what is happening in the moment but instead daydreaming or thinking about the past or future (ever driven your car home and having no recollection of how you got there?).
Being on autopilot means that we miss out on a lot of lovely things: we don’t savour the meal, notice bird song or the smile of a stranger. We also miss important clues about what is going on for us: that we are too tired or hungry to function properly, or that our body is aching from too much time behind a screen or that we are sad and need to look after ourselves.
There are many ways to become more mindful, with meditation probably being the most well-known one. Meditation is when we focus on one thing (for example, the breath or an idea or sound) and keep coming back to that focus whenever the mind wanders (which it will inevitably do because that’s what minds do). Meditation can be done sitting, lying down or walking. Meditation is not for everyone, which is fine as there are many ways of cultivating mindfulness and this is where mindfulness sessions come in.
How I work
I don’t believe there is one way of ‘doing’ mindfulness so it’s important for me to get to know you and how you like to work. You might want to deal with a particular issue, for example grief or anxiety or have a more general interest in mindfulness. You might have a good idea of what works for you or you might want to explore various options.
What to expect from a session
In an individual session I will normally start with a short grounding exercise, where you will get in touch with your body, mind and feelings. We will then have a chat about how things are going and what you would like to work on. Sessions are usually about an hour long and I will keep the time. There is no limit on how many sessions you can have, we can decide this when we start, and we will review the sessions regularly.
As with counselling, the work is confidential but there might be times when I need to break confidentiality. I will talk to you about this in the first session and there is more information under the heading confidentiality/safeguarding.
What next?
If you decide you are interested in working with me, get in touch by sending me an email or using the contact form. I will offer you a free half hour session on-line where we can get to know each other and decide whether we want to work together. We can then arrange a first session, in which I will ask you some questions about yourself and we discuss the contract. The contract includes dates and times of the sessions, limits of confidentiality, charges for the sessions and how we work.
There are many definitions of mindfulness, probably as many as there are mindfulness practitioners! I really like the one by Jon Kabat-Zinn: ‘paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment and nonjudgmentally’ (Kabat-Zinn, 1994, p. 4). Although this is a simple concept, it’s not easy, as is so often the case with the simple things. Everybody has moments of mindfulness: those times when you are really absorbed by what is happening in the moment, sometimes called ‘flow’ experiences. Staying in the moment is not easy: our brains are designed to constantly seek out threats and dangers and modern life throws an endless stream of information at us. As a result, we tend to spend whole swaths of our time being on autopilot, not being aware of what is happening in the moment but instead daydreaming or thinking about the past or future (ever driven your car home and having no recollection of how you got there?).
Being on autopilot means that we miss out on a lot of lovely things: we don’t savour the meal, notice bird song or the smile of a stranger. We also miss important clues about what is going on for us: that we are too tired or hungry to function properly, or that our body is aching from too much time behind a screen or that we are sad and need to look after ourselves.
There are many ways to become more mindful, with meditation probably being the most well-known one. Meditation is when we focus on one thing (for example, the breath or an idea or sound) and keep coming back to that focus whenever the mind wanders (which it will inevitably do because that’s what minds do). Meditation can be done sitting, lying down or walking. Meditation is not for everyone, which is fine as there are many ways of cultivating mindfulness and this is where mindfulness sessions come in.
How I work
I don’t believe there is one way of ‘doing’ mindfulness so it’s important for me to get to know you and how you like to work. You might want to deal with a particular issue, for example grief or anxiety or have a more general interest in mindfulness. You might have a good idea of what works for you or you might want to explore various options.
What to expect from a session
In an individual session I will normally start with a short grounding exercise, where you will get in touch with your body, mind and feelings. We will then have a chat about how things are going and what you would like to work on. Sessions are usually about an hour long and I will keep the time. There is no limit on how many sessions you can have, we can decide this when we start, and we will review the sessions regularly.
As with counselling, the work is confidential but there might be times when I need to break confidentiality. I will talk to you about this in the first session and there is more information under the heading confidentiality/safeguarding.
What next?
If you decide you are interested in working with me, get in touch by sending me an email or using the contact form. I will offer you a free half hour session on-line where we can get to know each other and decide whether we want to work together. We can then arrange a first session, in which I will ask you some questions about yourself and we discuss the contract. The contract includes dates and times of the sessions, limits of confidentiality, charges for the sessions and how we work.