“ An experienced teacher can lead you through the process, and you can do it, it’s not hard to
learn! You just have to practise it regularly
By JULIE CUSHEN MCSP, Chartered Physiotherapist
”
trying to solve it even if we can’t actually change it. This constant battling with the thing we can’t change means we start to lose touch with our actual experience in each moment and that can lead to us feeling exhausted, anxious and depressed.
Mindfulness practice works by anchoring us to the current moment. It does this by focusing our awareness, for example, on our breath.
The linkbetween our thoughts and pain
Have you noticed your stress levels rising lately? Perhaps you’re experiencing feelings of anxiety or depression, or struggling with pain?
A new way you can manage these experiences is through learning a skill known as Mindfulness practice.
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Page 26 Health - Helping yourself
You could be forgiven for not having heard of Mindfulness before, as it is new to the healthcare arena. It is based on meditation techniques, and in that sense you could argue that it’s not so new because Buddhist monks have been practising meditation for two and a half thousand years.
We often think that meditation is about emptying your head of thoughts or “getting the mind to go blank”, but actually that’s not quite the case. It’s very normal for your mind to produce thoughts. Our minds are great at wandering off and thinking about the past or the future; but if you stop to take a look at these thoughts, quite often you’ll find they’re not particularly helpful.
Usually when we want things to be different from how we find them, we tend to keep trying to analyse and fix the problem. We carry on
It can also help us with long-term pain, which is often linked to depression. You’ve probably seen T.V. programmes demonstrating how new scanners can show us what is happening in the brain as different areas “light up”. We’re beginning to discover why it is that people who experience severe injuries will often feel no pain initially, whilst conversely a paper cut can really hurt and carry on stinging.
This exciting new research in the area of neuroscience is proving that there is a link between our thoughts and emotions and the pain we feel.
The good news is that meditation can help us actually change our experience and reduce our suffering. If you have suffered from regular episodes of depression, you may be interested to hear that the U.K. body, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (known as NICE) now recommends Mindfulness in its guidelines for the treatment of depression.
When we practice it regularly, we can begin to experience calm, cope better and feel more in control. An experienced teacher can lead you through the process, and you can do it, it’s not hard to learn! You just have to practise it regularly. Like all skills, the more you practise, the easier it becomes and the more you will benefit.
Julie Cushen is a registered Chartered Physiotherapist and U.K. Mindfulness teacher.
www.juliecushen.com
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